{"id":504284,"date":"2018-01-17T20:59:11","date_gmt":"2018-01-18T03:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=504284"},"modified":"2018-01-17T20:59:11","modified_gmt":"2018-01-18T03:59:11","slug":"lobbyists-for-oil-companies-give-big-in-new-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/01\/lobbyists-for-oil-companies-give-big-in-new-mexico\/","title":{"rendered":"Lobbyists for oil companies give big in New Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_504287\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-504287\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/4943049_web_011718_Lobbyist_IMG_0096_CMYK-771x514.jpg\" alt=\"J.D Bullington\" width=\"771\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/4943049_web_011718_Lobbyist_IMG_0096_CMYK-771x514.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/4943049_web_011718_Lobbyist_IMG_0096_CMYK-336x224.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/4943049_web_011718_Lobbyist_IMG_0096_CMYK-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/4943049_web_011718_Lobbyist_IMG_0096_CMYK.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Gabriela Campos \/ The New Mexican<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">J.D Bullington, a lobbyist who represents more than 20 clients including Laguna Development Corp. and Union Pacific Railroad, stops to speak with Rep. Bill McCamley, D-Las Cruces, at the Capitol on Wednesday.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Oil and gas industry revenues pay a huge share of the money that goes into the state budget. And lobbyists for big oil companies pay a huge amount of campaign contributions to New Mexico politicians.<\/p>\n<p>An analysis of lobbyist expense reports filed in recent days with the New Mexico Secretary of State&#8217;s Office shows lobbyists for oil companies dominate the list of the largest donors to campaigns and political committees since last October.<\/p>\n<p>By far the biggest contributor among lobbyists in the new batch of reports was the Austin-based Stephen Perry, Chevron USA&#8217;s state government affairs manager for Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. Perry listed $183,250 in contributions. That&#8217;s more than a third of the total of $521,164 in political donations listed in all the new reports.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.santafenewmexican.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a>. NMPolitics.net is paying for the rights to publish articles about the 2018 legislative session from the newspaper. Help us cover the cost by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/donate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">making a donation to NMPolitics.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>&#8220;Wow! That&#8217;s an incredible amount of money for the year before the election,&#8221; said Viki Harrison, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico, when told of the contributions by Chevron&#8217;s lobbyist. Referring to all the lobbyist money she said, &#8220;It keeps exploding every year.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A huge chunk of Chevron&#8217;s money &#8212; $77,000 &#8212; went to conservative and oil-friendly political action committees. Perry gave $11,000 each to 579 PAC, Affordable Energy PAC, New Mexico Family First, New Mexico Forward, Progress New Mexico, the Republican Leadership PAC and the Republican Campaign Committee of New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>Besides the campaign contributions, lobbyists reported spending $38,542 on meals, drinks and entertainment for legislators and other politicians since October.<\/p>\n<p>Other oil and gas lobbyists who were major political contributors included Leland Gould of Andeavor, parent company of Western Refining, who gave $27,000 in contributions, and Samantha Omey of Exxon Mobil, who gave $22,700.<\/p>\n<p>Robert Donaldson, lobbyist for Altria, the corporate parent of Philip Morris and other tobacco companies as well as wineries, was the second largest contributor. He gave $33,500.<\/p>\n<p>Several longtime New Mexico contract lobbyists who represent multiple clients also were among the top spenders. These included:<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Luke Otero, who represents DCP Midstream, Fed Ex, New Mexico Optometric Association and Prime Therapeutics, made $25,000 in campaign contributions.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 J.D. Bullington, lobbyist for Union Pacific Railroad, Laguna Development Corp. and an online education company called K12 Inc., made $24,800 in contributions and chipped in $294 for a lunch at Hotel Santa Fe for the House Democratic Caucus in October.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Marco Gonzales, who represents Verizon and Santa Fe lawyer Dan Perry of Troutstalker Ranch near Chama, made $19,500 in contributions.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Art Hull, whose clients include Public Service Company of New Mexico, The University of New Mexico, Devon Energy and Century Bank, made $16,100 in campaign contributions &#8212; all on behalf of his own company. Hull also spent $5,625 on meals and beverages between Oct. 31 and Dec. 31 to &#8220;inform and discuss concerns with elected officials.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The leadership of the Legislature normally gets a big share of the campaign contributions from lobbyists. In this round of reports House Minority Leader Nate Gentry, R-Albuquerque, received more than any other leader in the Legislature.<\/p>\n<p>Gentry received $27,350, significantly more than House Speaker Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, who took in $19,250.<\/p>\n<p>Lobbyists gave Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, $10,200. Senate President Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, received $8,950, while Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, collected $6,950.<\/p>\n<p>State legislators aren&#8217;t the only recipients of campaign cash from lobbyists. The reports also disclose money given to candidates for statewide office.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-Albuquerque, is the clear favorite of lobbyists who gave to gubernatorial candidates. She received $15,6000 from lobbyists since October, the reports show. In addition to the campaign contributions she received, lobbyist Mark Duran threw a luncheon for her at Sandia Pueblo&#8217;s resort north of Albuquerque. Duran reported spending $4,008 on the event. That was the largest single amount any lobbyist reported spending on meals and entertainment.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce of Hobbs, who is running unopposed for the Republican nomination for governor, took in $6,100 from lobbyists. Of that total, $5,500 came from Chevron&#8217;s lobbyist.<\/p>\n<p>Lobbyists gave smaller amounts to two other Democratic gubernatorial candidates, state Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, ($1,500) and businessman Jeff Apodaca ($450).<\/p>\n<p><em>Contact Steve Terrell at (505) 986-3037 or <a href=\"mailto:sterrell@sfnewmexica\u00adn.com\">sterrell@sfnewmexica\u00adn.com<\/a>. Read his blog at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.santafenewmexican.com\/roundhouse_roundup\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.santafenewmexican.com\/roundhouse_roundup&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1516333655401000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEAyZ78iYLAJFaR4rqRaJqUT1DuVA\">santafenewmexican.<wbr \/>com\/roundhouse_roundup<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lobbyists for oil companies dominate the list of the largest donors to campaigns and political committees since last October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":504287,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3634,296,705,107],"class_list":["post-504284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2018-legislative-session","tag-lobbyists","tag-money-in-politics","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}