News March 16, 2007
Citgo spokesman David McCollum said
Bracewell & Giuliani represents Citgo in dealings with the Texas Legislature and state agencies. Rudy Giuliani
denies lobbying for Hugo Chavez's Citgo Gas while his law partners lobby away for the
dictator???
Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani's law firm lobbies for Citgo Petroleum
Corp., which is controlled by the Venezuelan state oil company and President Hugo Chavez,
but the firm said Wednesday that Giuliani has never worked on the account.
The leftist Chavez is an ardent foe of President Bush's administration and a bane to
conservatives whose support Giuliani will need as he seeks the 2008 Republican
presidential nomination.
Records filed at the Texas Ethics Commission showed the law firm, Houston-based Bracewell
& Giuliani, may have received up to $170,000 from Citgo since 2005.
A spokeswoman for Giuliani's campaign, which has been buoyed by recent opinion polls
showing him leading his Republican rivals, declined to answer questions, but provided an
e-mail statement denouncing Chavez.
"Mayor Giuliani believes Hugo Chavez is not a friend of the United States and his
influence continues to grow because of our increasing reliance on foreign sources of
oil," the statement read.
It concluded with a call for developing alternative sources of fuel to replace foreign
crude oil. Venezuela is the No. 4 oil supplier to the United States.
Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, joined the law firm in 2005. The firm said its
relationship with Citgo predated the hiring of Giuliani and he has never worked on the
account.
"Rudy Giuliani has never had any involvement in this representation (of Citgo),"
the firm said in a statement. "Our efforts on behalf of Citgo do not involve
the company's political profile in the United States or elsewhere."
Citgo spokesman David McCollum said, "I'm sure the former mayor of New York was not
even aware his firm represented Citgo before the story came out."
McCollum said Bracewell & Giuliani represents Citgo in dealings with the Texas
Legislature and state agencies.
Citgo's image among U.S. conservatives, who make up the core of Republican voters, has
been dented by Chavez's verbal attacks on Bush, whom the Venezuelan has called "the
devil."
In 2006, the conservative religious group American Family Association called for a boycott
of Citgo gasoline. 7-Eleven Inc. dropped Citgo as a gasoline supplier, citing, in part,
Chavez's anti-U.S. rhetoric.
Venezuelan Dictator Hugo Chavez
insults Americans with a speech at the U.N. while American Dollars buy his CITGO GAS - A day after Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez
used the UN bully pulpit to call President Bush "the devil" a "tyrant"
who acts like he owns the world. .... Chavez launched another personal attack on U.S.
Soil in New York City's Harlem. "Bush is an alcoholic, a sick man with a lot of
hang-ups," declared the left-wing Venezuelan leader. "He walks like John
Wayne." Bush "doesn't know anything about politics, he got there because of
Daddy," said Chavez. He urged Americans to choose a president with whom you can talk
and work.
Charles Rangel, a Democrat who represents Harlem in the US Congress and a harsh Bush
critic, commented "You don't come into my country, you don't come into my
congressional district and you don't condemn my president," he told US media.
CITGO, based in Houston, is owned by PDV America, Inc., an indirect
wholly owned subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., the national oil company of the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
The story of CITGO Petroleum Corporation began in 1910 when oilman, Henry L. Dougherty,
created the Cities Service Company. It introduced the name CITGO in 1965.
In August, 1983, CITGO was sold to The Southland Corporation to provide an assured supply
of gasoline to Southland's 7-Eleven convenience store chain.
In September, 1986, Southland sold a 50 percent interest in CITGO to Petróleos de
Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), the national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
PDVSA acquired the remaining half of CITGO in January, 1990.
Petróleos de Venezuela S.A.(PDVSA) is a world energy corporation, owned by the Venezuelan
State. Its operations cover the exploration, production, refining, transport and marketing
of hydrocarbons, as well as the Orimulsión®, chemical, petrochemical and coal
businesses.
Resource Base - Venezuela has the largest hydrocarbon reserves in the Western Hemisphere,
representing approximately half the region's reserves, which positions the country as
fifth in the world in proven reserves. With the Orinoco Belt reserves, the country
possesses the largest accumulation of liquid fuel on the planet
Venezuela generally exports 93 percent of its total hydrocarbon production. Approximately
54 percent of these hydrocarbon exports go to the United States and Canada.
For more information visit www.citgo.com http://www.citgo.com/AboutCITGO/PDVSAprofile.jsp
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