Tea Party Deniers Funded by BP, Other Polluters
Tea Party climate change deniers funded by BP and other major polluters
Midterm election campaigns of Tea Party favourites DeMint and Inhofe have received over $240,000
The Guardian (U.K.), Oct. 25, 2010
BP and several
other big European companies are funding the midterm election campaigns
of Tea Party favourites who deny the existence of global warming or
oppose Barack Obama's energy agenda, the Guardian has learned.
An analysis of
campaign finance by Climate Action Network Europe (Cane) found nearly
80% of campaign donations from a number of major European firms were
directed towards senators who blocked action on climate change. These
included incumbents who have been embraced by the Tea Party such as Jim
DeMint, a Republican from South Carolina, and the notorious climate
change denier James Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma.
The report,
released tomorrow, used information on the Open Secrets.org database to
track what it called a co-ordinated attempt by some of Europe's biggest
polluters to influence the US midterms. It said: "The European companies
are funding almost exclusively Senate candidates who have been
outspoken in their opposition to comprehensive climate policy in the US
and candidates who actively deny the scientific consensus that climate
change is happening and is caused by people."
Obama and
Democrats have accused corporate interests and anonymous donors of
trying to hijack the midterms by funnelling money to the Chamber of
Commerce and to conservative Tea Party groups. The Chamber of Commerce
reportedly has raised $75m (£47m) for pro-business, mainly Republican
candidates.
"Oil companies
and the other special interests are spending millions on a campaign to
gut clean-air standards and clean-energy standards, jeopardising the
health and prosperity of this state," Obama told a rally in California
on Friday night.
Much of the
speculation has focused on Karl Rove, the mastermind of George Bush's
victories, who has raised $15m for Republican candidates since September
through a new organisation, American Crossroads. An NBC report warned
that Rove was spearheading an effort to inject some $250m in television
advertising for Republican candidates in the final days before the 2
November elections.
But Rove,
appearing today on CBS television's Face the Nation, accused Democrats
of deploying the same tactics in 2008. "The president of the US had no
problem at all when the Democrats did this," he said. "It was not a
threat to democracy when it helped him get elected."
The Cane report
said the companies, including BP, BASF, Bayer and Solvay, which are some
of Europe's biggest emitters, had collectively donated $240,200 to
senators who blocked action on global warming – more even than the
$217,000 the oil billionaires and Tea Party bankrollers, David and
Charles Koch, have donated to Senate campaigns.
The biggest
single donor was the German pharmaceutical company Bayer, which gave
$108,100 to senators. BP made $25,000 in campaign donations, of which
$18,000 went to senators who opposed action on climate change.
Recipients of the European campaign donations included some of the
biggest climate deniers in the Senate, such as Inhofe of Oklahoma, who
has called global warming a hoax.
The foreign
corporate interest in America's midterms is not restricted to Europe. A
report by Think Progress, operated by the Centre for American Progress,
tracked donations to the Chamber of Commerce from a number of Indian and
Middle Eastern oil coal and electricity companies.
Foreign interest
does not stop with the elections. The Guardian reported earlier this
year that a Belgian-based chemical company, Solvay, was behind a front
group that is suing to strip the Obama administration of its powers to
regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010
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