Big Oil Paid Edelman and FleishmanHillard Over $400 Million

[Oscar]

Big Oil Paid Edelman and FleishmanHillard Over $400 Million Since 2008

[ http://www.climateinvestigations.org/bi ... since_2008 ]

January 15, 2015

The Center for Public Integrity has just released a report compiling spending by industry trade associations on public relations over the past decade or so. The report, titled Who needs lobbyists? See what big business spends to win American minds, by Erin Quin and Chris Young, was published this morning. They also have an article on Huffington Post, currently on the front page.

The biggest spender was the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the biggest recipient in the PR industry was Edelman PR. Edelman got $327.4 million between 2008 and 2012. (2008 was the first year such reporting was required by the IRS of trade association non-profits.) API paid Edelman an additional $33 million in 2013. The 2013 990s are still trickling out and were not included in the CPI analysis. We obtained 2013 API 990 to extend CPI's fascinating inquiry.

FleishmanHillard was another big winner, raking in $5 to $24 million in annual fees from API between 2011 and 2013 for a total of $51.6 million.

In total, API paid these two PR firms $411 million 2008-2013. ($355 million 2008-2012)

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[ http://www.climateinvestigations.org/bi ... since_2008 ]

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TransCanada hired world's largest PR firm to target Council of Canadians' Energy East campaign

[ http://canadians.org/media/transcanada-hired-pr-firm ]

Media Release November 17, 2014

Ottawa — Today, Greenpeace released documents revealing that the Council of Canadians was one of the first groups targeted for U.S.-style opposition research by TransCanada’s public relations firm, Edelman. Edelman is the largest PR firm in the world with links to the Tea Party and Walmart.

The document says that Edelman will “prepare a research profile of key opposition groups by examining public records (including financial disclosures, legal databases and legislative records), traditional media sources and social media. All relevant findings will be compiled in a written, fully documented report, to include a summary of findings and assessment of strengths and weaknesses.... We will begin with the Council of Canadians.” (p. 7 of Energy East Campaign Organization) [ http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/Global ... PDF#page=7 ]

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[ http://canadians.org/media/transcanada-hired-pr-firm ]