Sunday, July 25, 2010
Former Senator J. Bennett Johnston, now an oil lobbyist
According to a government watchdog group, the Center for Responsive Politics, about a third of all lobbyists in Washington, DC, used to work for the federal government. But the percentage among oil lobbyists with “revolving door connections” is dramatically higher: 75%.
The oil industry counts within its lobbying ranks 18 former members of Congress and dozens of former presidential appointees, according to an analysis by The Washington Post. Altogether it has more than 600 registered lobbyists, giving it one of “the biggest and most powerful contingents in Washington.”
BP, the major culprit in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, employs at least 31 lobbyists with government experience, while the industry’s main body, the American Petroleum Institute, has 48 lobbyists with previous federal experience, including former U.S. Senator J. Bennett Johnston (D-Louisiana) and former Congressmen Jim McCrery (R-Louisiana) and Charlie Stenholm (D-Texas).
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Three of Every Four Oil and Gas Lobbyists Worked for Federal Government (by Dan Eggen and Kimberly Kindy, Washington Post)
After Spill, Big Oil Boosts Lobbying (by Chris Frates, Politico)
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