As noted by counterspin in a quick hit comment, the UK Guardian has a very interesting story:
Tea Party climate change deniers funded by BP and other major polluters
Midterm election campaigns of Tea Party favourites DeMint and Inhofe have received over $240,000
BP and several other big European companies are funding the midterm election campaigns of Tea Party favourites who deny the existence of global warming or oppose Barack Obama's energy agenda, the Guardian has learned.
An analysis of campaign finance by Climate Action Network Europe (Cane) found nearly 80% of campaign donations from a number of major European firms were directed towards senators who blocked action on climate change. These included incumbents who have been embraced by the Tea Party such as Jim DeMint, a Republican from South Carolina, and the notorious climate change denier James Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma.
The report, released tomorrow, used information on the Open Secrets.org database to track what it called a co-ordinated attempt by some of Europe's biggest polluters to influence the US midterms. It said: "The European companies are funding almost exclusively Senate candidates who have been outspoken in their opposition to comprehensive climate policy in the US and candidates who actively deny the scientific consensus that climate change is happening and is caused by people."
The report itself can be found here. The money comes from US citizens employed by these companies who contribute to the corporate PACs, so it's all perfectly legal. (OpenSecrets, the source of the data used in the report, has a listing of foreign PACs here.) But the report points out that these same companies who fund climate legislation obstruction in America then turn around and cite that obstructionism as a reason that Europe should not take any further measures. It's not quite the Menendez brothers asking for mercy on account of being orphans, but it's damn close.
Here's a chart of the contributions from BASF, the second-largest donor in the report:
Okay, so here's the point: These foreign corporations have already voted.
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