the politicians identify with companies or industries, and they basically mark them for extortion. they introduce pieces of legislation or they threaten certain things that put those entities in a position to where they have to play ball. reporter: one person who knows all about this fully legal form of extortion is the former president of shell oil usa, john hofmeister. i realize that there is a price to participate in the political process. what i never know was what a huge price it was and how it was an endless process of continuously being hit up for money. reporter: in 2008, when oil prices were skyrocketing, hofmeister was hauled before committee after congressional committee, 18 different hearings. some members of congress even threatened to nationalize his industry. the televised hearings all political theater, he says. when the camera lights turned off, some of the very members who criticized him in public were asking for money in
an endless process of continuously being hit up for money. reporter: in 2008, when oil prices were skyrocketing, hoffmeister was hauled before committee after congressional committee, 18 different hearings. some members of congress even threatened to nationalize his industry. the televised hearings, all political theater, he says. when the camera lights turned off, some of the very members who criticized him in public were asking for money in private. and he says you d better pay. there s a huge price to not pay the price of the campaign request. really? there s a price in terms of access, there s a price in terms of interest by the member. and so if you haven t paid your price of entry, who are you? i ve actually been asked by a member, who are you? because i ve never met you before. now that the election s over you re coming to ask me for something? where were you before the
he was hauled from congressional hearing to hearing. some members of congress threatened to nationalize his industry. the hearings all political theater he says when the camera lights turned off. some of the very members who criticized him in public for asking for money in private. he says you better pay. there s a huge price to not pay the price of the campaign request. really? there s a price in terms of access, in terms of interest by the member. so if you haven t paid your price of entry, who are you? i ve actually been asked by a member. who are you because i ve never met you before. now that the election is over, you re going to ask for something. where were you before the election? to me that puts a sickness in my stomach to realize it s all about the money. what i think you re describing to me is wink and nod
it s hurry up and wait a bit right now. but we re ready. we re right in the middle of it. steve: let s go down the coast a piece to delaware. peter doocy is standing by. peter, the bulk of the storm not there yet, but you certainly are feeling some tropical winds. we are. the wind is hard. the air is very cold. and just look behind me. the waves, now that the sun has come up, we get a sense of how tall the waves are. we ve been seeing them when they were closer to shore with our camera lights. now you can see they re not just coming straight in. they re all crashing in. it s really loud. you re hearing it. here in delaware also we re getting reports now that the national guard along with some fire companies and police departments are having to rescue some folks who did not evacuate last night by 8:00 o clock like they were supposed to. they re dealing with the very harsh effects of some flooding now. we don t have any reports about how those rescues are going, burr the governor o
what they was a taped message from the dictator. in it he vowed martyrdom or victory. he said the repeat from his compound was in his words a tactical move. his spokesman promising to turn libya into volcanics and fire. he claims that tribes loyal gadhafi are making their way to tripoli to liberate the city. at the gadhafi compound loyalist gunmen trying to take it back from the opposition who captured it today. our sara sidner was there when it all happen. reporter: we re having to run out of the compound now. we see gunfire coming from outside the compound. in and it s getting it s getting too close. so we re leaving. we re not going to go all the way into the compound. it s definitely now from the outside of the compound firing towards us. let s go! go ahead. we just got a gunfire incoming overhead. just saw gunfire. we re seeing all these tracers hitting the water tink, hitting the an iryeah. so we ve got to go. sara sidner outside gadhafi s compound this evening. c