Clinton’s fossil fuel friends: lobbyist bundlers brought in big money

by Alex Glorioso on April 1, 2016

Last night, a video that captured presidential candidate Hillary Clinton pointing her finger at a climate change activist went viral. What got Clinton’s goat? An insinuation by the Sanders campaign that she accepts money from the fossil fuel industry. The campaigns are now embroiled in a back and forth on how much money Clinton takes from that industry and whether this money would influence her policies were she elected.

We can’t know the answer to the second part but we’ve done some digging to help clarify the first…
While contributions from individuals working for oil and gas interests haven’t contributed that much to her, relatively speaking — the industry doesn’t even make her top 20 — a review by the Center for Responsive Politics of filings by lobbyists who have bundled money for her race reveals that Clinton has taken $1.4 million from lobbyists who represent the industry.

Bundlers are fundraising heavyweights who pledge to bring in a certain amount for the candidate from their personal and professional networks. So far this year, 47 different lobbyists have collected $4.1 million for Clinton’s presidential bid. Over 30 percent of this money — $1.4 million — was raised by 11 different bundlers who represent clients from the oil and gas industry. These clients include major oil companies like Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Marathon Oil. In total, the oil and gas industry has paid $18.6 million to these bundlers to represent their interests in Washington in 2015.

The most lucrative bundler for Clinton has been well-known networker Heather Podesta from the lobbying firm Heather Podesta + Partners. Podesta has raised $379,731 for Clinton’s campaign so far. And while she represents a long list of companies and organization vying for their own special interests, two of them are from oil and gas: Marathon Oil and Oxbow Corp. Together, the companies paid Podesta and her colleagues $220,000 to serve their interests on the federal level.

A big caveat here: Podesta, like some of the other 11 oil and gas lobbyists, represents a slew of other clients as well, so it’s somewhat disingenuous to credit the bundled money to the oil and gas industry. In Podesta’s case, the other clients include three in renewable energy: Brookfield Power, Fuels America and Uranium Producers of America.

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/04/clintons-fossil-fuel-friends-lo...

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No wonder she acts as jumpy as a cat crapping razor blades when asked about fossil fuel money.

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is the less-visible "third" Koch brother, William I. (Bill) Koch.

See:
https://www.oxbow.com/About_Us_Executive_Leadership_main.html

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Koch_(businessman)

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Euterpe2

ppnortney's picture

Hope it becomes a meme.

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The smaller the mind the greater the conceit. --Aesop

Amanda Matthews's picture

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

...the Sanders campaign telling the truth...they're makin me look bad over here, knowaddamean."

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GradySeasons
"The nightlife ain't no good life, but it's my life."

Oldest Son Of A Sailor's picture

Her supporters over at TOP don't care if she does it...
She doesn't have to do the Clinton thing and lie about it...
Like Slick Willie did when they asked him about smokin weed...
Where he could have just said, "Hey it was the 60's & 70's, who the hell cares?"
Or when he was playing with Monica saying, "A real gentleman doesn't kiss and tell."

Hillary needs to stand tall and proud and say, "Well... It's what they offered."

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