Robert Bradley

Robert Bradley and the Institute for Energy Research

Robert Bradley is listed as the president of the Institute for Energy Research (IER), a Houston, Texas-based free-market think tank. The IER has received over $200,000 in funding from oil-giant ExxonMobil.

The IER has strong links to other well-known industry-friendly organizations.

Listed on the IER website are Marlo Lewis of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Jerry Taylor of the Cato Institute, Tom Tanton of the Pacific Research Institute and Joel Schwartz of the American Enterprise Institute. Combined, these organizations have received over $4.5 million in funding from ExxonMobil since 1998.

Of the seven listed IER Board of Directors, 2 are directly affiliated with IER, 1 is with the American Enterprise Institute and 3 are involved in the energy sector.

The IER operates a second site called Facts On Energy.

Robert Bradley and Enron Corporation

According to this interview transcript, Bradley "was a long-time employee of Enron Corporation, the collapsed corporate giant. During the company’s last seven years he served as speechwriter and regulatory advisor for Ken Lay, Enron’s CEO."

Robert Bradley and the Cato Institute

Bradley is listed as an "Adjunct Scholar" for a DC-based free-market think tank called the Cato Institute. The Cato Institute describes itself as an organization seeking to "broaden the parameters of public policy debate to allow consideration of the traditional American principles of limited government, individual liberty, free markets and peace."

The Cato Institute has received funding in the past from ExxonMobil, as well as well known energy industry-money backed charitable foundations like the Charles G Koch Foundation.

Robert Bradley and the Competitive Enterprise Institute

Bradley is listed as an Adjunct Scholar for a DC-based free-market think tank called the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). The CEI describes itself as a "public policy organization dedicated to advancing the principles of free enterprise and limited government."

The CEI is well-known for its public efforts to aggressively counter the scientific evidence for human-induced climate change, including an infamous set of television ads with the tag line "C02, We Call it Life."

Since 1998, the CEI has received over $2 million in funding from oil-giant ExxonMobil. Other organizations that have contributed to the CEI include tobacco-giant Philip Morris, who has provided $370,000 since 1991 to the CEI for assistance in "regulatory issues."

A 1996 Brown and Williamson memo lists the CEI as a funded organization providing research and developing public policy positions.

In January, 2007, ExxonMobil announced that it would no longer be funding the CEI.