Oil Lobby Contributions To House Members Yield Results

WASHINGTON -- In the month leading up to an early May vote over whether to expand oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and open the coastal waters of Virginia for exploration, three of the nation's top oil companies made donations through their political action committees to 26 House lawmakers.

All but one of those lawmakers, including five Democrats, ended up supporting the oil-industry-backed bill. The 26th lawmaker, Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Tex.), abstained from voting, according to data compiled for The Huffington Post by the good government group Public Campaign.

The House of Representatives ultimately passed the Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act by a 266 to 149 margin, meaning that even if these 26 lawmakers had flipped their votes, the measure would have passed anyway.

The amount donated by Exxon, Chevron and ConocoPhillips -- information for other oil company PACs has not yet been made public -- was a relative pittance: Just $40,000 in total was distributed among the 26 House members in the month leading up to the vote. By contrast, the 67 co-sponsors of the Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act have received a combined total of $8.8 million in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry over the course of their careers.

That said, the last minute tending the oil industry paid to House members is emblematic of how invested it was in the outcome of that particular legislation and its ability to quickly flex its political clout.

"The pattern doesn't get more clear than this -- those who sided with Big Oil received campaign contributions," said David Donnelly, National Campaigns Director for Public Campaign Action Fund. "Those who didn't got nothing. Oil companies walk away with record profits while sticking it to Americans at the pump. But it's really these politicians who are in the tank."

The bill, which forces the federal government to conduct three lease auctions in Gulf and mid-Atlantic areas by June 2012, was the first step in a GOP-led plan to loosen restrictions on offshore drilling. Environmental activists have raised concern about the damage that could be caused by encouraging more offshore oil exploriation. Energy experts, meanwhile, have questioned whether the leases would have any impact on the price of oil -- both in the short and long term.

Below if the list of lawmakers and the contributions they received this past April:

• Rep. John Culberson (R-Tex.) received $2,500 from Exxon's PAC;
• Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.) received $2,000 from Exxon's PAC and1,500 from Chevron's PAC;
• Rep. John Graves (R-Ga.) received $5,000 from Exxon's PAC;
• Rep. Ralph Hall (R-Tex.) receives $1,000 from Exxon's PAC;
• Rep. John Carter (R-Tex.) received $3,000 from Exxon's PAC;
• Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) received $2,000 from Exxon and1,000 from Chevron's PAC;
• Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-KS) received $1,000 from Exxon's PAC;
• Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) received $1,000 from Chevron's PAC;
• Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK) received $1,000 from Chevron's PAC and1,000 from ConocoPhillips's PAC;
• Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Tex.) received $1,000 from Chevron's PAC and1,000 from ConocoPhillips's PAC;
• Rep. James Costa (D-Calif.) received $1,000 from Chevron's PAC;
• Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Ark.) received $1,000 from Chevron's PAC;
• Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.) received $1,000 from Chevron's PAC;
• Rep. Samuel Johnson (R-Tex.) received $1,000 from Chevron's PAC;
• Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) received $1,000 from Chevron's PAC;
• Rep. Michael Ross (D-Ark.) received $1,000 from Chevron's PAC;
• Rep. Bill Flores (R-Tex.) received $1,000 from Chevron's PAC;
• Rep. Edward Whitfield (R-KY) received $1,000 from Chevron's PAC;
• Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.) received $1,000 from Chevron's PAC;
• Rep. John Carter (R-Tex.) received $1,000 from Chevron's PAC;
• Rep. John Mica (R-FL) received $1,000 from Chevron's PAC;
• Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) received $1,000 from Chevron's PAC;
• Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) received $1,000 from Chevron's PAC;
• Rep. Clifford Stearns (R-FL) received $1,000 from Chevron's PAC;
• Rep. Pete Olson (R-Tex.) received $1,000 from Chevron's PAC;
• Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) received $1,000 from ConocoPhillips's PAC;

Comments

[Kenz300]

03:49 PM on 06/04/2011

Big money, big business and billionaires......... the best government money can buy.

When will the average American wake up from their FAUX NOISE induced coma and see what Republicans are doing to this country. They are no friend of average working Americans.

[Jon Hand]

12:16 PM on 05/23/2011

Thank you for sharing this information!

I would love to see a section on your website that was dedicated to tracking financial contributions made to lawmakers and the legislation that was believed to have influence.

