Big Oil's Top 10 lobbying recipients. Needless to say, Dem. "Leaders" can barely make ENERGY DEPENDENCE a newsworthy issue in '06.....
<< Wonder why we don't have a national energy policy or a serious push toward alternatives? >>
WONDER WHY THE damn Democrat "Leadership" CAN'T EVEN MAKE AN ISSUE out of DICK CHENEY's CONTINUING to PROFIT from holding HALLIBURTON stock...? Why they STILL can NOT make an issue of George W. Bush's CLOSE TIES to Ken Lay of ENRON infamy? (Bush PERSONALLY selected Enron senior executive THOMAS WHITE to be Secretary of the Army... Bush SNATCHING WHITE from under the very collapsing Enron meltdown!)
WONDER WHY THE DAMN DC DEMOCRATS **STILL** can NOT make a campaign issue of Dick Cheney's "SECRET Energy Task Force" in early 2001?? (By contrast, the Rethuglicans had to know EVERY detail of Hillary Clinton's Health Care Task Force LONG before it was released in early 1993.)
Well, the answer is easy enough: The DLC/DNC/DCCC/DSCC Democratic "leadership" COULDN'T MAKE AN ISSUE of a GAY MALE PROSTITUTE making MIDNIGHT VISITS TO THE WHITE HOUSE, so how the hell would they be able to make an issue of a life-and-death subject like the nation's ENERGY POLICY????
Big Oil's 10 favorite members of Congress
By Jim Jubak, MoneyCentral, MSN.com
27 Oct. 2006
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/JubaksJournal/BigOils10FavoriteMembersOfCongress.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0
Wonder why we don't have a national energy policy or a serious push toward alternatives? Follow the money that oil and gas companies send to Congress.
Think it's a matter of chance that we don't have a meaningful national energy policy? Wondering why oil and gas companies don't pay higher royalties to the Treasury now that oil is over $55 a barrel? Amazed that Washington loves to talk about energy research with promise 15 years down the road, but won't put significant money into alternative technologies that could reduce energy consumption now?
For answers to all those questions and more, just follow the money. Nothing about U.S. energy policy should be a surprise if you know where the money's been going and which legislators have taken the biggest payouts from the energy industry. So don't miss your only chance in the next two years -- the Nov. 7 election -- to tell Congress what you think of its sellout to the energy companies.
Most energy money goes to GOP
The oil and gas industry's giving is highly, highly focused. Oil and gas executives seem to feel that with the Republicans in solid control of Congress, there's no need to give to anybody but Republicans, since they're the folks that can get things done. There's none of the fence straddling of the securities industry, which has divided its $46 million in contributions almost evenly between Republicans (47%) and Democrats (51%). A whopping 83% of oil and gas money has gone to Republicans in this election cycle. To find similar imbalance, you have to look at such Democratic bulwarks as the public-sector unions, 84% Democratic in their giving, and the building trades unions, at 83% Democratic.
So who did this concentrated dose of cash go to? Here are the top 10 -- all Republicans -- as complied by the Center for Responsive Politics:
Big Oil's 10 favorite Congress members
Rank Candidate Office Amount given by oil and gas industry
1 Hutchison, Kay Bailey, R-Texas Senate $258,361
2 Burns, Conrad, R-Mont. Senate $188,775
3 Santorum, Rick, R-Pa. Senate $188,120
4 Bode, Denise, R-Okla. House $153,650
5 Allen, George, R-Va. Senate $148,600
6 Talent, James M., R-Mo. Senate $147,470
7 Cornyn, John, R-Texas Senate $142,750
8 Barton, Joe, R-Texas House $138,450
9 Hastert, Dennis, R-Ill. House $122,200
10 Pombo, Richard, R-Calif. House $121,340
Data from the FEC as of Sept. 11, 2006. Compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
You've got to hand it to the oil and gas industry. They know how to support their favorite sons and daughters, of course: Texans Kay Bailey Hutchinson and John Cornyn, after all, are both senators from a big oil state.
But the industry keeps its eye on the prize. If you want to keep oil and gas royalties low; if you'd like to drill in environmentally sensitive areas; if you want to keep the government from admitting that global warming might exist; if you want to make sure that money flows to research in alternative energy technologies for the future but not to commercialize alternative technologies today, then you give to the key people who can get those jobs done.
So you contribute to the campaign of California Republican Rep. Richard Pombo, chairman of the House Resources Committee in charge of deciding how the oil and gas (and other industries) can use government land and how much they'll pay for that use. Pombo has been a point man in the House in efforts to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling.
(The committee's jurisdiction also extends to gambling on Indian lands. Pombo and his personal political action committee, known as Rich PAC, reportedly are being investigated in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. Indian tribes paid Abramoff and his lobbying firm big fees in exchange for promises he would get favorable rulings from lawmakers and members of the executive branch on their casino plans.)
Pombo is also involved in my favorite bit of election-year irony. He has been criticized for lobbying then-Interior Secretary Gale Norton to suspend regulations opposed by the wind-power industry because his parents collect sizable royalties from windmills on their ranch. Pombo, his critics have noted, has a personal interest in the ranch. So who should Pombo face in the 2006 election? Democrat Jerry McNerney, a wind-power engineer and CEO of a start-up wind-turbine manufacturer.
The oil and gas industry also gives heavily to Texas Rep. Joe Barton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee; to Sens. James Talent of Missouri, Conrad Burns of Montana and George Allen of Virginia, all of whom sit on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee; to Illinois' Dennis Hastert, speaker of the House, who plays a huge role in deciding what legislation moves to the floor for a vote and what doesn't; and to Pennsylvania's Rick Santorum, head of the Senate Republican Conference and announced candidate for Republican whip in 2006 if he wins re-election.
