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Obama Biggest Recipient of BP Cash
BP and its employees have given more than $3.5 million to federal candidates over the past 20 years, with the largest chunk of their money going to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Donations come from a mix of employees and the company’s political action committees — $2.89 million flowed to campaigns from BP-related PACs and about $638,000 came from individuals.
On top of that, the oil giant has spent millions each year on lobbying — including $15.9 million last year alone — as it has tried to influence energy policy.
During his time in the Senate and while running for president, Obama received a total of $77,051 from the oil giant and is the top recipient of BP PAC and individual money over the past 20 years, according to financial disclosure records.
In Congress, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), who last week cautioned that the incident should “not be used inappropriately” to halt Obama’s push for expansion of offshore drilling, has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of BP’s largesse. Her comments created some blowback, with critics complaining that she is too blasé about the impact of the disaster, even though she was among the first lawmakers to call for a federal investigation into the spill.
As the top congressional recipient in the last cycle and one of the top BP cash recipients of the past two decades, Landrieu banked almost $17,000 from the oil giant in 2008 alone and has lined her war chest with more than $28,000 in BP cash overall.
“Campaign contributions, from energy companies or from environmental groups, have absolutely no impact on Sen. Landrieu’s policy agenda or her response to this unprecedented disaster in the Gulf,” said Landrieu spokesman Aaron Saunders. “The senator is proud of the broad coalition she’s built since her first day in the Senate to address the energy and environmental challenges in Louisiana and in the nation. This disaster only makes the effort to promote and save Louisiana’s coast all that more important.”
Several BP executives have given directly to Landrieu’s campaign, including current and previous U.S. operation Presidents Lamar McKay and Robert Malone. Other donors include Margaret Hudson, BP’s America vice president, and Benjamin Cannon, federal affairs director for the U.S. branch. Donations ranged from $1,000 to $2,300 during the past campaign cycle.
Environmentalists complain that Landrieu has played down the impact of oil spills.
“I mean, just the gallons are so minuscule compared to the benefits of U.S. strength and security, the benefits of job creation and energy security,” Landrieu said at a hearing last month on offshore drilling. “So while there are risks associated with everything, I think you understand that they are quite, quite minimal.”
U.S. President Barack Obama talks after touring the Coast Guard Venice Center in the Gulf of Mexico region to view environmental damage caused by the sinking of BP's oil and gas Deepwater Horizontal drilling rig while in Venice, Louisiana, May 2, 2010.
(REUTERS/Larry Downing) “They own Mary Landrieu and the rest of the Louisiana delegation,” said Greenpeace Research Director Kert Davies. “They have more money, disposable income and a fleet of dispensable lobbyists to beat the band.”
Other politicians with ties to coastal states or states with BP refineries have also reaped benefits from the fourth largest company in the world.
The top congressional recipients of BP campaign cash include Republican Rep. Don Young of the oil-intensive Alaska delegation, who has received almost as much as Obama, raking in $73,300 during his congressional tenure. Also on the list is Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), whose state has a BP refinery in Toledo and who has raked in $41,400. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has received $44,899.
“Make no mistake: BP ranks among the most powerful corporate forces in U.S. politics,” said Dave Levinthal, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics. “It donates hundreds of thousands of dollars every election cycle through its employees and political action committee and is routinely a seven- or eight-figure federal lobbying powerhouse each year.”
In 2008 alone, BP gave $37,000 to members of the House Energy Committee and $106,501 to members of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, which deals with security issues facing the nation’s oil supply.
BP has also evolved in its corporate giving over the past decade, shifting more money to Democrats. In 2000, the company gave almost 39 percent more to Republicans than to Democrats. But by 2008, Democrats had nearly pulled even with Republicans on BP donations.
Moreover, the company has nearly tripled the amount of money it has spent on lobbying, from about $5.7 million in 1999 to $15.9 million last year, according to lobbying disclosures.
BP has bulked up its K Street team by signing some of the biggest firms in Washington, several of which employ former Hill staffers with deep-seated ties to Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico coast.
BP representation within lobby shop Alpine Group alone includes lobbyist Bob Brooks, who served as chief of staff to former Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.), and lobbyist Rebecca Hawes, a longtime counsel for former Sen. John Breaux (D-La.). Jason Schendle worked for Landrieu for nine years, according to lobbying disclosures.
Former Rep. Jim Turner, now a lobbyist for BP with Arnold & Porter, formerly represented the 2nd District of Texas, which includes a large piece of Gulf shoreline. And at DC Legislative and Regulatory Services, BP lobbyist David Marin was formerly the lead Hill staffer for Congress’s Select Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina.
