Wisconsin governor says Clinton favors Big Oil

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle said Wednesday that presidential candidate Hillary Rodman Clinton is not the person to fight the big oil companies to keep gas prices down.

Noting that gas prices had risen 60 cents in North Carolina from a year ago, Doyle said the increase is costing the average North Carolina family $500 more a year.

"While regular people are getting gouged at the pump, oil companies are making record profits and CEOs are making absolute record salaries," Doyle said at a news conference at candidate Barack Obama's Raleigh field office.

Doyle said Clinton had voted in 2004 for legislation that would provide $10 billion in tax breaks to oil companies.

"Here is the choice you have in North Carolina," he said. "Senator Clinton voted for those tax breaks -- $10 billion worth. Senator Obama wants to end those tax breaks and use that money to support renewable energy."

In response, the Clinton campaign said, "In 2005, Senator Obama had the chance to join Senator Clinton in saying no to giveaways to big oil and the special interests. Instead, he voted for Dick Cheney's energy bill."

Doyle also said that Clinton had taken money from Washington lobbyists who worked for the tax breaks, while Obama does not accept contributions from Washington lobbyists or federal political action committees.

Doyle said he had talked with Gov. Mike Easley about the race, though he would not say what Easley's thoughts were. The two have known each other since both served as attorneys general.

As a Democratic governor, Easley is a superdelegate to the national convention, but he has not indicated whether he will make an endorsement before the primary May 6.

Meanwhile, across town ...

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign opened her North Carolina headquarters Wednesday.

About 100 people attended the hourlong kickoff, including Wake County commissioners Lindy Brown and Betty Lou Ward, fundraiser Richard Sullivan and former Democratic Party chairman Tom Hendrickson, who owns the building near Raleigh's Glenwood South area.

Hendrickson noted that the Clinton campaign brought in organizer Ace Smith to head its North Carolina campaign, after similar efforts in California and Texas.

"They have sent us the A-team," he said.

Spokeswoman Cary Lindauer said the campaign will open about a dozen offices across the state in the next few weeks, beginning with Charlotte.

The crowd also included Gene Conti, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation from 1998 to 2000; Mike Schaul, a member of the N.C. Democratic Party's executive committee; and noted open- space advocate Sig Hutchinson, who said he came because of his wife.

The guest who attracted the most attention, however, was Hendrickson's long-haired Chihuahua, Izzy. Several people took turns holding the puppy.

Price ranked on spending

U.S. Rep. David Price ranks No. 18 in the House of Representatives in bringing home the bacon, according to the annual "Pig Book" released Wednesday by the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste.

Price is responsible for 71 projects totalling $91.4 million, according to the 2008 Congressional Pig Book.

The book tracks earmarks, spending that members of Congress direct to specific agencies, local governments or businesses, usually in their home districts. Such earmarks are often called pork spending.

Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, could be expected to rank high. He is the state's only member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee -- which allocated federal tax dollars. He is also chairman of the spending subcommittee on homeland security.

He is just ahead of Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the dollar rankings.

The next highest-ranking member from the Tar Heel state is U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, a Raleigh Democrat, at No. 78. His 19 projects total $47.5 million, according to the watchdog group.

In the Senate, Elizabeth Dole ranks 49th. She has 110 projects totaling $133.6 million, according to the group.

The report is available online at www.cagw.org.