BP IS GETTING MORE POLITICAL
by Dan Eggen

The Washington Post
May 6, 2010 Thursday

Suburban Edition

John Browne, the former chief executive of energy giant BP, used
to brag about his company’s relative lack of political involvement,
saying the London-based conglomerate purposely shied away from spending
too much on lobbying and campaign contributions.

But since Tony Hayward took over as CEO in 2007, BP has increased its
spending on U.S. politics, a move that may help the firm weather the
political storm over its devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The company has mobilized a massive Washington lobbying campaign over
the past week in response to the worsening crisis, dispatching senior
executives to meet with Obama administration officials and members
of Congress, while Hayward and other executives make frequent media
appearances to defend BP’s performance.

The onslaught underscores the expanding political role of BP, which
has spent nearly $20 million on Washington lobbying since January 2009
and now ranks second only to ConocoPhilips within the powerful oil and
gas industry, according to lobbying disclosure data. Its list of hired
lobbyists reads like a Who’s Who of the profession, from Democratic
powerhouse Tony Podesta to former Reagan aide Kenneth Duberstein.

The company’s political action committee has also stepped up its
contributions to lawmakers of both parties, particularly to key
representatives of oil-dependent states such as Louisiana and Alaska.

Unlike most other oil companies, BP also shifted some of its donations
to Democrats as the party gained control of Congress, though it still
gives the most to Republicans. (Barack Obama’s presidential campaign
did not accept corporate donations, but received about $77,000 from
BP employees.)

BP America, the company’s U.S. affiliate, has a special "external
advisory council" that includes former House majority leader Thomas A.

Daschle (D-S.D.); two former GOP senators, Warren Rudman (N.H.) and
Alan K. Simpson (Wyo.); Christine Todd Whitman, an Environmental
Protection Agency administrator under George W. Bush; and Jamie S.

Gorelick, a deputy attorney general during Bill Clinton’s
administration, according to BP records. Leon Panetta, President
Obama’s CIA director, also served on the council before taking his
intelligence post.

A BP spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on the firm’s
political activities in Washington.

Athan Manuel, director of the Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program,
said BP’s more aggressive lobbying efforts in recent years have been
a disappointment to environmental groups, which were heartened by
the company’s earlier pledges to move "beyond petroleum" and into
alternative forms of energy.

"They seem to have returned to a more traditional oil-company
approach," Manuel said. "They’ve decided to become just as active as
Exxon or anyone else."

One major recipient of donations from BP is Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.),
who has taken more than $15,000 in PAC contributions and thousands
more from BP employees, according to data from the nonpartisan Center
for Responsive Politics. Landrieu said at a hearing earlier this
year that the risks of offshore drilling were "minimal," and since
the spill has urged caution in moving to curtail the practice.

Landrieu told MSNBC on Wednesday that she has received donations
from environmentalists and oil companies. "I’m very proud to actually
receive money from both sides of this debate, because they, I believe,
understand that I’m as honest a broker as I can be here," she said. "I
am not a handmaiden to the oil industry."

Advocacy for Turks Turkish American groups were outraged when a
House committee voted this year to label an Ottoman-era slaughter of
Armenians as "genocide," complaining that they had been out-lobbied
by the other side. Now activists have started a new advocacy group
aimed at publicizing the views of ethnic Turks in the United States.

The project, dubbed Ten Thousand Turks, is being spearheaded by the
Turkish Coalition USA Political Action Committee, which has given
federal candidates more than $270,000 since 2007. The group aims to
sign up 10,000 members by October.

G. Lincoln McCurdy, the PAC’s treasurer, said Turkish Americans’
views have "not been heard collectively in great numbers. . . . We
intend to change that, and start a new chapter of Turkish American
activism in American politics and civic life."