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We Are the People of ExxonMcCain

Charlie Black—Senior McCain adviser and former lobbyist for foreign oil companies

Charlie Black, the “Most Prominent” Lobbyist in McCain Campaign. “Of all the lobbyists involved in the McCain campaign, the most prominent is Black, who has made a lucrative career of shuttling back and forth between presidential politics and big-time Washington lobbying. ‘I’ve spent a fair amount of my life as a lobbyist, but I’ve spent a majority of my adult life running Republican political campaigns,‘ Black, 60, said.’ [Washington Post, 2/22/08]

Black Lobbied for Occidental Oil Co., Earning Over $1 Million. From 2001 until 2007, Black lobbied for Occidental Oil company, earning his firm over $1,610,000 for his lobbying efforts. The issues for which Black lobbied on behalf of Occidental include: Energy issues in developing nations and oil drilling in Russia. [BKSH Lobbying Disclosures, Senate Office of Public Records]

BKSH Lobbied for Chinese Oil Conglomerate CNOOC. According to lobbying disclosure reports for BKSH, McCain advisor and name partner Charlie Black lobbied for Chinese state-owned oil conglomerate CNOOC Ltd. BKSH “engaged in telephone calls and meetings dealing with legislation in Congress to prohibit foreign energy companies from acquiring U.S. based energy companies.” BKSH lobbied for only a short period—from July 2005 until August 2005—but was paid $60,000 for its efforts. [BKSH Supplemental Statement, 12/31/05; BKSH Amendment, 8/15/05; BKSH Amendment, 3/27/06]

Black Lobbied for Russian Oil Company Yukos During Its Assault By the Kremlin. According to Senate filings, Black represented Yukos Oil Company in throughout 2004, during the period in which Yukos was facing takeover by the Kremlin after being hit by a multibillionaire back-tax bill. While Black ceased representing Yukos after the end of 2004, in February 2008, Black’s firm BKSH registered to lobby for Yukos subsidiary Yukos International BV UK [Senate Office of Public Records; Business Week Online, 7/19/04, http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_29/b3892098_mz054.htm]

BKSH Re-Signed Yukos As Client In 2008. “BKSH is representing former shareholders of Yukos, the bankrupt energy company that was once Russia’s biggest oil company…A Dutch court ruled March 26 that former shareholders of Yukos are entitled to a payment of $850M. More than 50K shareholders could receive compensation, according to a statement from Bruce Misamore, ex-CFO of Yukos. The Russian Government levied a multi-billion dollar back tax claim against Yukos, which triggered its bankruptcy. The company’s assets were shifted to state-owned Rosneft.” [Jack O’Dwyer’s Newsletter, 4/16/08]

Mark Buse—Senate chief of staff for McCain and former lobbyist for ExxonMobil

McCain Staffer, Turned Lobbyist, Turned McCain Senate Chief of Staff, Mark Buse Lobbied for Exxon. In early 2008 McCain as his Senate chief of staff Mark Buse, who had served as McCain’s staff director on the Commerce Committee “in the late 1990s and early 2000s,” and who was until fall 2007 “a lobbyist for ML Strategies.” From 2006 until 2007, Buse lobbied the federal government on behalf of Exxon Mobil, earning his firm $560,000 in lobbying fees from the oil giant. Buse lobbied on issues pertaining to renewable fuels, the energy savings act, climate stewardship act, climate change, cap & trade, and S.3711, the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act. [ML Strategies/Exxon Lobbying Disclosures, Senate Office of Public Records; Washington Post, 2/22/08]

Nancy Pfotenhauer—McCain policy adviser and former lobbyist for Koch Industries

Pfotenhauer a Lobbyist for Koch Industries Until End of 2000. Until the end of 2000, Nancy Pfotenhauer—under her maiden name Nancy Mitchell—lobbied on behalf of Koch Industries as a member of its in-house government affairs department. As lobbying records prior to 1999 are no longer available at on the Senate’s Office of Public Records site, Pfotenhauer may have begun lobbying for Koch prior to 1999. Koch industries spent a total of $480,000 on in-house lobbying expenditures in 1999 & 2000. [Pfotenhauer/Koch Industries Lobbying Disclosures, Senate Office of Public Records]

Randy Scheunemann—McCain foreign policy adviser and former lobbyist for BP Amoco

McCain’s Top Foreign Policy Advisor Lobbied for BP Amoco. From 1999 until 2000, McCain’s top foreign policy advisor Randy Scheunemann lobbied for BP Amoco, for which his firm was paid $120,000. Scheunemann lobbied on issues related to BP-Amoco’s investments, as well as issues concerning international oil production. [Scheunemann/BP Amoco Lobbying Disclosures, Senate Office of Public Records]

McCain Chief Foreign Policy Advisor Lobbied for Caspian Alliance; “Sole U.S. Representative” for Kazakhstan’s State-Owned Oil & Gas Company, KMG. From 2005 until the end of 2006, McCain’s chief foreign policy advisor Randy Scheunemann lobbied for the Caspian Alliance through his firm Scheunemann & Associates. Caspian paid Scheunemann between $40,000 and $50,000 to “monitor energy and foreign policy legislation and development that affects Caspian Alliance,” and to lobby on “issues concerning energy development in the Caspian region.” According to the UK’s Sunday Times, the Caspian Alliance—based in Azerbaijan—is a subsidiary of, Worldwide Strategic Energy (WSE), and “the sole US representative for KMG.” After being contacted by reporters, “staff at the Caspian Alliance, which is based in Azerbaijan, confirmed that it is a subsidiary of WSE and represents KMG in America.” [Sunday Times (UK), 7/20/08; Scheunemann/Caspian Alliance Lobbying Disclosures, Senate Office of Public Records]

Hess Corporation—Suspicious donations days after McCain drilling flip-flop

Ten identical donations, all connected to the Hess Corporations, all within days after McCain changed position on drilling. “Ten senior Hess Corporation executives and/or members of the Hess family each gave $28,500 to the joint RNC-McCain fundraising committee, just days after McCain reversed himself to favor offshore drilling… Nine of these contributions… came on the same day… Late late update: A Hess office manager and her husband, an Amtrak worker, each chipped in $28,000 apiece, too.” [Talking Points Memo, 8/4/08, http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/08/oil_company_executives.php]

The Oil Industry—In the tank for McCain

McCain Has Raised More Than $2.1 Million From The Oil And Gas Industry, Including More Than $1.1 Million In The Month Of June. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, John McCain received $1,039,768 in contributions from the oil and gas industry between January 2007 and May 2008—a figure which dwarfs any other presidential candidates’ oil industry money. In addition, the Washington Post reported that “campaign contributions from oil industry executives to Sen. John McCain rose dramatically in the last half of June, after the senator from Arizona made a high-profile split with environmentalists and reversed his opposition to the federal ban on offshore drilling.” According to the Post’s analysis, oil and gas industry executives and employees contributed $1.1 million to McCain and the Republican National Committee’s Victory Fund in June – three-quarters of which were donated after McCain’s June 16th announcement that he supported ending the moratorium on offshore drilling. These contributions, when combined with the $1.03 million raised by McCain prior to the month of June, indicated that he has raised more than $2.1 million from the oil and gas industry. [Center for Responsive Politics website, “Selected Industry Totals to Candidates,” accessed 7/31/08; Washington Post, 7/27/08; “Oil Flow,” WashingtonPost.com graphic, accessed 8/3/08]