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The Ties That Bind
Corporate Connections in the Bush Administration
• During his campaign, George W. Bush received almost $1.9 million from the oil and gas industry, $203,000 from the mining industry, and $300,000 from the timber and forest-products industries. The Republican Party received more than $20 million from oil and natural gas, $4.7 million from mining, and $5.4 million from timber and forest products.
• Kenneth Lay, CEO of Enron, the now-disgraced Houston-based energy company, was a "Bush Pioneer" who personally raised more than $550,000 for the campaign. Lay later gave the White House a list of people he wanted appointed to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, including Pat Wood, who is now FERC’s chair.
• More than 30 former energy-industry executives, lobbyists, and lawyers have found high-level jobs in the Bush administration. "The people running the United States government are from the energy industry," explained Fredrick Palmer, an executive with Peabody Energy (the world’s largest coal company), to the New York Times. "They understand it and they believe in energy supply."
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