Democrat trying to tax ‘Big Oil’ fundraises alongside consultant for fossil fuel companies
Gabe Kaminsky
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A Democratic senator who has vowed to “hold Big Oil accountable” through increased taxes is fundraising alongside a campaign donor who has consulted for companies majorly reliant on fossil fuels, records show.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) helped put forth legislation in February called the Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act, which would impose major taxes on oil giants such as Chevron and Exxon Mobil. At the same time, however, the Climate Solutions Caucus member is raising cash on Saturday and Sunday with the help of Bryan Hlavinka, a donor to her campaign and freelance consultant for offshore operators who has long overseen oil- and gas-related projects, according to records reviewed by the Washington Examiner.
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It’s “deeply problematic” how much influence Big Oil and Big Gas have in Washington, D.C., and Baldwin is acting hypocritically by claiming to work for the green energy industry while associating with fossil fuel-linked personnel, according to Collin Rees, political director for Oil Change U.S., a group that aims to “kick fossil fuel money out of politics.”
“It’s definitely concerning,” Rees told the Washington Examiner. “We’d love to see Sen. Baldwin, and all Democrats and Republicans, separate themselves from the industry — because we think that it’s going to be critical to moving forward.”
The Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act, which Baldwin co-sponsored along with 16 other Democrats following its introduction by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), would make large oil companies pay a pre-barrel quarterly tax equivalent to 50% “of the difference between the current price of a barrel of oil and the pre-pandemic average price per barrel between 2015 and 2019,” according to a press release.
Baldwin has long supported green energy initiatives and has tweeted that climate change “is a real, immediate & growing threat to national security, public health and our economy.” Still, a pro-Baldwin fundraiser partially hosted by Hlavinka is slated for Saturday evening in Houston, Texas, at the home of Richard Holt, a businessman who has donated to the senator’s campaign, according to Federal Election Commission filings and a flyer.
Hlavinka donated $2,950 to Baldwin’s campaign between 2011 and 2018, filings show. He was a consultant from 2013 and 2015 for Gibson Applied Technology & Engineering, Inc., an energy company that works on oil and gas projects. Between 2011 and 2013, Hlavinka was also a systems completion engineer for Noble Energy, a defunct Houston hydrocarbon exploration group that was acquired in 2020 by Chevron, his LinkedIn page shows.
While working for Noble Energy, Hlavinka “oversaw the construction and commissioning of Noble Energy’s Alen project,” according to his LinkedIn page. The project produced gas flow in Africa by 2021 in partnership with other entities, including GEPetrol, an African-based oil company run by the government in Equatorial Guinea, according to multiple reports.
On Sunday, Baldwin is also appearing at a fundraiser hosted by the LGBTQ Victory Fund, a political action committee, according to a document and Facebook post by Hlavinka on Feb. 6. The event is being held at the Post Oak Hotel at Uptown, a five-star hotel in Houston, a flyer shows.
Hlavinka is a “table captain” for the Sunday event, along with six other people, according to the flyer. In order to become a table captain, which provides VIP and brunch tickets, a “social media toolkit,” and other perks, one must spend $2,750, the flyer notes.
“The hypocrisy and demagoguery of this is amazing,” Daniel Kish, senior policy vice president for the Institute for Energy Research, a pro-fossil-fuels group, told the Washington Examiner. “Everything Tammy Baldwin has been doing in her career has been making it harder to produce oil, making prices go up.”
Kish added: “If she wanted oil prices to come down, she would be pushing for more pipelines or more refineries for oil and gas drilling. On one hand, she’s saying ‘we’re going to tax you at a higher rate,’ and, by the way, ‘please come to my fundraiser.'”
Baldwin has said confronting the “Climate crisis” is an “urgent economic necessity.” She tweeted in August 2022, “We have a moral responsibility to take on the climate crisis.”
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“In 1970, Wisconsin Sen. Nelson issued a call to action & 20 million people mobilized for the first Earth Day,” she also tweeted in August 2022. “As we celebrate #EarthDay, let’s carry on Sen. Nelson’s legacy by protecting our great outdoors & taking action on climate change to preserve the Wisconsin way of life!”
https://twitter.com/SenatorBaldwin/status/1558928366274838528
Baldwin’s congressional office did not return a request for comment.