On Saturday, Nancy Pelosi said she and the Democratic leadership had changed their position on offshore oil and gas exploration. Republicans have pounced on drilling as their solution to the pain at the pump Americans are experiencing while depicting Democrats as putting environmental concerns before the pocket books of the country’s drivers. Pelosi’s fudging on the issue is evidenced that the GOP’s campaign is working. And the energy debate is raging as a top issue locally in competitive congressional races.

Dave Johnson writing at The Huffington Post said that the GOP was “a political party working for oil companies - for money.”

With this coordinated campaign we see oil company advertisements on TV, hear them on the radio, read reports of “studies” from these industry front-group “think tanks,” read op-ed pieces written by industry-paid “experts,” and then to top it off elected officials and candidates reinforce the message (while the industry message reinforces their candidacy).

But what about the Democrats? Is Pelosi’s switch evidence of Democrats succumbing to Big Oil’s cash as well?

The Center for Responsive Politics’ charting of oil and gas interests giving over the past 10 election cycles shows Republicans have received three out of every four dollars. So far in this current cycle, again, the GOP has received 75 percent of the $19.8 million contributed by oil and gas companies and PACs. The Democrats 25 percent is up from 18 percent over the 2006 cycle, which must partially reflect the fact that Democrats control Congress. The industry has almost matched its $20.2 million contribution it made in the whole 2006 cycle, and there’s two-and-a-half months left before election day. With the Democratic leadership signaling they are willing to shift their position, it will be interesting to see if any more petro cash will flow their way.

(more…)

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“My name is Daniel Plainview and this is my son and partner H.W. Plainview. I’m an oil man.” Ok, ok, there won’t be blood, but there will be money made from oil profits. Over the last two weeks, gas prices and oil industry influence have been a key focus in both the media and here on this blog.

Last week, I looked at campaign contributions from the oil industry to a group of Republicans staging a pro-oil industry protest on the floor of the House. There are other ways to look at the economy of influence using publicly available data. For one, members of Congress must disclose their assets in personal financial disclosure forms. In this case, I want to look at stocks, in particular oil stocks. Thanks to Open Secrets’ personal financial disclosure database, I was able to put together the nifty chart below. (more…)

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Our friends at the Center for Responsive Politics are partnering with Helium to hold a contest for citizen journalists who can best write about the influence of money in US politics and elections. Here’s the run-down from CRP:

The Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) has partnered with Helium to bring you the OpenSecrets.org Citizen Journalism Awards. Compete by writing unique, compelling articles about money’s influence on US elections and public policy. You could be named the next OpenSecrets.org Citizen Journalist and win a cash prize.

The assignment: CRP will feature one new title each month. Follow CRP’s article guidelines, research the featured topic using OpenSecrets.org and other resources and write a compelling article for your chance to win.

The awards: CRP will pick one winning article each month. The winning writer will receive an OpenSecrets.org Citizen Journalism Award and a $100 cash prize from CRP.

CRP will also feature the winning articles on its website and in its email newsletters, which reach thousands of journalists, activists, academics and citizens.

Get started

Pick a title: See CRP’s current contest title below. You can also visit CRP’s partner page at Helium to write to more (noncontest) titles.

Research: OpenSecrets.org is an unparalleled resource for researching the influence of industries and interests in U.S. politics, and on issues that affect all our lives. The more you draw on OpenSecrets.org in your article, the better. Please attribute all data and statistics and provide URLs, whether you find the information on OpenSecrets.org or elsewhere. Expressing your opinion is fine, but please back it up with facts.

Write: Write a unique, well-researched article in 750 words or less. You can submit articles to this contest until noon on Friday, August 8. CRP’s staff will begin reviewing essays on August 5 from the top articles rated by the Helium community. Selection will be based on the most compelling essay and the winner will be the essay that brings the freshest insight on the issue presented.

Submit: File your article at Helium.com, where other Helium users will be able to read and rate it. CRP will pick the contest’s winner from among the top-rated articles.

Do not pass go. Proceed directly to OpenSecrets.org to enter the contest and collect your $100. The current contest topic is:

How have campaign contributions and lobbying efforts influenced policy on an issue you care about?

Submissions are due by August 8th.

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New campaign finance data — covering both the Congressional and Presidential races — is now available from the Center for Responsive Politics. Here are some of the highlights:

Barack Obama and John McCain’s top contributing industries look awfully similar . . .

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) has given the most money to other candidates and lawmakers through his leadership PAC or candidate committee, according to our updated candidate-to-candidate section. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who’s in a tight re-election battle, collected the most from other lawmakers at nearly $351,900.

The percentage of money coming from donors giving $200 or less to Barack Obama’s presidential bid has increased by two points, from 45 percent to 47 percent, according to our updated presidential donor demographics page. We’ve also updated our donor demographics pages for members of Congress.

The National Association of Realtors’s PAC has given more money to candidates than any other PAC so far this election cycle, according to our updated PAC database. The group has given $2.3 million so far, 59 percent of which has gone to Democrats. Sixteen of the top 20 PACs have favored Democrats with their contributions. We’ve also updated contributions from PACs to individual members of Congress.

In addition, CRP has  updated their 527s database, Donor Lookup for members of Congress and presidential candidates, and our ZIP code lookup.

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