Surprise!: Don Nickles Hooks Up with Energy Firm

According to the Tulsa World outgoing US Sen. Don Nickles has been elected to the board of directors at Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corp. The election of Nickles to the company's board puts him in the company of former Republican Governor Frank Keating and Aubrey K. McClendon and Tom L. Ward, the company's co-founders and largest individual shareholders. Aubrey and Ward are the same two men who recently bought (with $1 million in soft money campaign donations) newly elected Senator Tom Coburn - the Republican that replaces Nickles in the Senate.

McClendon is quoted as saying, "We are extremely pleased to have Don join Chesapeake's board. In a time of growing political debate about the country's energy policies, we will particularly appreciate his in-depth knowledge of energy public policy." Or maybe "Don" can lean on buddies in government to get us what we want? The cozy revolving door relationship between fossil fuel energy interests and the Republican Party leadership gets cozier everyday.