Power Lez Hilary Rosen Is Helping BP Confuse the Public About Oil Devastation

Just who is BP looking toward to help spin its way out of the Gulf oil spill crisis? None other than former HRC and RIAA head Hilary Rosen, one-half the lesbian power couple with Randi Weingarten.

BP has spent some $625 million in the past six years lobbying D.C. to keep oil regulation lax. And it’s found room in its budget to send some cash into gay pockets, relays WSJ.

After the spill, the company brought on crisis communicator Hilary Rosen, former Democratic congressional staffer, former chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America, and a current editor-at-large for HuffingtonPost.com. Ms. Rosen heads the Washington-based office of U.K. communications firm the Brunswick Group. Public records are not yet available on the new Brunswick contract. Ms. Rosen declined to be interviewed on the record.

It’s unclear what Rosen’s role with BP is, but undoubtedly it’s to use whatever pull she has in Washington (and that’s up for debate), working in tandem with BP’s lobbyists, to keep lawmakers from tightening off-shore drilling rules. That, and seed stories to the media that highlight any single positive thing BP is doing to control the spill.

Should we condemn one of our own for making a few bucks off BP’s disaster? Not necessarily. Someone’s got to do it, and Rosen is, despite your personal feelings about her, a talented flack. You can credit her in the coming months as the Washington Post and Sun-Sentinel begin singing a few praises of BP. But there’s something entirely off-putting about seeing anyone, gay or otherwise, profit from a disgusting disaster that increasingly appears to not only be BP’s fault, but something it could’ve prevented entirely if it ensured higher safety standards.

But we already know Rosen to be a woman willing to defend ineffective policies so long as she’s getting paid.