U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, hammered GOP opponent Bill Flores this week for warning against Congress “trying to make victims out of the companies involved” in the BP oil spill.

The comment came during a wide-ranging interview with a newspaper in Madisonville, which sits in the southern portion of the congressional district.

A spokesman for Flores said Flores’ words were taken out of context by Edwards and they misrepresented the candidate’s views on the subject.

A spokesman for Bill Flores (right) says that Chet Edwards crossed a line with his criticism.

When asked by the editor of the Madisonville Meteor to comment on the BP spill, Flores said BP and the U.S. government “should have aggressively tried to kill the well and used berms,” according to the June 2 interview. (Republican Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has been the most vocal proponent of constructing 6-foot-tall sand berms to wall off marshlands from oil.)

Questioning the timing

Flores then questioned the immediate usefulness of congressional hearings and making “victims” out of the companies involved.

After the well has been plugged and the oil cleaned up, “then we begin to do the post-mortem on what happened and try to make sure that we have the right kinds of regulations in the future,” he said.

Edwards criticized the comment and questioned whether Flores’ energy career clouded the candidate’s take on the spill.

Before starting his congressional run, Flores was the CEO of Phoenix Exploration, an oil and natural gas exploration company that is active in the Gulf Coast.

“In light of the worst environmental disaster in our nation’s history, which took 11 lives, coated our beaches in oil and will ultimately cost thousands of people their jobs, it is shameful that Mr. Flores is worried about protecting BP from being seen as a victim,” Edwards said in a statement. The statement included as a footnote a dictionary definition of the word “victim.”

Flores’ spokesman, Matt Mackowiak, said Tuesday that Flores wants companies held accountable for the spill and said Edwards crossed a line with his criticism, since Flores lost a brother to a drilling accident.

“I think it’s beyond the pale to say Bill doesn’t care about victims when his own brother was killed during a drilling rig accident,” Mackowiak said.

In a statement, Flores said “the immediate focus must be on killing the well and capturing and cleaning up the spill.”

And “later we can and should thoroughly investigate issues which led to the explosion and make sure that BP and other responsible parties will be paying for the cleanup and for the damage that has been done to individuals, families, businesses and the environment,” he said.

Other campaign news

In other campaign news, Flores unveiled a website highlighting Edwards’ endorsement of now President Barack Obama in 2008.

The site plays on the imagery of Obama’s campaign, turning the Obama “O” symbol into a “C” for Chet, and quotes an endorsement speech Edwards made during the Democratic presidential primary.

Flores’ campaign simultaneously announced 10 billboards in Johnson, Hood and Somervell counties that consist of a photo of Edwards in front of a podium with an Obama sign affixed to it.

Edwards’ spokeswoman, Megan Jacobs, said Edwards’ endorsement of the president was more than two years old and came during the party primary, not the general election.

Jacobs said since Obama’s election, Edwards has bucked the president and Democratic leaders on health insurance reform, cap-and-trade and the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

mshapiro@wacotrib.com

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