EXXONMOBIL: CASHING IN ON DEMOCRACY

"We must be particularly careful about the political process - not because it is unimportant - quite the reverse - but because the legitimacy of that process is crucial both for society and for us as a company working in that society." - Sir John Browne, BP CEO, February 27, 2002

How can a corporation get away with the kind of environmental and human rights abuses that ExxonMobil is guilty of? Two simple facts explain a lot:

• ExxonMobil spends more money on lobbying than any of its competitors;
• ExxonMobil gave more campaign contributions than any of its competitors (except for Enron).

ExxonMobil is a leader in using its profits and its power to buy political influence. In return, ExxonMobil has benefited from, among other things, over $5 billion in taxpayer subsidies over the last decade. These monies are provided via institutions like the US Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the World Bank. Our tax dollars should not subsidize ExxonMobil's profits or its environmentally and socially destructive projects.

We demand that ExxonMobil stop giving corporate political campaign donations and taking billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies for environmentally and socially destructive projects.

CASH IN, CASH OUT
EXXONMOBIL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS AND POLITICAL LOBBYING

During the 2000 election cycle, ExxonMobil gave $1,375,250 to political campaigns - second only to Enron among oil and gas company campaign contributions. Of this total, 89 percent went to Republican candidates. Over the last decade, ExxonMobil has consistently been a leader in corporate campaign contributions - sparing no expense to elect representatives who are sympathetic to its agenda.

The third largest campaign contributor among oil and gas companies in 2000 was BP, which gave $1,294,394. However, in February of 2002, in the wake of the Enron scandal, BP CEO Sir John Browne historically renounced the practice of corporate campaign contributions, noting:

"That's why we've decided, as a global policy, that from now on we will make no political contributions from corporate funds anywhere in the world."

We call on ExxonMobil to join BP and renounce all political contributions from corporate funds. If BP can do it, there is no reason that ExxonMobil cannot.

Like Enron, ExxonMobil has guaranteed its influence over public policy by investing millions in campaigns and lobbying. ExxonMobil spends more money than any other oil company on lobbying in the US - seven times more than Enron from 1997-1999. Over $7 million was spent in 2000 alone to promote its agenda - over the last decade ExxonMobil has spent more than $40 million to pass legislation, subsidies, corporate welfare, and tax breaks.

CORPORATE WELFARE AND POLITICAL FAVORS

ExxonMobil's investments have paid off well. Over the last decade, ExxonMobil has benefited from more than $5 billion of support from taxpayer backed institutions including:

• $651 million for the Chad-Cameroon pipeline project from the World Bank and the US Export-Import Bank;
• $1.17 billion for oil field development in Western Siberia from the World Bank and the US Export-Import Bank;
• $116 million for oil field development on Russia's Sakhalin Island from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

Our tax dollars should not be used to subsidize environmentally and socially destructive projects by one of the world's largest corporations.

ExxonMobil has spent more than any other oil company on lobbying because it wants to see our government enact legislation and adopt positions that are favorable to the corporation. The issues on which it has lobbied recently include rejecting the Kyoto Protocol (which the Bush/Cheney administration did), drafting a National Energy Strategy that increased US reliance on oil (which the Bush/Cheney administration did), and getting rid of the head of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (which the Bush/Cheney administration helped to do).

Big money has been in politics a long time. What's new is how ExxonMobil uses its sheer size to wield vast influence over our democracy. With more Americans than ever feeling disenfranchised by government, and suspicious of bureaucracy and corporate power, the world's largest oil company plays a leading role in the subversion of the democratic process.

Sources:
All campaign contribution and lobbying numbers courtesy Center for Responsive Politics, www.opensecrets.org. All public assistance figures from the Institute for Policy Studies, www.seen.org.

The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance and community relations areas. Alliance members support each others' demands but do not have expertise or take a public position on all the issue areas.