NY Times: Ties to Obama Aided in Access for Big Utility

[alp227]

Early in the Obama administration, a lobbyist for the Illinois-based energy producer Exelon Corporation proudly called it “the president’s utility.” And it was not just because it delivers power to Barack Obama’s Hyde Park neighborhood in Chicago.

Exelon’s top executives were early and frequent supporters of Mr. Obama as he rose from the Illinois State Senate to the White House. John W. Rogers Jr., a friend of the president’s and one of his top fund-raisers, is an Exelon board member. David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s longtime political strategist, once worked as an Exelon consultant, and Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago mayor and Mr. Obama’s former chief of staff, helped create the company through a corporate merger in 2000 while working as an investment banker.

With energy an increasingly pivotal issue for the Obama White House, a review of Exelon’s relationship with the administration shows how familiarity has helped foster access at the upper reaches of government and how, in some cases, the outcome has been favorable for Exelon.

White House records show that Exelon executives were able to secure an unusually large number of meetings with top administration officials at key moments in the consideration of environmental regulations that have been drafted in a way that hurt Exelon’s competitors, but curb the high cost of compliance for Exelon and its industry allies.

full: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/us/politics/ties-to-obama-aided-in-access-for-exelon-corporation.html?pagewanted=all

[get the red out]

1. Did the get him to bomb Chicago for oil?

If not then they're not doing influence right.

[Enrique]

2. article is slanted to fit the "crony capitalism" accusation

for example, this part:

The administration’s tightening of clean air rules was a particular boon, since it took aim at Exelon’s main competitors — coal-burning power plants in the Midwest and mid-Atlantic regions. In 2010, Exelon estimated it would earn an extra $400 million annually because the regulations would force dozens of coal-burning plants to close.

The problem is that Obama also has close ties to the coal industry (IL is a big coal state), and Obama has made very significant concessions to that industry, especially his overruling the EPA on the smog standards.

Also, unless I missed it, this article says nothing about Obama's drilling policy, which also broadly benefits the oil industry.

So bottom line, Obama is friendly with the energy industry overall, but that is not damaging to him politically, so they are going for a crony capitalism angle that doesn't hold up, imo.