While the votes of politicians are recorded, even when they slip through an obscure clause in the budget, the question of who influenced them remains. Who poured them the glass of tainted water to wash this poison bill down our throats with the budget? While it is not technically correct to use campaign contributions and bribes interchangeably, there is a tendency to contribute to politicians who will support one’s position. A leading recipient of fracking money in Ohio is House Speaker William Batchelder. The cushions of Batchelder's house seat are stuffed with a considerable amount of fracking money. Since 2006, he has received $44,293 from the Ohio Oil and Natural Gas Association, an industry lobbying group. The fracking industry also supported him directly with $55,000 from FirstEnergy Corp, $26,850 from NISOURCE, $26,350 from Dominion, $16,250 from Duke Energy, $12,500 from Chesapeake Energy and $35,750 from American Electric Power. A few cents of many Columbus residents' power bill helps to line Batchelder's campaign fund as he quietly legalizes the injection of radioactive waste into our drinking water. As the money flows down the trough, many other politicians squealed and muscled their way in to lap it up. Republican Ohio State Senator Keith Faber received money from the Ohio Oil and Natural Gas Association and the six companies previously mentioned. He also got campaign funding from Spectra Energy, Vectren, Dayton Power and Light, Marathon Oil and arch-polluter British Petroleum. The Ohio Oil and Natural Gas Association gave to Ohio Republican house members Cheryl Grossman, Dave Hall, Matt Huffman, John Adams, Ron Amstutz, Kristina Roegner, Andrew Thompson, Thomas Patton, James Butler, Christina Hagan, Peter Stautberg, AL Landis, Jay Hottinger, Jeffery McClain, Cliff Rosenberger, Bob Peterson, Louis Terhar, Timothy Derickson, Dorothy Pelanda, Mark Romanchuk, Pete Beck, Gerald Stebelton, Anne Gonzales, Terry Boose, Mike Dovilla and Brian Hill. Many received only $1000, making them not just fracking political prostitutes but cheap fracking political prostitutes. Dave Hall is the highest priced after Batchelder at $13,500.00. Additionally the Ohio Oil and Natural Gas bought themselves eleven Ohio State Senators with contributions of less than $10,000 each. All are fracking Republicans. Twenty-one other Ohio House Republicans received $500 or less for their support. The fracking money also flowed directly to Secretary of State Jon Husted and Governor John Kasich who signed the budget. Husted received $7,500 directly from executives of American Electric Power, $5000 from FirstEnergy, $2000 from NiSource, $2500 from Dayton Power and Light and $3000 from Vectren. Governor Kasich's election in 2010 received big piles of fracking money, which continued to flow after his election. NISOURCE has given $20,044. American Electric Power gave $20,043. The Ohio Oil and Natural Gas Association gave him $16,396. Duke Energy gave $11,543. Dominion helped him with $6,500. All in all, Ohio has the best fracking politicians money can buy. There appears to be a clear line from contribution to budget amendment to poisoned wells. Many of the same politicians received substantial contributions from the health care industry, that fracking will cause many more Ohio residents to patronize in the coming years.

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