November 27, 2000

ExxonMobil Double Talk

Irving, Texas is home to a leviathan special interest that took out an October 19 New York Times ad to argue that “the selection of judges should be better insulated from special interests.”

While it’s nice to see a corporate giant denounce money in judicial politics, the Texas courts would be better insulated from special interests if only ExxonMobil practiced what it’s preaching.

The behemoth companies that recently merged into ExxonMobil were parties to 20 Texas Supreme Court cases over the past seven years. During this period the high court was polluted by the $58,525 that its justices took from Mobil and Exxon sources. 

Exxon says it does not contribute to judicial elections. But Texas Supreme Court justices have scooped up campaign money from such top Exxon brass as General Counsel Charles Matthews, ex-President Charles Sitter and ex-CEO Lawrence Rawls.

A decade before the ExxonMobil merger, Multinational Monitor named both companies among "the 10 worst corporations of 1989." Mobil earned this distinction for toxic refinery releases and a 130,000 gallon spill of crude oil in Los Angeles.  Exxon made the grade when its Valdez tanker ran into a well-marked reef and spilled 11 million gallons of crude into Prince William Sound. The company, which reported a record $4.3 billion profit for its most recent quarter, has yet to pay the $5 billion in punitive damages that it owes to Alaskans hurt by the spill.

ExxonMobil dumped 11 million pounds of toxic pollutants into Texas’ environment in 1998.  The company is facing a potential fine for failing to comply with safety precautions that might have prevented a police officer from being killed in a September natural gas explosion in Abilene.

ExxonMobil’s actions will speak louder than its words if and when it stops polluting the courts with cash and limits its legal liabilities by better protecting workers, communities and the planet.

 

October Dollar Docket
Cases heard by the Texas Supreme Court in October and the corresponding contributions to justices from the parties and/or attorneys.
 
October 2, 2000
City of Houston v.
 $17,000
Rob Todd
$ 100
 
Lawrence v.
$954*
CDB Services consolidated with
      $4,600
 Lambert v.        $954*
Affiliated Foods
  $150,274
October 3, 2000
TX Health Enterprises v.
$5,400
Geisler
$100
 
Rockwell International v.   $203,205
Ruan Leasing
  $141,259
October 4, 2000
Johnson v.    $160,759
Brewer & Pritchard, P.C.
$0
 
Bradford v.      $18,855
Vento
$0
 
 October11, 2000
Underkofler v.
$72,873
Vanasek 
$0
 
Quantum Chemical Corp. v      $355,480 
Toennies          $6,000 
Apex Oil Co. v.         $6,750 
Tolin        $16,710 
October 18, 2000
Harris Cty. Bail Bond Bd. v. 
$0
Blackwood                  $0
 
Spradlin v.                  $0
Jim Walter Homes           $2,150
Coastal Liquids Trans. v.       $4,550
Harris Cty. Appraisal Dist.              $0
October 25, 2000
TX Dept. Criminal Justice v. $0
Miller $3,544

Total for October $1,170,563
*Source of money duplicative in consolidated prceeding and therefore counted once in month total.

 

 


 
 

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