Bud Chiles Wants Local Governments to Handle Oil Spill with BP's Cash

New gubernatorial candidate Bud Chiles was in Pensacola yesterday and the independent taking on both the Democrats and the Republicans was not impressed with the efforts of both BP and the federal government to combat the Gulf oil spill -- so he is calling for local empowerment to manage the disaster.

From my discussions today with business owners and local leaders in Escambia County, its clear that this unified command structure has been a devastating bureaucratic failure, said Chiles. This top-down system might work for BP, but it doesnt work for local leaders trying to protect our coast. And it sure isnt working for the business owners who are losing their livelihoods or the people who are losing their way of life.

Chiles met with business leaders as well as a teen group during his swing through the Panhandle and these meetings convinced him that BP was hurting the cleanup more than it was helping.

Pensacola Beach needs equipment to separate oil from sand, but BP said, no, said Chiles. Why do they even have that authority? As far as Im concerned, local governments should call the shots and let BP write the checks.

Speaking about BP CEO Tony Hayward, Chiles said, He needs to get out of the way and let our communities clean up the mess his company created.