NORTON META TAG

02 April 2016

Clinton’s fossil fuel friends: lobbyist bundlers brought in big money (but there’s an asterisk) & Ask Hillary Clinton: Sign pledge rejecting fossil fuel money 1APR16

The Greenpeace A.E. Bates thermal airship flies over Seattle, Washington, with Mount Rainier in the background on March 25, 2016 urging Hillary Clinton to reject fossil fuel money in her campaign. The Democratic caucuses are March 26, 2016. Photo by Marcus Donner / Greenpeace.
OpenSecrets.org - Center for Responsive Politics
OPEN SECRETS offers this clarification on hillary clinton's donations from the fossil fuel industry to her presidential campaign. Check out this article and decide for yourself if the fossil fuel industry is trying to buy her loyalty , and keep in mind Bernie Sanders doesn't accept any donations from super-pacs to his presidential campaign. hillary clinton has the chance to prove the fossil fuel industry is not buying her loyalty by signing the pledge to not take money from them. Click the link below to sign the petition asking her to divest her campaign from the fossil fuel industry and their money.....



Clinton’s fossil fuel friends: lobbyist bundlers brought in big money (but there’s an asterisk)


Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton hasn't received many contributions from the oil and gas industry, but some of the lobbyists bundling money for her represent the industry. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton hasn’t received many contributions from the oil and gas industry, but some of the lobbyists bundling money for her represent those interests. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
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 individuals working for oil and gas interests haven’t contributed much to Clinton, relatively speaking — the industry doesn’t even make her top 20 — a review by the Center for Responsive Politics of FEC filings reveals that Clinton has taken $1.4 million in contributions bundled by 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 ChevronExxon Mobil and Marathon Oil. In total, the oil and gas industry paid $18.6 million to these bundlers to voice 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 organizations, they include Marathon Oil and Oxbow Corp. Together, the companies paid Podesta and her colleagues $220,000 last year.
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 PowerFuels America and Uranium Producers of America.
But overall, renewable energy interests have paid only $1.5 million – or 8 percent of what the oil and gas industry has — to lobbyists who’ve raised money for Clinton.
And three lobbyists were less conflicted, with fossil fuel interests among five or fewer clients they represented. No renewable energy companies were on their client lists. These lobbysts bundled $298,559 for Clinton.
For two lobbyists, the priorities are crystal clear. Ankit N Desai and Theresa Mary Fariello who, together, have raised a total of $161,600 for Clinton, each have just one client: Cheniere Energy and Exxon Mobil, respectively. Desai and her colleagues were paid $3.4 million from Cheniere and Fariello and her colleagues were paid almost $12 million by Mobil.


Alex Glorioso
Alex joined CRP as a reporting intern in January 2016. Before that, she worked through the Brown Institute at Columbia University on a multimedia investigation of contemporary Iranian art, publishing several pieces resulting from the project in The Guardian. She has a master's degree in journalism from Columbia.



Bernie Sanders for President


During a campaign stop and fundraiser in New York yesterday, Hillary Clinton was asked by a young woman if she’d stop taking money from the fossil fuel industry. It was a simple question, one she could have easily answered with a "yes," or, perhaps because of the way she funds her campaign, responded with a "no."
Instead, she said she was "sick of the Sanders campaign lying" about the donations she receives.
Now, here’s the truth — the hard numbers don’t lie. And it’s something everyone should know as this video spreads online and is covered in the news:The fossil fuel industry has given more than $4.5 million to Hillary Clinton’s campaign and her top super PAC, including 11 lobbyists who have bundled more than $1 million to her put her in the White House.
Earlier in this campaign, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley signed a pledge to refuse money from fossil fuel interests. No Republican added their name, which isn’t surprising given that they don’t believe climate change is real. But neither did Hillary Clinton. It’s time for her to distance herself from the Republicans on this issue and add her name.
When we talk about our responsibilities as humans beings, there is nothing more important than leaving this country and our entire planet in a way that is habitable to our children and grandchildren. Donald Trump may believe that climate change is a hoax being perpetrated by the Chinese, but for almost everyone else, the debate is over. The scientific community is unanimous on this issue.
And what the scientists are saying is that we must boldly transform our energy system away from fossil fuels and into energy efficiency. Unfortunately one of the biggest obstacles to realizing that goal is a corrupt system of campaign finance that enriches the CEOs of fossil fuel companies at the expense of average Americans and our planet.
The easiest way to reject their influence is to refuse their money. And it would send a powerful message if the leading presidential candidates in the Democratic Party both stand up and say ENOUGH is ENOUGH, we are tired of fossil fuel companies regulating Congress with their campaign contributions and not the other way around.
Bernie has taken that pledge. It’s time for Hillary Clinton to join him.
The United States must lead the world in fighting climate change. CEOs are making record profits, while climate change ravages our planet and our people. Refusing their money is the first step towards combating their obscene influence.
In solidarity,
Jeff Weaver
Campaign Manager
Bernie 2016


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