Mullins Says Ben Ray Too Harsh on BP

Republican Congressional candidate Tom Mullins will not join the piling on on U.S. Rep. Joe Barton for saying President Obama had engaged in a "shake-down" of BP, by securing $20 billion to help pay for damages from the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In fact even before Barton's controversial apology to BP, Mullins was criticizing his Democratic opponent, Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, for beating up the giant oil company. It's on Mullins' campaign blog.

Yesterday Mullins told me he thought Barton had some valid points and reiterated his belief that Lujan was "beating up" on BP, which is the third largest producer of natural gas in this state.

My story on this is in today's New Mexican.