Modern day corruption in action…see if you can follow the quid pro quo.

There was a vote to end subsidies for $24 BILLION in taxpayer subsidies to the 5 largest oil producers which earned the equivalent of almost $1 trillion profits over the past decade (source).  We wrote about this vote HERE and HERE.  Well – the legislation failed and surprise-surprise….oil companies are bending over backwards to reward those Senators and Senate Candidates who voted on their behalf either in the Senate or House.  They spent $116,000 on these candidates which is a blip on the radar relative to their overall profits…but ensures they get preferential treatment from the elected officials they are currently leasing.

Republican Senators Received 98% of Oil SuperPAC $ in April of 2012.
~Public Campaign 

Public Campaign brings us this – article HERE:

• Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) received $7,500, with $2,500 from the American Petroleum Institute PAC and $5,000 from ConocoPhillips PAC in April.
• Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) received $6,500, with $2,500 from the American Petroleum Institute PAC, $2,500 from Exxon PAC, and $1,500 from ConocoPhillips PAC.
• Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) received $5,000 from the Exxon PAC.
• Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) received $3,000 from Exxon PAC.
• Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) received $1,000 from the BP PAC (April was also the second anniversary of BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster).
• Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) received $1,000 each from the Exxon and BP PACs.
• Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) received $1,000 from the Exxon PAC.

• Rep. Rick Berg (R-Mont.), who has voted to maintain oil subsidies in the House, received $10,000 in contributions from these PACs.
• Former Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) received $5,000 in contributions.
• Ohio State Treasurer Josh Mandel (R-Ohio), collected $5,000.
• Former Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) received $6,000 in contributions.

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