“First, they are exceedingly competent. Second, they are [Democratic-centric]. I know the first will help enormously in the next few weeks. I am not so sure about the second,” said Republican energy lobbyist Mike McKenna of MWR Strategies, who predicted that Landrieu would quite likely get “very wide latitude” on the oil issue. “That may not be the case with BP, whose record is a bit more spotty.”
30 Comments so far
Show All"even though she (Landrieu) was among the first lawmakers to call for a federal investigation into the spill."
Oh, please. Raccoons that investigate who raided the cooler.
Let's investigate "The Spill"! You never investigated 9/11 and look at all the Collateral Damage: Over 1.5 Million people killed, over 7,000 American Soldiers Dead, Millions permanently disabled, 4 million living in refugee camps, Uncounted number of returning veteran suicides, uncounted number of murders committed by returning veterans, increase in the national debt of well over 9 TRILLION DOLLARS and it now stands at 12.9 TRILLION DOLLARS, Wall Street Thieves rewarded with billions of dollars of salaries and bonuses, The Federal Reserve loaning Trillions of Dollars at "0" Percent Interest to its friends (No Audit Yet), The Department of Defense loses track of over 3 TRILLION DOLLARS in expenses, kidnapping legalized, torture legalized, habeas corpus done away with.....
And a U.S. President has an "Assassination List"......I did not know that we were now using "The Mafia Model of Government!"
Why investigate, The MOST BP is going to pay is 75 milliion dollars because there is a "Congressional Cap" on settlements....Even though BP has profitted over the past 9 years hundreds of BILLIONS. What are the collateral damages: Gulf Fishing Industry wiped out, so much for fresh gulf shrimp....Tourism wiped out, who wants to see dead fish washing up on the shore with dead birds covered in oil. Beaches lined with oil laden sand...
It is good to see Sarah in the news all the time, I gather "They" have already chosen her as our next President..."Drill baby Drill!"
Our "representatives" are merely Coatroom Attendants at the Country Club.
Our country is completely owned by the Corporations. Any other belief is inane and self-delusional!
Big corporations and rich individuals are in total control of our country now. We are seeing the results of Ronnie Reagan`s (trickle down) theory--Oil is trickling everywhere and the money is still trickling up to the rich, who are using their tax cut money to get their own way. We still have to listen to the Republicans telling us to cut more taxes across the board, which loads more money on the big boys to pay off congress and the administration. It is a fine system to wreck our country.
Any working class American who still believes in trickle down must be so color blind that they can't see that all that is trickling down on them is yellow liquid.
That yellow liquid's been trickling down on America generally for a long, long time anyway, but our present Administration in Washington is continuing it...with zeal.
America has lost its soul way before Barack Obama sold his to the altar of greed and Empire.
Until lobbying is outlawed, this kind of funding will continue. Anyone who thinks that a vote is more important that a dollar is deluded.
Remember, according to the SCOTUS, corporations are people, now more than ever. Very big, fat, rich, undeserving, selfish, corrupt, and, indeed, evil people. BP does not care what any of us think, and they don't have to care.
As for Obama? He is their dutiful servant, as are all politicians.
Does anyone really think this will change anything (other than further degredation of the Earth's ecosystems)?
It should be no surprise that Barry and a host of other politicians have received money from BP. What IS surprising, however, is how cheaply these whores sell out their constituents. All BP and its employees had to pay was $3.5 million over 20 years. All Barry got is piddling $77,000.
How many billions were BP and other oil companies to profit for Barry's opening up the Atlantic seaboard for drilling?
My contempt for the US government knows no bounds.
Well it looks like Obama didn't have to go offshore to drill his money well, but ho-hum, no surprise here.
So, just out of curiosity, how many of you folks have contacted your Congressional reps to insist they support a Constit. amendment to strip corp.s of their personhood status? Oh, I know, "It won't do any good, so why bother". But that's not really the point. We have to demonstrate, in no uncertain terms, that a large number of us want this done. Then, when they fail to do it, we will have helped build a constituency to whom we can clearly demonstrate, with concrete, well spelled out issues, as opposed to generalized ideological ones, that the particular individuals to whom we have clearly expressed our views will not act accordingly and we must replace them with those who will. In other words, it is we who, by such actions, can build a concrete platform on which an independent party movement, the one that so many seem to insist we need, can stand.
O.B.A.M.A. = Oil Buys Another Mediocre American
I would not call Barry mediocre, I would call him the cons consummate con man! I think he is more dangerous than Bush, because he is a silver tongued, corporate quisling, and has sooooo many sheeple following him like lemmings headed over the cliff.
Oil Buys Another Major Asshole is appropriate.
And now it's all codified into law, that corporations like BP can freely and openly buy any and all elections and own politicians outright to do their bidding. Obama is owned by a long list of corporations, just like a NASCAR racer, so he should be wearing their logo on his suit, right next to his flag pin. Landrieu should be wearing a BP logo ball cap when she makes her assurances to the media about how wonderful offshore drilling is and how little a threat the spill really amounts to.
