Jim Gooch Drinks Global Warming Denial Hooch in Kentucky

onNov 20, 2007 @ 16:02 PST

What do you get when you cross a puzzle-maker with a lawyer?

Apparently, in Kentucky at least, you get a legislative hearing by climate change “experts.”

Last week a committee meeting of the Kentucky Agricultural and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on the science of climate change.

Problem was, there were no scientists.

According to Kentucky State Rep. Jim Gooch (D-Providence), who chairs the committee, there was no need to call any actual scientists to the hearing because, “You can only hear that the sky is falling so many times.”

So instead, Rep. Gooch invited a British puzzle-maker named Christopher Monckton (who regular DeSmog readers know all to well) and Chris Taylor a lawyer and “senior fellow” at the Exxon-backed “thank you for smoking” Heartland Institute.

According to a story in Kentucky’s Lexington-Herald newspaper, “Gooch said he called the Heartland Institute once he decided to address global warming and asked for any skeptical experts it might send. Scientists weren’t necessary, he said.”

Well of course not, what a preposterous idea to host scientists at a hearing on an issue of science.

I wonder if Gooch uses an OBGYN when he needs to get a haircut, or calls a mechanic when he needs an opinion on the most recent developments in coal mining?

And speaking of coal mining (drum-roll please)… Gooch and his brother own a company called West Kentucky Steel Construction Co., which sells mining equipment to Peabody Energy, Arch Coal and other coal companies that would rather see the entire of issue of global warming go away.

What is even more surprising is that Gooch’s fellow Democrats do not feel that this apparent conflict of interest and complete disregard for climate science is much of a worry. The strongest rebuke uttered by Gooch’s Democrat colleagues was from House Speaker Jody Richards (D-Bowling) who stated that she”didn’t like it very well.”

Fortunately though, some Kentucky bloggers are taking the issue a little more seriously than House Speaker Richards:

The Now NATIONAL Embarrassment Of State Rep. Jim Gooch (D)

Rep. Gooch on Good Morning America

By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.