OKLAHOMA CITY — You would expect an Oklahoma-born lifelong Republican oil tycoon who is active in energy policy to be feted at a Southern Republican Leadership Conference with the theme “Energizing America.”
Pickens celebrated his 87th birthday at a packed luncheon during a break in Friday’s speeches by 2016 Republican presidential candidates, pressing the flesh and chatting amiably with conference attendees near tables with Oklahoma State orange centerpieces.
“I’m not bipartisan,” Pickens told the Washington Examiner, seeming almost disgusted by the premise of the question. “I’ve been voting for Republican presidential candidates since Tom Dewey in 1948.”
But not long ago, energy was the issue that looked like it was driving a wedge between Pickens and the Republican Party. The “Pickens Plan” to move America from oil to natural gas and wind energy, as well as the oilman’s proposed taxpayer subsidies for natural gas, proved far more popular with Democrats than Republicans.
Pickens’ energy plan has been praised by President Obama and endorsed by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman. An amendment pushing Pickens’ natural gas subsidies nearly passed a Democratic-controlled Senate but was blocked by the Republicans.
In fact, the amendment has received only six Republican votes in the Senate. “The Kochs don’t want it,” Pickens told the Examiner. Championed by then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., only six Democrats voted against the measure.
Thus began a spate of headlines about Pickens’ dalliance with the Democrats. “Oilman T. Boone Pickens Dems’ new best friend,” blared CBS News. “Democrats discover T. Boone Pickens,” said National Review.
Not far removed from his support for the anti-John Kerry Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and his endorsement of Rudy Guiliani for president, in the same election cycle Pickens turned up at the 2008 Democratic National Convention to push his energy ideas.
While making new liberal friends, conservatives largely panned Pickens’ energy proposals as crony capitalism that would further enrich him personally. Americans for Tax Reform, Club for Growth and the Competitive Enterprise Institute rallied against energy subsidies.
“I think you’ll see the conservative movement will pretty much get united against this,” CEI’s Myron Ebell told the Dallas Morning News.
In 2010, Pickens went so far as to pledge to Reid that he would abstain from federal campaign contributions during that year’s elections — money that would normally flow into Republican coffers. He didn’t endorse Mitt Romney until late in the 2012 presidential campaign.
Pickens nevertheless seems happier among Republicans. He’s already endorsed Jeb Bush for president, even though the former Florida governor has yet to formally announced, and he’s predicted Clinton will lose. “I think Jeb Bush understands,” Pickens told the Examiner, referring to energy policy.
During a question-and-answer session at his birthday bash, Pickens defended hydraulic fracturing from charges that it has caused earthquakes in Oklahoma. Republicans are generally pro-fracking while Democrats are divided on the issue.
Oklahoma GOP vice chair Estela Hernandez beamed when talking about Pickens, telling the Examiner Republicans care about energy and might be receptive to what he has to say on the subject.
They were certainly receptive to Pickens’ anti-Obama barbs at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference. But the Texas billionaire hasn’t given up his energy plans. “I want to get a plan where we’re on our own resources,” he said. “Bring together Canada and Mexico and be a North American alliance.”
We’ll see what Republicans think of that.
Disclosure: The author previously worked for the American Spectator magazine while Pickens was a donor.