[aligatorhardt]

11:13 AM on 05/23/2011

Estimates indicate that US oil fields could produce at best , a 7% increase in world production. That is not enough to change world oil prices. But it is enough to increase damages from pollution. While major spills are rare, like the BP-Gulf disaster, other spills are continuous.     http://www.onearth.org/blog/accounting-for-a-man-made-disaster-in-the-gulf-a-year-later

[heian120]

04:49 PM on 05/23/2011

And you know this how? People keep making this ridiculous statement.
Look at the link below. Look carefully at the change in world oil usage and then think about price. The use of oil dropped 0.71% in 2008 and 1.63% in 2009.

http://www.indexmundi.com/energy.aspx

And here is the price data. Notice that when demand drops slightly as above the price drops dramatically and far out of proportion to the % change in demand. Its not at all linear.

http://www.mongabay.com/images/commodities/charts/crude_oil.html

Yes there are other factors but no one can say that increasing supply – our supply – could not have a significant influence on the Price.

[aligatorhardt]

06:18 PM on 05/23/2011

The world wide recession caused by Republican fraud, overspending and financial deregulation was the reason for the drop in oil prices, not the tiny production from drilling.

[lefttome]

12:52 PM on 05/21/2011

If you think greedy oil speculators are manipulating the price of oil then please sign this petition.
http://signon.org/sign/stop-oil-market-speculation

[rabbijm]

08:59 AM on 05/20/2011

Come on, who is going to switch a vote for a $2000 contribution. Are these contributions tax deductible? I agree we have the best gov't money can buy, but let's focus on the real money.

[Almondo]

09:11 AM on 05/20/2011

Cmon, what harm is a little corexit going to cause, drink.

[banker67]

09:23 AM on 05/20/2011

Agree with rabbijm: The donations revealed here are a joke. It is ridiculous to believe anyone -- even someone voting on the village July 4th decorations -- would change a vote for $1,000.
And after 'Citizens United,' oil companies pulling down a reported $1 billion a month in profits can legally put as much money as they want into any PAC, any time. What's even the reported $8.8 million compared with tens of billions in annual profits for every major oil company on the planet?
Literally, $1,000 won't even buy dinner for four at any restaurant any Republican would deign to patronize. $8,8 million is barely a starter deposit on a UBS bank account.
So if this story can not possibly be about such meager political contributions, what is it about?

[cat5663]

02:35 PM on 05/23/2011

Maybe it's not the amount that is important...but the fact that they accepted it.

[AJOHMSS]

07:39 AM on 05/20/2011

Contributions?
Let's call them what they really are: pay-offs.

[Rangergirl]

07:34 AM on 05/20/2011

Congress, and Senate are bought and paid for. They are NOT working for you or I

[Rangergirl]

07:30 AM on 05/20/2011

Our system is broken.

[goneskiing]

04:56 AM on 05/20/2011

Want to stop the corporates from running government, then do something about it http://freespeechforpeople.org/

[marinemomof3]

08:00 AM on 05/20/2011

DONE ! thank you for the link :)

[fireofenergy]

12:57 PM on 05/20/2011

Thanks for the link.
We should all enforce an amendment that prevent ANY corporate contributions... If worded properly. I signed!

[Thisboy]

01:32 AM on 05/20/2011

There is nothing Capitalistic or Democratic about this system. We refuse to invest in anything but instant gratification and results.We support the strong and powerful and ignore and under invest in our untapped resources because it will not get votes or pay off fast enough .

[Rangergirl]

07:31 AM on 05/20/2011

Your are totally right F@F

[Thisboy]

01:24 AM on 05/20/2011

It should be very troubling to every American that we are actually reading about how the people that are supposed to be serving our interest are blatantly selling their votes for personal gain to special interest?

[LeeCalif]

12:26 AM on 05/20/2011

This isn't even $30,000.
If any favorable legislation is given or suggested, they're gone .

[LeeCalif]

12:23 AM on 05/20/2011

A new campaign law will be drafted and passed stating that the only campaign info. a Congressman can know is the amount of money s/he has in the bank acct.
Not where, who or how much was given.

I insist on this law coming to be.

[aligatorhardt]

11:17 AM on 05/23/2011

That sounds like a distraction. Public campaign financing will stop direct to candidate funding.

[DanoX]

11:47 PM on 05/19/2011

The best Democracy money can buy!

[cincinnati]

11:34 PM on 05/19/2011

What's particularly sicking is how little
is needed to buy off some, including
my Dem's.

Congress is the cheapest trick
in the world.