Raking In Cash

Sen. Portman Protects Polluters After Raking In Energy Industry Cash

Every Voice Staff

This week the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Moms Clean Air Force went live with an issue ad campaign criticizing Sen. Rob Portman, R., Ohio, for pushing legislation as part of the budget debate that would gut President Barack Obama’s plan to combat climate change.

“Senator Portman’s supposed to protect the people, not the polluters,” says the narrator in the ad.

What the ad doesn’t mention is the $1.2 million Portman collected from the energy industry in campaign contributions over the course of his Senate career, according to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP). This includes nearly $350,000 from electric utilities; those that depend on coal to generate electricity have been particularly outspoken against the administration’s proposals.

Lobbyists with energy clients have also helped raise money for the senator. For example, Kenneth Kies, Patrick Raffaniello, and Robert Chamberlin, all of whom represented energy interests at the time, hosted this fundraising party for Portman at the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

NRDC notes that the Clean Power Plan would save 2,800 lives and prevent 760 hospitalizations over a ten year period in Ohio alone, according to this 2014 study by the Harvard School of Public Health. The group plans to run the advertisement over the next two weeks.