Massey Energy is most commonly referred to this week as the company that operated the Upper Big Branch mine where a massive methane gas explosion this week has killed between 25 and 30 people. Massey Energy has many more coal mines than just the Upper Big Branch mine, though. They’re one of the loudest voices Big Coal has, although their voice is increasingly out of harmony with the smaller voices of the workers of coal country.

Massey Energy’s story has been one of increasing recklessness. It has run its coal mines in a way that has accelerated the threat to coal miners, rather than finding new ways to keep miners more safe. A document from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration shows that while, in 2004, Massey Energy was issued 4,331 citations for safety violations and orders for new safety measures, last year, Massey received more than double that number of citations and orders: 10,653.

Don Blankenship, as CEO of Massey Energy, holds ultimate responsibility for this record of disregard of basic worker safety in the company’s coal mines. That negative record isn’t a revelation that’s new because of the Upper Big Branch disaster. It’s been known for a long time.

Who would accept money from the man responsible for Massey Energy’s endangerment of coal miners? The following are the individuals in Congress who have accepted money from Don Blankenship. This list doesn’t include politicians who have accepted money from other coal companies, or from coal-aligned PACs, or from lobbyists working for coal companies. These are merely the members of Congress and congressional candidates who took cash from Blankenship.

- Republican U.S. Representative Mike Rogers of Michigan’s 8th congressional district
- James Gilmore, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate from Virginia in 2008
- George Allen, Republican former U.S. Senator from Virginia
- Jim Bunning, Republican Senator from Kentucky
- Tom Delay, Republican former U.S. Representative from Texas
- John Keadle, Republican candidate for the U.S. House from North Carolina
- Bill Frist, Republican former U.S. Senator from Tennessee
- Mitch McConnell, Republican U.S. Senator from Kentucky
- Rob Portman, Republican former U.S. Representative and current U.S. Senate candidate from Ohio
- James Inhofe, Republican U.S. Senator from Oklahoma
- Pat Toomey, Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Pennsylvania
- Fred Thompson, Republican former U.S. Senator from Tennessee

Do you notice a pattern in the members of Congress who agreed to take Don Blankenship’s money? Here’s a hint. The following organizations also have accepted money from Blankenship: The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, the West Virginia Republican State Executive Committee, and the Republican Party of Kentucky.