The money behind the ‘drill here, drill now’ movement

Articles — By forcechange on September 24, 2008 12:48 pm

Conspiracy theorists believe that our nation’s oil policy is being run by secret corporate bogeymen who are behind the scenes, pulling the strings that control government.  What these paranoid people don’t realize is that much of the big money and influence that is actually involved in shaping our political policy is already out in the open. 

The Center for Public Integrity had a nice piece looking at the vast amounts of money that has been raised by Newt Gingrich’s American Solutions for Winning the Future, a political organization behind much of the “drill here, drill now” movement.  This entity is a “527 group,” which means that it does not have the strict fundraising restrictions that other political action committees are limited by. 

Apparently, American Solutions has raised over $16 million in donations this election season, some of which has gone to influence government policy on oil drilling.  As the Center for Public Integrity reports, although “American Solutions bills itself as a ‘new, innovative, and nonpartisan’ organization… Gingrich says he’s personally working to help McCain. 

With so much money and influence so readily out in the open, who needs conspiracy theorists?