Petrelis Files

Coal Group CEO Hatfield Gave to GOP, Ollie North, 2 Dems

After watching a few TV news stories about the tragic ending to the coal mine disaster in West Virginia, except for the one miner pulled out alive, I went looking for any political donations made by the mining company, International Coal Group.

According to Federal Election Commission records at the PoliticalMoneyLine, no donations from executives or employees of that corporation were made in the past decade or so.

However, the CEO of the mining company, Bennett K. Hatfield, before he took the helm of the company, worked for Arch Coal and Massey Coal, and during his employment with them, he wrote a few checks to politicians, both Republicans and Democrats. The following donations were listed at the PoliticalMoneyLine site:

Hatfield, Ben Mr.
10/28/2004
$1,000.00
Charleston, WV 25329
Arch Coal. Inc/Manager[Contribution]
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE

HATFIELD, BENNETT
10/13/2000
$1,000.00
CHESTERFIELD, VA 23838 [Contribution]
FRIENDS OF GEORGE ALLEN (R)

HATFIELD, BENNETT K
2/19/1998
$1,000.00
RICHMAN, VA 23218
MASSEY COAL CO[Contribution]
MACCALLUM FOR CONGRESS COMMITTEE (D)

HATFIELD, BENNETT
8/17/1994
$1,000.00
MATEWAN, WV 25678 [Contribution]
OLIVER NORTH FOR U S SENATE COMMITTEE INC (R)

HATFIELD, BENNETT K
4/7/1993
$1,000.00
WILLIAMSON, WV 25661
MASSEY COAL SERVICES [Contribution]
MCCONNELL SENATE COMMITTEE '96 (R)

HATFIELD, BENNETT K
6/30/1992
$500.00 WILLIAMSON, WV 25661
MASSEY COAL SERVICES INC[Contribution]
COMMITTEE FOR WENDELL FORD (D)

Most of his other federal donations went to coal company's political action committees.