Winds of Change Newsletter, February 2006     See sidebar for table of contents

Coal Has Given Millions to Candidates, Report Says

by Paul Nyden, Charleston Sunday Gazette-Mail, Nov. 27, 2005

Since 1996, coal operators and industry leaders have given more than $4 million to candidates running for governor, the Supreme Court and legislative positions in the Mountain State (according to the WV People’s Election Reform Coalition of WV).

PERC-WV is jointly supported and funded by the West Virginia Citizen Action Group in Charleston, the Mountain State Education and Research Foundation in Charleston and the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition in Huntington.

During the election cycles studied, coal company interests gave more than $2 million to gubernatorial campaigns, $1.5 million to state legislative races and $529,332 to Supreme Court candidates, the report states.

Gov. Joe Manchin received $571,214 of the $673,251 in coal contributions made to last year’s gubernatorial candidates, or nearly 85 percent of the total.

That was the most any political candidate received from coal donations in any election since 1996, accounting for 12 percent of all money that Manchin raised during his successful 2004 campaign…

Coal operators also gave $354,321 to Supreme Court candidates in 2004, including $248,200 to Republican Brent Benjamin of Charleston, who won the election…

The largest coal donor in 2004 was RAG Coal Holdings and two of its subsidiaries - Riverton Coal and Kingston Resources. Together, they gave $92,877 to West Virginia candidates.

West Virginians for Coal, the political action committee of the West Virginia Coal Association, made 143 donations to 81 candidates, totaling $46,450.

Other frequent coal industry contributors included: Arch Coal, based in St. Louis, Mo.; William R. Bright, owner of Bright Enterprises in Summersville; Bruce, Larry and Robert Addington, former owners of Horizon Natural Resources; Consol Energy; and James “Buck” Harless, a Mingo County coal operator and timber owner…

Coal industry leaders routinely make donations to help pay expenses at gubernatorial inaugural balls, including: $253,464 to Underwood in 1997, $120,340 to Wise in 2001 and $174,500 to Manchin in 2005.

House of Delegates Speaker Bob Kiss, D-Raleigh, was the top recipient of coal contributions to legislators. Between 1996 and 2004, Kiss received $76,425 during his five election campaigns.

Delegate Steve Kominar, D-Mingo, received $64,125… Kominar, who works for Sartin Trucking, was a lead sponsor of 2002 legislation that raised the legal weight limit for coal trucks traveling state roads.

Top Senate recipients of coal donations included Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, D-Logan, who received $62,425, and Sen. Vic Sprouse, R-Kanawha, who received $60,854 since he first ran for the Senate in 1996…

Before Republican Brent Benjamin defeated incumbent Warren McGraw in last year’s Supreme Court race, Justice Elliott “Spike” Maynard, raised more coal money than any other Supreme Court candidate. More than 25 percent of the $408,843 Maynard raised in 1996 came from coal interests, PERC found…