Big Oil Big Giver in Prez Race
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:08 pm
The price of oil continues to skyrocket today with a barrel of crude going for $120. Remember back in the day when the media kept warning that oil would bypass the $100 a barrel ceiling? Yeah, well those days are long gone.
Leave aside whether the U.S. can ever wean itself off its dependence on foreign oil, how about simply curbing subsidies and other corporate welfare perks for oil companies? An army of high-paid oil and gas lobbyists know the best way to forestall action is to win the hearts (these can usually be located next to their campaign accounts) of politicians. Oil producers are doling out some of their record-breaking profits to fund the presidential race. The Center for Responsive Politics, a non-profit, runs a database called Oil Change International that tracks oil and gas contributions to the presidential candidates.
Republican candidate Senator John McCain is in the lead with $291,685, while Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is close behind with $289,950 in contributions.
Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama trails the two with $163,840 in oil and gas contributions.
The biggest recipient of oil and gas largess is former Republican presidential nominee Rudy Guliani who collected $659,158 in political contributions. The campaign contributions are current as of March 3, 2008, according to the database.
Oil giant Exxon Mobil is not taking any chances in its lobbying and has given contributions to all three candidates. Long a target for environmentalists, Exxon has given the most, $23,550, to Senator Obama and the least to Senator McCain with just $7,950. Senator Clinton received $15,700.
Hmmmm. Is that about mitigating a worst-case scenario or do they know something we don’t?
