Today, Adam Bosch over at the Times Herald-Record took a look at last-minute contributions to various local candidates running in Tuesday's election. He found that much of the eleventh-hour money is from gas-drilling companies.
The numbers show that George Phillips, the Republican candidate for the 22nd Congressional District who is running against Democratic incumbent Maurice Hinchey, is the local fracking champion. Bosch reports that Phillips received close to $20,000 in contributions during the first two weeks of October alone from gas interests:
This month alone, Phillips has received $17,300 from three of the biggest companies that want to harvest gas from the Marcellus shale formation in Sullivan and Ulster counties.
Those contributions, the story charts in an accompanying graph, broke down this way:
George Phillips' gas-drilling donors
Chesapeake Energy: $7,400
Anadarko Petroleum: $4,900
Devon Energy: $5,000
You can see the raw data behind some of the numbers in forms collected by the Federal Election Commission, which are online.
On October 8, Chesapeake gave $1,500 to Phillips, according to page 13 of this disclosure report:Phillips campaign contribution report 10/1/10 - 10/13/10
Two weeks later, Chesapeake CEO Aubrey K. McClendon personally gave the Phillips campaign $2,400, according to page 2 of this disclosure report:
Phillips campaign contribution from Aubrey K. McClendon, Chesapeake CEO
A day after that, Devon Energy gave Phillips $5,000, and Anadarko Petroleum gave $2,500, according to page 3 of this disclosure report:George Phillips campaign contribution disclosure report -- October 24
Bosch finds, unsurprisingly, that no gas companies have donated to Hinchey, a pronounced drilling foe:
"They (gas companies) know I'm going to continue to fight against them, so they want to get rid of me," said Hinchey. His campaign received $5,000 this month from environment groups opposed to gas drilling.
