Driehaus Foe's State House Campaign Buoyed By $$$ From Texas: Brockmeier's Top Donor Is In-Law Employed By Oil/Gas Driller Eying Ohio

A Schlumberger Truck On The Move Recently In The Shale Fields

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Ever hear the saying, Don't mess with Texas. Word has quietly spread this week among some Democrats in the 31st House District that Luke Brockmeier's biggest financial supporter is from Texas and an employee of Schlumberger, the world's largest oilfield services company.  Brockmeier is running against incumbent State Rep. Denise Driehaus, who is sponsoring HB 345 that imposes a moratorium on fracking by drillers tapping natural gas fields in Ohio.  Driehaus is concerned that fracking could contaminate water supplies -- she wants an EPA study proving the process is safe.  Campaign finance reports on file with the Secretary of State's office show Brockmeir raised $9,095 last year, and 82% of the money came from the Sclumberger employee in Snyder, Tex.  That community is a small town in the oilfields near Lubbock.  Brockmeier calls any attempt to paint him as a backer of fracking or pawn of the oil industry as character assassination.  He says the money has come from family, not frackers.

The 31st is a newly created district with 5,555 registered Democrats among its 57,819 voters.  In 2008, when Obama and Hillary drew record turnout, there were 4,869 Dems who voted.  This year, the numbers will be far less without a presidential contest headlining the ballot.
 The 31st comprises a large chunk of Cincinnati's East Side, including Clifton and Hyde Park, and several suburbs like Deer Park and Amberley Village.  Whoever gets the Democratic nomination March 6 is almost certain to win the seat in the November General Election.  Driehaus had to move into the new district from her West Side neighborhood in order to run.  In contrast, Brockmeier is a longtime resident who lives in Madisonville, a fact he's been pointing out to voters.  He's also been aggressive in portraying Driehaus as a pro-life candidate -- she supported three bills to limit abortion rights in the current legislative session.  Now, he seems to be under pressure about the campaign donations linked to an oilfield drilling operation that's setting up operations in Ohio.

Brockmeier, in a statement e-mailed to The Daily Bellwether, says the Texas donor is his mother-in-law.  He said he is opposed to fracking "because I'm an environmentalist."  But some Democrats -- none who want to go on the record -- say the campaign donations grabbed their attention because Schlumberger announced last month it bought a 140-acre site in Tuscarawas County.  The company plans to build an operation to put up and tear down drilling rigs in the Marcellus Shale gas fields -- the fields tapped by fracking.   In all, it plans to hire 250 workers and build a $2.89 million operation in the Strasburg Industrial Park.  You can read a news report about Schlumberger's expansion into Ohio by clicking here.


This is the complete text of the statement Brockmeier e-mailed to The Daily Bellwether about the campaign donations (two that totaled $7,500) from  Texas:

"I've always been anti-fracking because I'm an environmentalist. Denise (who took corporate money from Duke) has had 3 years to act, but is suddenly anti-fracking now that it's in the news.
I'm also anti-oil and anti-coal in Ohio, because they're not sustainable industries. But I've taken money from Texas!  From somebody with the same name as my treasurer, who is my wife!
Yes, I've taken money from Big In-Law.
My mother-in-law is a longtime progressive donor because she's a pro-choice, pro-LGBT equality activist. She's also a part-time receptionist at an oil company.
She has donated to me some of the money she inherited after the recent deaths of her own parents, who were both government employees, because she believes in my cause. She loves me like a son, since both of my parents died when I was in my early 20s.
I'd appreciate it if we could skip the character assassinations and the attacks on my family and stick to which candidate will best represent the progressive voters of this district."

On his website, Brockmeier has been critical of fracking:

"Cincinnatians need to stand united against injection fracking, which is the injection of millions of gallons of chemically-tainted drilling byproducts into the Ohio River watershed in Eastern Ohio. That, for the record, is thepositive way of describing fracking. More outrageously, Cincinnati sees no benefit from this process; the state tax receipts are negligible, and the minor bump in employment is elsewhere.
Proposal: we need a huge state-level investment in water testing and treatment in Cincinnati, since we bear the entirety of the external risks. Until we get that assurance, we need a moratorium on this irresponsible process."

On her website, Driehaus touts her cred as treehugger:

"Denise Driehaus is an environmentalist. She held one of the first town hall meetings on fracking at the Esquirer Theater, and introduced legislation that would place a moratorium on fracking in the State of Ohio. Driehaus has previously been endorsed by the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters."


[UPDATE: 2/12/2012 10:37 a.m -- Luke Brockmeier has published some biographical information about his family.  It is probably the warmest, most loving piece a Cincinnati officeseeker has written about his roots and formative years in a long, long time.  Maybe the best ever.  Take a moment and read it by clicking here.]