Meet corbetts Marcellus Advisory Commission!

[Bravo Zulu]

interactive
http://shale.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/multimedia/interactives/governors-shale-advisers

More info on the Governor's team Wednesday, March 30, 2011 12:46 PM Written by The Post-Gazette About this interactive

By Katie Park

The gallery displays the commission's chair, Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley, and the 29 other members. It allows users to sort the members by name, by sector — government, industry and environmental — and by the amount of money each member contributed to Mr. Corbett's campaign since 2008.

The three sectors are determined by each member's most recent and relevant experience relating to Marcellus Shale. Several members have experience in more than one sector, such as C. Alan Walker, a state government official with a lengthy career in the coal industry.

Information on campaign contributions was made available through the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Campaign Finance Reporting database. The Post-Gazette's statehouse reporter, Tracie Mauriello, researched campaign contributions from 2008 to March 8, 2011.

The interactive gallery displays the total amount contributed — which includes campaign donations from family members and from the commission members' companies — as well as a breakdown of each member's contributions.

A look at the commission's makeup shows:

• The commission is almost entirely male. Only one woman, Cynthia Carrow of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, was appointed to the team.

• The commission carries a strong industry perspective. One-third of the commission is made up of people who are active in the energy industry. In addition to that, two government officials are former industry employees.

• The commission contains several generous donors to Mr. Corbett's gubernatorial campaign. Contributions range from $200 to $411,000 from retired energy executive Terrence Pegula and the company he founded. Acting secretary of environmental protection Michael Krancer, nominated by Mr. Corbett, did not make any individual donations to Mr. Corbett's campaign — but his father, Ronald Krancer, gave $300,000. Ten members did not contribute to Mr. Corbett's campaign in the last three years.

• Of the three sectors, the industry sector gave the most money to Mr. Corbett's campaign — $864,950 — and all but one member contributed some amount. The government sector's contributions total $505,639 with nine of 15 members contributing. Only one member of the environmental sector contributed, with $19,550 coming from Anthony Bartolomeo's engineering firm.

Katie Park was a 2011 intern for the Post-Gazette and is now a junior at Northwestern University. She can be reached through [e-mail] This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

[Curmudgeoness]

1. When you sort by sector, it is apparent that they are not interested

in being fair. Just five are listed as "environmental", and Engelder belongs in the "industry" sector without a doubt---worked for Texaco and is a principal in Appalachian Fracture Systems---I wonder what they do.

That leaves four environmental out of 30. What do you think the outcome will be? They aren't even trying.