With Gas Prices on the Rise, Tommy Thompson Continues to Cash in on Oil and Gas Industry
MILWAUKEE — As Wisconsin families and businesses continue to struggle with price pain at the pump, DC corporate insider Tommy Thompson continues to profit from up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in investments in the oil and gas industry.
A review of Thompson’s personal financial disclosure forms shows that the ultimate Washington influence peddler owns stock holdings in at least 26 oil and gas companies, worth between $99,030 and $619,500.
The oil and gas industry is enormously profitable. The Big 5 Oil companies alone (BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Shell) made a combined $137 billion in profits in 2011–up 75% from 2010. This amounted to almost $1 trillion over the past decade. [Center for American Progress, 2/7/12; Center for American Progress, 1/31/11]
“While families and businesses across Wisconsin struggle with $4 a gallon gasoline, stock owners like Tommy Thompson in oil and gas companies are raking in piles of cash,” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate. “The equation is simple — the more you pay at the pump, the more money flies out of your pocket — and into Tommy’s. How can someone who benefits from Big Oil be expected to put the interests of working Wisconsin families ahead of the special interests who line his pockets?”
