The recent October quarterly FEC filings reveal that gas, oil and energy interests increasingly are contributing to the congressional campaign of Elise Stefanik, the Washington D.C. Republican Party political operative and former Bush aide who is now running for Congress in New York's 21st Congressional District, which contains most of the state's North Country, Adirondack and Upper Hudson Valley regions.
Stefanik's itemized receipts from the October filing show that Stefanik received $12,000 from oil and gas interests, with the Chevron Employees PAC and Marathon Petroleum PAC both contributing $5,000 to her campaign, while Exxon Mobil's PAC contributed $2,000 to her campaign.
In addition, several firms which are currently lobbying government officials or supporting advertising campaigns in favor of hydrofracking and gas exploration in Upstate New York also contributed to Stefanik's congressional campaign in the last quarter. The Syracuse-based legal firm
Bond Schoeneck & King, which
maintains an oil and gas practice and was one of the
sponsors of a 2012 ad campaign in favor of Upstate fracking, contributed $500. Both the
national and
statewide chapters of the Associated General Contractors (AGC), a major trade group representing building and construction firms, which is
currently lobbying the New York State Legislature in support of Upstate fracking, contributed a combined $2,650. The
National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), a conservative business trade group and
ALEC member, which
recently endorsed Stefanik's candidacy and contributed $2,500 to her campaign, has spent
$612,000 lobbying New York State government officials in favor of fracking. Furthermore, David A. Collins, owner of Saratoga County-based
D.A. Collins Co., a major highway and building contractor throughout the Northeast and
known supporter of Upstate fracking, contributed $2,600 to Stefanik's campaign,
according to receipts from the April 2014 quarterly campaign filing.
Stefanik has also received thousands from several high-profile Washington D.C. lobbyists that have either lobbied or work for firms that have lobbied on behalf of gas, oil, energy and fracking interests.
Kenneth M. Duberstein, the former Reagan Chief of Staff who contributed $2,600 to Stefanik's campaign last month, now heads The Duberstein Group, a Washington D.C. lobbying firm which is
currently representing Chesapeake Energy and BP America. Dan Meyer, a lobbyist who is currently employed by Duberstein's firm, contributed $1,500 to Stefanik last year and has been a
top lobbyist for BP for several years now. Sam Geduldig, who was once Senior Advisor to House Speaker John Boehner and now is a partner at Washington D.C. lobbying firm
Clark, Geduldig, Cranford & Nielsen, has made $1,000 in contributions to Stefanik's campaign and
has lobbied on behalf of Halliburton and Encana Oil and Gas. Former Bush aide
Kirsten Chadwick, who now works as a lobbyist for
Fierce Isakowitz & Blalock, has contributed $500 to Stefanik's campaign and has
represented BP America, Noble Energy and EnergySolutions.
Recently, Stefanik publicly declared her support for hydrofracking and was laughed at by many members of the audience at last week's Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce candidates forum where she stated that "the job growth that has resulted from the safe exploration of natural gas has really been an economic driver."