President Bush's emphasis on opening up wildlife refuges and coastal waters to domestic drilling is likely to benefit Christine Toretti, the chief executive of SW Jack Drilling, one of the nation's largest independently owned gas firms. In the last election cycle, all of Toretti's campaign contributions went to the Republican Party and its candidates.
"I am putting all of my eggs in one basket," Toretti told the Los Angeles Times before the election. "I have spent eight years trying to keep my people employed. We need to be opening up Alaska and the North Carolina coast. Obviously, it's not Gore's priority. If you havenšt done it by now, the heck with you.
Toretti's contributions provide her with plenty of access to top-ranking Republicans. She is one of three members of the GOP national committee from Pennsylvania, and serves on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. In 1998, after giving more than $35,000 to Governor Tom Ridge and the Pennsylvania GOP, she was appointed to the board of governors of the State System of Higher Education. Her contributions, she insisted, played no part in the appointment.
"I didn't ask to be put on the state system," she told reporters. "Tom asked me to serve, at a sacrifice to me and my family. All of the people who are on that board right now -- all of the private-sector people -- are working their behinds off to help.''
-- Lila Byock
