Tenth district Democratic challenger Dan Seals has taken a lot of heat for a campaign event two weeks ago in which he offered motorists the chance to buy as many as 10 gallons of gas for $1.85 per gallon (the price on the day his GOP opponent, Rep. Mark Kirk, took office in 2000). Not only did the event stall traffic for over a mile, but Kirk subsequently suggested that Seals had violated federal law. On Friday, Seals joined Fox News' Neil Cavuto to defend his gas giveaway (video here):
CAVUTO: Mr. Seals, did you buy votes?
SEALS: Of course not.
If anybody's vote has been bought, it has been my opponent's. He has taken over $40,000 from oil companies, and has voted to subsidize them with taxpayer dollars to protect them from investigation.
I think we have a joke of an energy policy. And I what to see it changed. And I'm going to fight for that.
CAVUTO: All right, but you had to know that by offering people to get gas for $1.85, and you were trying to pay off the difference to make sure they got that, you were effectively paying for their vote.
SEALS: No, what we were doing was buying people gas and talking about energy policy.
We've seen, actually, these events happen -- both Republicans and Democrats are doing this across the country.
I mean, when you look at our energy policy, basically, we're borrowing from China to buy oil from Saudi Arabia. And I think that's got to change. So, I have been talking about what I think we should do with our energy policy. And we have been getting a lot of interest for it.
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CAVUTO: No, I don't begrudge what you're trying to do here. But what would be the difference between giving them gas and just giving them money?
SEALS: Well, any time we go an event — and my opponent does this as well — if you go to a train station, you buy coffee for commuters. I think that's pretty standard practice.
Certainly, this one was more expensive. But, effectively, what it was doing was allowing us to talk about what needs to change with our energy policy. And that is what our focus is going to be.
CAVUTO: All right, now, what is the latest you're hearing from officials in the state that — where you might have crossed a very big line here?
SEALS: Absolutely nothing. We have seen this event. There was a Republican who did it in Indiana just last month. Absolutely nothing whatsoever.
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