June 17, 2010

“I Cannot Recall”

Photo by Kate Sheppard.

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Joe Barton (R-Tex.) clearly stole the show at today’s House hearing by apologizing to BP CEO Tony Hayward. But Hayward made a stunning appearance himself. And by stunning, I mean he was unable or unwilling to answer basically every question House members posed to him. Some favorite responses:

“I don’t know.”

“I cannot recall.”

“I am not prepared to draw conclusions about this accident.”

When Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) asked Hayward why he couldn’t weigh in on the questions Waxman and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) sent the CEO earlier this week about evidence that BP’s corner-cutting may have caused the disaster, Hayward finally admitted that they had raised “legitimate areas of concern.” But he would not respond to the questions. “I am not prepared to draw conclusions about this accident until such time that the investigation is concluded,” said Hayward.

He did state, however, that he believes the company’s attention to safety is improving under his watch. “We have focused like a laser on safety,” he said.

The grilling is on hold for now while House members vote, but look forward to more non-responses when the grilling continues this afternoon.

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate