Which Politicians Benefit from Big Oil

WASHINGTON, June 20, 2010 - The question arises as to which politicians receive the most contributions from the Oil and Gas Industry Lobby.

The following elected officials are the front runners.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) has taken $363,950
Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) has taken more than $200,000
Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) has taken $1.8 million

Rudy Giuliani (R-NY) has taken $609,358

Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) has taken $385,500

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) has taken $1,448,380

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has taken $426,989

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) has taken $16.7 million


The 2008 McCain/Palin campaign took $2.4 million



In 2009, BP’s Lobby spent $16 million
. In the first quarter of 2010, BP’s Lobby spent $3.5 million



The entire Oil & Gas Lobby In 2009, spent $174 MILLION.

In an article on Politifact.com Robert Farley wrote:

The fact is, the oil and gas industry throws around a lot of money in Washington. The industry spent $174 million lobbying Congress in 2009, ranking it behind only the pharmaceutical/health products industry and business associations. By contrast, the Center for Responsive Politics notes that the entire environmental movement spent $22 million on lobbying in 2009.



In 2009, BP alone spent $16 million to influence legislation; and another $3.5 million in the first quarter of 2010. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, its agenda included lobbying actively on the American Clean Energy Leadership Act of 2009, which allows increased oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico; as well as on the Oil Spill Prevention Act of 2009 and the Clean Water Restoration Act.

More of BP's money has been heading to the campaigns of Republicans than Democrats. And as an industry, about three quarters of the oil and gas money has gone to Republicans since 1990, the Center on Responsive Politics noted. That disparity held true in the 2008 presidential campaign, as McCain and his running-mate Palin accepted $2.4 million in contributions from the oil industry, more than double the nearly $900,000 that went to Obama.



In all, the Obama campaign took in about $750 million. So while $71,051 from BP employees is nothing to scoff at, it was a relative drop in the bucket to his campaign coffers.