BP Firing Up Political Machine One Year After Start of Oil Spill

After a year of largely self-imposed campaign finance exile, embattled oil company BP is again making federal political contributions from the political action committee sponsored by its North American subsidy, a Center for Responsive Politics review of federal records indicates.
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BP's recent political campaign expenditures come to light as the nation on Wednesday marks the first anniversary of an explosion that rocked the BP-operated offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, killing its 11 crew members and causing oil to gush for months afterward. Scientists estimate more than 205 million gallons leaked into the Gulf of Mexico

In March, BP's PAC cut checks primarily for Republican House leaders and Republican Party committees. These include:

Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), who received $1,000, is the influential chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who received a $5,000 contribution from the BP PAC, is perhaps the most influential Republican on Capitol Hill because of his capacity as House speaker

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), also a beneficiary of $5,000, is the House Majority Whip

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) received $5,000. Upton is the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and received more than $100,000 in contributions from the oil and gas industry during the 2010 election cycle

Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.) is the sole Democrat to receive BP PAC money this quarter. His contribution totaled $3,000. Visclosky is a member of the Committee on Appropriations and is the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water DevelopmentOn March 1, BP's PAC also doled out $5,000 to both the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Spokespeople for the NRCC, NRSC and five lawmakers did not immediately returnOpenSecrets Blog's requests for interviews.

Much like large swaths of the Gulf, the BP political action committee's contributions became toxic during 2010 and early 2011.

Center for Responsive Politics' research indicated that between April 20, 2010 -- when the oil
spill began -- and the end of the 2010 election cycle, BP donated money to just a handful of federal-level political candidates, none of whom accepted the money.

Before the spill, BP's PAC had donated widely to political candidates, both Republican and Democrat.

And during 2009 and the days in 2010 prior to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, BP's PAC remained very active, donating $82,500 to federal political interests, the Center's research shows. After April 20, the PAC's finances actually fell into negative territory, as candidates either did not cash or otherwise rejected $6,000 worth of BP PAC contributions.

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Employees of BP weren't nearly as restrained as BP's PAC, the Center's analysis shows: Between April 20 of last year and Dec. 31, people associated with BP donated $28,450 to federal-level lawmakers.

During this period, Barbara McNew, listed in FEC records as a BP project manager from Katy, Texas, spread $4,000 between now-Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and the LibertyPACleadership PAC of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).

Julius Leiman-Carbia, identified in federal records as a BP compliance attorney, split $3,000 between the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratics Senatorial Campaign Committee. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) received a $1,000 donation from Leiman-Carbia, but federal records indicate Gillibrand divested of it in October.

Meanwhile, John Minge, alternately described in federal records as "BP Alaska/President," "BP/President" and "BP Exploration/President," made post-spill donations to Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) and Mark Begich (D-Alaska).

Seven other employees of BP also made federal-level political donations of $500 or more between April 20 and Dec. 31, the Center's research shows. They include individuals listing their occupation as "BP/Management" and "BP/Vice President."

In all, 21 federal-level candidates received identifiable post-spill contributions -- those of more than $200 -- from one or more BP employees. Twelve of the candidates are Republicans, nine are Democrats.

While 2010 may have been a relatively dry year for campaign contributions for BP, the company spent a significant amount of money -- $7,365,000 -- on federal-level lobbyingefforts, the Center's research indicates.

BP spent an impressive $1.6 million on federal lobbying during the first quarter of 2010. But by the year's second quarter, during which the Deepwater Horizon explosion occurred, the company's lobbying expenditures jumped to $1.72 million. The number of federal lobbyists BP employed also shot up from 35 in the first quarter to 49 during the second.

The increases in lobbying cash continued, as BP recorded $1.86 million in expenditures for the third quarter, then $2.18 million in the fourth. (The company is slated to on Wednesday report its lobbying figures for the first quarter of this year.)

BP's lobbying numbers for 2010 are relatively lower than they were in 2009 because the company chose to change its reporting method, as OpenSecrets Blog previously reported.

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Transocean Inc., which owned the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform, also markedly increased its federal lobbying efforts as 2010 wore on and the spill became evermore severe.

To wit: During the first quarter of 2010, Transocean reported no federal-level lobbying expenditures at all and employed no lobbyists.

But during the second quarter, the firm hired five lobbyists and reported $110,000 in federal lobbying expenditures.

It hired nine lobbyists and spent $300,000 in the third quarter, as federal lawmakers called for investigations into BP and Transocean. 

During the fourth quarter, Transocean recorded another $130,000 in lobbying expenditures, having hired eight lobbyists.

Center for Responsive Politics researchers Doug Weber, Sarah Bryner and Matthias Jaime contributed to this report.

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