Black Gold: Roy Blunt's oil and gas money

Intrigued by news of Roy Blunt's upcoming energy industry fundraiser -- hosted by an Exxon Mobile lobbyist -- I was curious to find out how much oil money Blunt has accepted in recent years.

A lot, it turns out.

In fact, according to the The Center for Responsive Politics, Blunt has been one of the top recipients of oil and gas money in the last two cycles. In 2008, for example, Blunt received more oil and gas money than all but six House members, and his leadership PAC (the ROYB fund) ranked #13 among all Represenatives and Senators. Combining data from different cycles on OpenSecrets.org and his recent Senate campaign finance report, Blunt has raised more than $600,000 in oil and gas money since 2000.

**A couple of notes: The rankings for campaign committee totals include only House members; the leadership PAC rankings include all Senators and Representatives. Also, OpenSecrets only ranks the top twenty recipients per sector.

Oil interests included Exxon Mobile, Conoco Phillips, Shell Oil -- among others.

Blunt's close ties to the oil and gas industry are particularly relevant as the debate on Congress' cap and trade legislation continues in the coming weeks and months. These oil companies haven't supported Blunt just because they think he's a nice guy -- they believe his votes and actions will line up with their interests, including any measures meant to reign in greenhouse gases.

Add in Blunt's denial that humans have anything to do with climate change, and his demonstrated record of misleading the public on the climate change legislation -- and the man has no credibility on the issue whatsoever.

A complete spreadsheet of Blunt's campaign contributions from 1999-present may be found here.