Washington, D.C.--Freshman Colorado Rep. Scott Tipton (R) received at least $27,175 from oil and gas interests in the third quarter of 2011, the largest giving sector to the Congressman from July 1 to September 30, 2011, according to Public Campaign analysis of Federal Election Commission (FEC) data.

Tipton received $38,075 from the energy sector overall. Major industry donors in the third quarter included ExxonMobil PAC ($5,000), Chevron PAC ($2,000), and several donations from energy company presidents and CEOs.

“Scott Tipton has sided with big oil companies, and Coloradans are paying twice for it – once in higher taxes to support Big Oil subsidies and then again with high gas prices at the pump,” said David Donnelly, national campaigns director of Public Campaign. “He appears to be listening more to his Big Oil donors than the small businesses on Main Street.”

Overall, Tipton raised $303,880 total in the third quarter of the year, nearly half of the total amount ($642,281) he’s raised during the year so far. Tipton ended the quarter with $510,820 in his account, but has $111,388 in outstanding debt.

Other key points of the analysis:

• He took $13,650 from real estate interests, including several big donations from those associated with Colorado real estate firms and developers.
• Forty-three percent of donations came from outside of Colorado and 80% came in amounts of $1,000 or more.

Tipton has voted multiple times this year against efforts to end wasteful taxpayer handouts to some of our country’s largest oil companies.

A challenger to Tipton, Democratic candidate Sal Pace, raised $165,786 for the quarter, bringing his total to $267,533 for the year to date.

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Public Campaign is a national nonpartisan organization that fights to raise the voices of everyday people in our democracy through changing our campaign finance laws and through holding elected officials accountable. Learn more at www.publicampaign.org.