It was both better and worse than expected.

Yesterday, I noted that I planned to attend a presentation by Tom Mullikin entitled Meeting the Global Climate Challenge here in Color Country. I’ll admit that I would not have been surprised by a demagogic pack of lies. But it was better than that. Mr. Mullikin did throw rocks at any US effort (that’s significant) to control greenhouse gases, but he didn’t deny that there was a problem to be solved and he did say that more effort would be needed to solve it.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that Mr. Mullikin lived up to his professional calling as a lawyer by only telling that side of the story paid for by his clients. The primary target, it seemed, was the possibility that “cap and trade” legislation to control emmisions might actually be passed here in the US. So most of his effort was intended to convince us all that this would not only be ineffective, but actually harmful. That question deserves a more careful discussion than I can give it now (especially if I’m going to post this today) so I’ll just give you my unsupported conclusion that there is another side to the question that Mr. Mullikin did not present.

The worse news is that Mr. Mullikin did misrepresent himself and his reason for being there. As I reported yesterday, Mr. Mullikin is basically a professional lobbyist. But he presents himself as an impartial consultant. Absolutely nothing about his background in as a career apologist for the sins of polluters came out in any spoken or printed information.

Since I was most curious about how he happened to come to Color Country to educate us about these things, I made a special effort to find out. He was introduced by Washington County Commissioner Alan Gardner, so I asked Mr. Gardner if the County had underwritten Mr. Mullikin’s talk. Mr. Gardner assured me that, apart from some minor staff time to make arrangements, no County funds had been spent. I asked who did pay for it. Mr. Gardner said “industry sponsors” and then referred me to Mr. Mullikin’s staff who were present.

I interviewed them and didn’t get any more information. After asking directly, “Are you unwilling, then, to say who is actually paying for these lectures?” I received the answer, “Our sponsors would prefer to remain anonymous and would prefer that people focus of Tom’s message instead.”

Someone is spending quite a bit of money to take Mr. Mullikin’s message into towns and cities coast to coast. I doubt they’re doing it out of a sense of civic duty.

Back in Nixon’s Watergate scandal, the informant “Deep Throat” gave us what might be the best advice of the last century. When you’re after the real truth, “Follow the money!” The money trail confirms Mr. Mullikin’s one-sided role.