Savannah lawyers question Sen. Chambliss' role in Imperial Sugar whistleblower hearing
There are allegations that U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss attempted to discredit a whistleblower at a Senate hearing last year, and that he did so at the urging of the company the whistleblower was trying to expose.
The Savannah Morning News has the story.
In February 2008, a fire at Imperial Sugar’s Port Wentworth refinery killed 14 people. The United States Senate held a hearing in July of that year which focused on the cause of the fire. At the hearing, the company’s former executive, Graham Graham, testified that the company prevented him from making refineries safer. During Graham’s statements, Senator Chambliss frequently interrupted and challenged Graham’s veracity on more than one occasion. Chambliss does not sit on the subcommittee which questioned Graham, but he was invited by the committee’s ranking Republican, Senator Johnny Isakson, to partake in the hearing.
Before the hearing, Imperial Sugar lobbyist George Baker sent a memo and five documents to Chambliss which detailed a phone conversation that had taken place the day before between Chambliss, the company’s CEO, and Baker. The memo stated that Imperial disagreed with what Graham was going to say at the hearing and provided Chambliss with questions to ask Graham during the hearing. Chambliss did in fact ask questions which were similar to those the company provided.
In addition, one of the documents sent to Chambliss was written by a former OSHA inspector. The document stated that OSHA never trained him on the hazards of combustible dust which is believed to be one reason for the fire, and that OSHA lacked clear standards on combustible dust. The inspector wrote and signed the document the same day as the Barker memo at Imperial’s request.
Chambliss’ office claims that the Senator was only advocating for the victims of the fire by asking tough questions. His office also says that Chambliss did not respond to the memo.
Lawyers for Graham and the victims say this shows that Imperial and Chambliss worked together to discredit Graham. One attorney representing some of the victims also claims that Chambliss attempted to talk his clients out of suing Imperial.
In the past, Chambliss has received over $130,000 from sugar interests. This includes money from Imperial’s lobbyists and political committee. In fact, five weeks before the hearing Baker made a $1,000 donation to Chambliss’ campaign.
Imperial is now facing an $8.8 million fine from OSHA for safety violations at its refineries as well as lawsuits from the Port Wentworth fire.
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