It seems everyone is jumping on the cancel bandwagon. The head of a top oil industry trade group said Wednesday that some energy companies have decided to stop making political donations after rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol last week.
Mike Sommers, President of the American Petroleum Institute, said the riots, which resulted in the deaths of five people, will factor into the American Petroleum Institute’s future decisions on donations as well. He did not name which companies have suspended political contributions.
As the U.S. House of Representatives is set to impeach Trump for inciting the riot at the Capitol last Tuesday, companies are scrambling to separate themselves from anything or anyone who supports Trump.
“Our first rule is to support candidates and members of congress and senators that support the oil and gas industry,” Sommers said in a press call, where he discussed API’s outlook for 2021. “But just like previous iterations of our past giving, other factors come into effect as well and this will be among those factors that we consider.”
The oil industry is not alone in suspended political donations. Walmart Inc and Walt Disney Co have also suspended donations to politicians who objected to the certification of the electoral vote at the joint session of Congress last week.
U.S. oil giant Chevron said Tuesday it was reviewing donations.
“I specifically asked my team to take a look at the events of last week and make sure those are brought into account as we make our decisions going forward,” Chevron Chief Executive Mike Wirth said Tuesday at the Reuters Next conference.
The U.S. employee political action committee at oil major BP is also suspending political contributions for six months and will re-evaluate its support criteria.
The oil and gas industry contributed more than $109 million in political donations for the 2020 election cycle, according to the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political spending. Any reduction in outlays would predominately fall on conservative candidates, which garnered more than $102 million of those donations, according to the research group.
Do you think political campaign contributions by corporations should be abolished?
It be wonderful if this was an impetus to cancel corporate political contributions altogether but doubtful. What is more likely is a delay in political donations to show disdain for what happened at the Capitol.
The reality is Democrats are no friend of the oil industry who have ambitious green energy goals, looking for alternative and more expensive energy sources.
While some Republicans may find their campaign contributions halted, ultimately these oil companies will turn back to Republicans.
Reuter’s contributed to this report.
