Essolaisia kehoitetaan äänestämään Bushia

Exxon to staff: vote for oil
Dirty war on global warming


Mon 11 October 2004
UNITED STATES/Dallas, Texas


There's nothing nastier than a wounded tiger. ExxonMobil(Esso) is licking
its wounds as Russia moves closer to ratifying the Kyoto protocol. But the
world's number one environmental criminal is still fighting tooth and nail
to deny the truth about climate change. The US government is increasingly
isolated and Exxon is out to ensure its workers keep it that way by voting
for US politicians who oppose action against global warming.


To compliment corporate front groups, lawsuits against critics, and
tireless lobbying against any global warming regulation, Exxon is stepping
up its efforts to get employees to vote "pro-business".

According to a story reported by the Dow Jones Newswire, Exxon is mailing
its 34,000 employees with election materials and helpful voter guides
which -- surprise! --give the Republican Party gold star ratings for
spurning global warming regulation, supporting drilling for oil in the
Arctic wildlife refuge, and letting oil refineries release more pollution
by weakening the Clean Air Act.

Exxon is informing not only its employees but also retirees and
contractors how they should vote in upcoming presidential and
congressional races across the US.

"We obviously are promoting candidates who are pro-business and candidates
who recognize the importance of a viable policy on energy," Ken Cohen, the
vice president for public affairs and the chairman of ExxonMobil's PAC,
said. "Republicans more often tend to line up on those issues than
Democrats."

In 2000 Exxon gave 91 percent (US$1.37 million) of it political donations
to the Republican Party. Exxon was more than amply repaid when President
GW Bush promptly withdrew the US from the only global treaty to control
global warming, the Kyoto Protocol.

In a message at ExxonMobils' Citizen Action Team website, company CEO Lee
Raymond states "it is essential that we as a company, and more importantly
as individuals, are part of the political process." The website's front
page quotes Thomas Jefferson: "We in America do not have a government by
the majority. We have a government by the majority who participate."