WONDER WHY THE damn Democrat "Leadership" CAN'T EVEN MAKE AN ISSUE out of DICK CHENEY's CONTINUING to PROFIT from holding HALLIBURTON stock...? Why they STILL can NOT make an issue of George W. Bush's CLOSE TIES to Ken Lay of ENRON infamy? (Bush PERSONALLY selected Enron senior executive THOMAS WHITE to be Secretary of the Army... Bush SNATCHING WHITE from under the very collapsing Enron meltdown!)
WONDER WHY THE DAMN DC DEMOCRATS **STILL** can NOT make a campaign issue of Dick Cheney's "SECRET Energy Task Force" in early 2001?? (By contrast, the Rethuglicans had to know EVERY detail of Hillary Clinton's Health Care Task Force LONG before it was released in early 1993.)
Well, the answer is easy enough: The DLC/DNC/DCCC/DSCC Democratic "leadership" COULDN'T MAKE AN ISSUE of a GAY MALE PROSTITUTE making MIDNIGHT VISITS TO THE WHITE HOUSE, so how the hell would they be able to make an issue of a life-and-death subject like the nation's ENERGY POLICY????
Big Oil's 10 favorite members of Congress
By Jim Jubak, MoneyCentral, MSN.com
27 Oct. 2006
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/JubaksJournal/BigOils10FavoriteMembersOfCongress.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0
Wonder why we don't have a national energy policy or a serious push toward alternatives? Follow the money that oil and gas companies send to Congress.
Think it's a matter of chance that we don't have a meaningful national energy policy? Wondering why oil and gas companies don't pay higher royalties to the Treasury now that oil is over $55 a barrel? Amazed that Washington loves to talk about energy research with promise 15 years down the road, but won't put significant money into alternative technologies that could reduce energy consumption now?
For answers to all those questions and more, just follow the money. Nothing about U.S. energy policy should be a surprise if you know where the money's been going and which legislators have taken the biggest payouts from the energy industry. So don't miss your only chance in the next two years -- the Nov. 7 election -- to tell Congress what you think of its sellout to the energy companies.
Most energy money goes to GOP
The oil and gas industry's giving is highly, highly focused. Oil and gas executives seem to feel that with the Republicans in solid control of Congress, there's no need to give to anybody but Republicans, since they're the folks that can get things done. There's none of the fence straddling of the securities industry, which has divided its $46 million in contributions almost evenly between Republicans (47%) and Democrats (51%). A whopping 83% of oil and gas money has gone to Republicans in this election cycle. To find similar imbalance, you have to look at such Democratic bulwarks as the public-sector unions, 84% Democratic in their giving, and the building trades unions, at 83% Democratic.
So who did this concentrated dose of cash go to? Here are the top 10 -- all Republicans -- as complied by the Center for Responsive Politics:
Big Oil's 10 favorite Congress members
Rank Candidate Office Amount given by oil and gas industry
1 Hutchison, Kay Bailey, R-Texas Senate $258,361
2 Burns, Conrad, R-Mont. Senate $188,775
3 Santorum, Rick, R-Pa. Senate $188,120
4 Bode, Denise, R-Okla. House $153,650
5 Allen, George, R-Va. Senate $148,600
6 Talent, James M., R-Mo. Senate $147,470
7 Cornyn, John, R-Texas Senate $142,750
8 Barton, Joe, R-Texas House $138,450
9 Hastert, Dennis, R-Ill. House $122,200
10 Pombo, Richard, R-Calif. House $121,340
Data from the FEC as of Sept. 11, 2006. Compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
You've got to hand it to the oil and gas industry. They know how to support their favorite sons and daughters, of course: Texans Kay Bailey Hutchinson and John Cornyn, after all, are both senators from a big oil state.
But the industry keeps its eye on the prize. If you want to keep oil and gas royalties low; if you'd like to drill in environmentally sensitive areas; if you want to keep the government from admitting that global warming might exist; if you want to make sure that money flows to research in alternative energy technologies for the future but not to commercialize alternative technologies today, then you give to the key people who can get those jobs done.
So you contribute to the campaign of California Republican Rep. Richard Pombo, chairman of the House Resources Committee in charge of deciding how the oil and gas (and other industries) can use government land and how much they'll pay for that use. Pombo has been a point man in the House in efforts to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling.
(The committee's jurisdiction also extends to gambling on Indian lands. Pombo and his personal political action committee, known as Rich PAC, reportedly are being investigated in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. Indian tribes paid Abramoff and his lobbying firm big fees in exchange for promises he would get favorable rulings from lawmakers and members of the executive branch on their casino plans.)
Pombo is also involved in my favorite bit of election-year irony. He has been criticized for lobbying then-Interior Secretary Gale Norton to suspend regulations opposed by the wind-power industry because his parents collect sizable royalties from windmills on their ranch. Pombo, his critics have noted, has a personal interest in the ranch. So who should Pombo face in the 2006 election? Democrat Jerry McNerney, a wind-power engineer and CEO of a start-up wind-turbine manufacturer.
The oil and gas industry also gives heavily to Texas Rep. Joe Barton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee; to Sens. James Talent of Missouri, Conrad Burns of Montana and George Allen of Virginia, all of whom sit on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee; to Illinois' Dennis Hastert, speaker of the House, who plays a huge role in deciding what legislation moves to the floor for a vote and what doesn't; and to Pennsylvania's Rick Santorum, head of the Senate Republican Conference and announced candidate for Republican whip in 2006 if he wins re-election.
posted by verifi at 4:25 PM
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