Troy King: Playing dumb or just clueless?

Alabama Attorney General Troy King has issued 22 subpoenas to Alabama service stations in order to determine why gas prices rose so much after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.

King said his office has received about 900 phone calls in the past couple of weeks from Alabama residents wanting to know why the price of gas skyrocketed in the days after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29. Callers also wanted to know why the price of gas was more expensive in some parts of the state than in others.

"I don't know the answers to those questions. That's why we've issued the subpoenas. What's occurring with the price of fuel doesn't make any sense to me," King said.

King said he had many of the same questions the last time he went to a service station to fill up his family car.

"From where I sit it's very difficult to understand what's causing these spikes in gas prices," King said.

What a crock. Troy King knows full well what caused the recent spikes in gas prices. First of all, there was a hurricane. A big one. It disrupted shipping, shut down oil production and refining on the Gulf coast, and cut off the pipelines that transport gasoline from throughout the Southeast and to points beyond. The severity of the "spike" was augmented by the fact that oil and gas markets were already tight, even before Katrina hit. Gas retailers reacted to the supply disruptions and market uncertainies by doing the only thing they could do to prevent widespread shortages - they raised prices. Certain locations were hit harder than others due to various factors, including proximity to the hurricane impact area, proximity to gasoline distribution points, available inventories, and population density.

None of that should be news to the Attorney General. His so-called investigation is nothing more than a self-serving attempt to boost his political fortunes at the expense both of taxpayer dollars and common sense. King should stick to enforcing the law and cut out the populist grandstanding.