Dems gain bigger share of big energy's bucks| Like almost every campaign donor in the oil and gas industry, Chesapeake Energy gave money in 2004 to the Republican presidential ticket of two former Texas energy company executives, incumbents George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
The company had given no contributions to Democrats vying for the nomination to challenge Bush and later shunned the nominee, Sen. John Kerry, for the main contest.
But in the 2008 campaign, the natural gas producer's political action committee is embracing bipartisanship. Chesapeake has doled out contributions to Democratic frontrunners Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama as well as leading Republicans Rudolph Giuliani and John McCain.
"There comes a time when one has to reach out to others and say 'gosh let us get better acquainted so you understand where we are on these sorts of issues,' " said Thomas Price Jr., Chesapeake senior vice president.
Price, who oversees the political action committee, said he has concluded that energy industry contributions had been "a bit overweighted to Republicans."
The shift at Chesapeake — an Oklahoma-based company that has acquired Houston-based business assets and holds gas leases in the state — reflects an emerging national trend. The energy sector, solidly Republican for decades, has become a contested political resource amid a Democrat-controlled Congress and polls showing Democrats ahead in hypothetical matchups in the 2008 presidential election.
The overwhelming majority of contributions from oil and gas company employees and PACs is still going to Republicans. But the once enormous gulf between giving to GOP and Democratic contenders has been shrinking, according to figures supplied by the Center for Responsive Politics.
In the past two presidential contests, the energy sector favored President Bush over Kerry by almost a 9-to-1 ratio and over former Vice President Al Gore by almost 15 to 1.
Without Bush on the ticket, there is no clear industry favorite. In the first six months of this year, Republican contenders received $918,518 from individual donors who work in the oil and gas sector, and Democrats received $380,209, a ratio of nearly 3 to 1.
Giuliani leads way
The top choice of energy sector contributors, former New York Mayor Giuliani, has received $477,208, or 37 percent of such contributions made during the first half of 2007, according to data compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. His affiliation with the Houston-based Bracewell & Giuliani, which represents clients in the energy industry, has sharpened his fundraising prowess.
But three Democrats — senators Clinton of New York and Obama of Illinois, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson — have received more than $100,000, along with Republicans Mitt Romney and McCain.
The tilt at some oil companies is more pronounced. Among the top companies whose committees and individuals contributed, 78 percent of the contributions from Exxon Mobil employees went to Democrats, according to the center. At Chevron, 62 percent of donors gave to Democrats, and at Occidental Petroleum the figure was 49 percent.
"There is no oil company candidate," said Republican fundraiser Richard Collins of Dallas.
With energy independence for the nation emerging as a major issue in the 2008 campaign, some oil industry insiders said that Clinton appears willing to hear them out and has avoided industry-bashing rhetoric.
"There is a real sense of pragmatism on energy issues in the Clinton campaign that is absent in other Democratic campaigns," said Scott Segal, a Democratic attorney who works on energy issues in the Washington office of Bracewell & Giuliani.
Also, Richardson served as President Bill Clinton's energy secretary and served on the boards of San Antonio-based Valero Energy and Houston-based Diamond Offshore Drilling.
Big contrast to 2006
Sentiments such as Segal's may explain why Hillary Clinton led all candidates among energy and natural resource company PACs, according to CQ MoneyLine figures, with $22,300 in the first half of the year, ahead of Giuliani ($14,900) and McCain ($14,500).
The figures are a sharp contrast to the 2006 election cycle, when oil and gas company PACs and employees gave just 18 percent of their contributions to Democratic candidates for federal office. They gave 20 percent to Democrats in both 2004 and 2002.
Mary Boyle, a spokeswoman for Common Cause, a liberal-leaning group that tracks campaign finance issues, said that this year special interests are "playing it safe and giving money to candidates who have the potential to end up in the White House."
Giuliani leads all the presidential candidates in giving from the oil and gas industry. He has cultivated energy executives over the years, speaking at a Texas Oil and Gas Association meeting in Dallas in 2004 and more recently tapping Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens to be on his presidential finance team.
Romney, a business executive and former Massachusetts governor, took in the second largest haul, $232,300, from oil and gas interests. He was followed by Clinton, who garnered $147,350 from the industry.
Among those industry executives contributing to Clinton's campaign was Shell Oil President John Hofmeister of Houston, who gave the senator $4,600 — the maximum allowed for primary and general elections. Hofmeister and his wife, Karen, who also contributed $4,600 to Clinton, attended a fundraiser for the candidate in August at the Houston home of Eileen and Kase Lawal.
Giving 'fully bipartisan'
Hofmeister, who told a group in Washington last year that he ensures his political giving is "fully bipartisan, 50-50," also contributed $2,100 to Giuliani. His wife gave $2,300 to the former mayor.
Despite Clinton's support from some with oil and gas interests, her campaign sought to distance the senator from an industry unpopular with many Democratic activists. In a statement about the money, it listed what were labeled "examples of Clinton standing up to the oil industry."
Those included her call for investigation into gasoline price gouging and opposition to tax breaks for oil companies. The statement noted she has also proposed the creation of a $50 billion strategic energy fund to be paid for by ending energy tax subsidies and would focus on research to reduce global warming.
The Giuliani campaign provided position papers that emphasized his support for expanding nuclear power and increasing use of ethanol and bio-fuels and clean coal. The issue paper said the candidate has called for gaining access, in an environmentally responsible way, to more oil and gas natural reserves in North America and building more refineries.
At Chesapeake Energy, Price said he was interested in Richardson, and had just written a $1,000 check to the candidate.
"It really makes sense to try and reach out and educate a new group of political leaders," he said.
Via| Chron|by Benneth Both and Richard S. Dunham
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