I find it interesting. If a local mafioso gives the mayor a few G's, and gives the local sheriff a few G's and a small percentage of the take to get them to look the other way, they can all be taken down by the federal racketeering laws. Usually, though, the Don doesn't set up shop on main street.
If a megabuck corporation or cartel gives our alleged representatives a few hundred G's and sets up shop on "K" Street, to dispense still more largess to get what it wants, the "press" may comment on it, but just accepts it as a "fact," the way things are. The Federal Racketeering legislation is obviously not going to be used on Federal Racketeers.
Many years ago, my father asked me if I knew the definition of an "honest politician." He told me it is one who stays bought. I think we have the most honest politicians that money can buy!
We little guys (AKA the voters) don't have the money to buy them back.
Suggestions for cleaning up oil spill: Obama, all members of congress, all Bank and Oil Company CEOs should be taken to Louisiana and made to clean up all the damaged flora and fauna on their hands and knees. Maybe they could get a true understanding of what they do to the environment and the people. Oh, and i forgot lobbyists. They should be put on leaking boats out in the middle of the oil spill. They should be given buckets and made to hand clean the gulf.
Worth noting is that Obomber was in office when the feds gave BP a “categorical exclusion” on drilling in the Gulf. Thus, they didn’t even have to do an environmental analysis, let alone an environmental impact statement.
The campaign money Obomber took from BP should be seen as a bribe to enhance Big Oil profits while placing the public at risk for the consequences.
And this is change we are supposed to believe in ?
It's just more disorganized crime Washington style in collusion with their corporate masters.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/04/AR2010050404118.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
excerpt:
U.S. exempted BP's Gulf of Mexico drilling from environmental impact study
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
"The Interior Department exempted BP's calamitous Gulf of Mexico drilling operation from a detailed environmental impact analysis last year, according to government documents, after three reviews of the area concluded that a massive oil spill was unlikely.
The decision by the department's Minerals Management Service (MMS) to give BP's lease at Deepwater Horizon a "categorical exclusion" from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on April 6, 2009 -- and BP's lobbying efforts just 11 days before the explosion to expand those exemptions -- show that neither federal regulators nor the company anticipated an accident of the scale of the one unfolding in the gulf."
It's revolting!
From Amy Goodman's article today:
"In 2006, a BP pipeline in Alaska leaked 200,000 gallons of crude oil, causing what the Environmental Protection Agency calls "the largest spill that ever occurred on the [Alaskan] North Slope." BP was fined $60 million for the two disasters. Then, in 2009, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined BP an additional $87 million for the refinery blast."
So, 60+87 = $147 million in fines since 2006. BP's 2009 revenues alone were $327 billion. Even with the fines they are making record profits.
But (ONLY) $3.5 million were given to federal candidates over the past 20 years.
Jeesh, BP can buy our politicians with chump change!!! It is sad to say, for the gulf coast, its people, economy and ecosystem, but judging by the numbers, BP is going to get no more than a slap on the wrist.
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
The more one learns about Obama the bigger a loser he is revealed to be.
Mr President Obama,
Please step forward and be clear about any more off shore drilling, any off shore operations and how much the profiting company must pay for any damages ? Currently they must pay the first $10 billion correct ? Why not all of it and completion date of clean up to be as quickly as possible? That clean up dead line date should be set by qualified scientists who have never been given any money by oil companies. We need some honest unattached people.
Bill Brown Pine City, MN
Obomber looks more and more dreadful.
Drill Baby Drill:
http://www.markfiore.com/drill_baby_drill_0
I naively thought that there may have been two or maybe three public officials in Congress who were not corrupt.
But, the folding of Kicinich and Sanders during the Health Care Insurance scam showed me that there are no honest people who still possess integrity in Congress.
Our government is rotten to the core. It has been for a long, long time.
Obama is just another shill to run the show for his masters.
Does anybody recall Obama's first, or close to the first executive decision? He stated that the revolving door was closed, that government employees were banned for several years before they could come back as a lobbyist and that corporate officials were banned from jumping into Federal offices, say as regulators of their own industry.
About a week later, he put Raytheon's most successful pimp in charge of military procurement, if my memory is correct.
We the People, and some members of Congress questioned this very loudly. Obama simply said this was a special case and this was the man he needed to do the job. Boy, has he done a job!
The only difference between being Bushwhacked and living in the Obamanation is that the current leader can speak in complete sentences and is of a darker complexion. Otherwise, it is business as usual and I do mean BUSINESS!
obama is longer in politics than hugo chaves
and learned long time ago, america ain't venezuela,you either accept the money or let the others fetch the praise which is not his style
edweg