Clinton Transition Team Headed by Anti-Climate 'Powerbroker'
Published on
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
by
Common Dreams
Clinton Transition Team Headed by Anti-Climate 'Powerbroker'
Ken Salazar has previously claimed "there's not a single case where
hydraulic fracking has created an environmental problem for anyone"
by
Nadia Prupis, staff writer
Salazar has previously promoted the TPP, fracking, and the Keystone XL
pipeline. (Photo: Casa de América/flickr/cc)
Hillary Clinton has named her transition team should she be elected in
November, and the rosteras many fearedis a who's-who of establishment
figures, including former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who has a maligned
track record on climate.
The team will also include former national security adviser Tom Donilon,
former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, president of the Center for American
Progress (CAP) Neera Tanden, and director of Harvard University's Institute
of Politics Maggie Williams. Two of the campaign's policy advisers, Ed Meier
and Ann O'Leary, will also serve as co-executive directors.
Salazar, whose career includes positions both in government and corporate
Washington, D.C. firms, has previously pushed for projects that are reviled
among environmental activists, such as fracking, the Trans Pacific
Partnership (TPP), and the Keystone XL pipeline.
Just a year ago, Clinton and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) penned an op-ed for
the Huffington Post decrying the cyclical nature of Capitol Hill
institutions that enable lawmakers and lobbyists to jump in and out of the
private and public sectors.
"[I]ncreasingly, Americans' trust in government is eroding. And a big reason
for that is the so-called revolving door between government and the private
sector," they wrote.
But as David Sirota noted Tuesday at International Business Times, putting
Salazar in charge of Clinton's transition team only empowers more of the
same:
Salazar served as Colorado's Attorney General, U.S. Senator and Interior
Secretary before traveling through that revolving door and taking a job in
2013 as a partner at WilmerHalea law and lobbying colossus that has been
called one of the most influential forces in Washington. Salazar's biography
says that he "provides legal, strategic and policy advice to national and
international clients, particularly on matters at the intersection of law,
business and public policy." He is one of 39 former public officials now
working at WilmerHale, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive
Politics. The firm has recently been the subject of a ProPublica
investigation that showed one of its partners gave a personal loan to Gene
Sperling, then President Obama's economic adviser, as the firm represented
major financial institutions.
Salazar is not a registered lobbyist but he appears to fit the description
of the kind of powerbroker that Clinton has criticized.
The former interior secretary has also previously said, "The TPP is a strong
trade deal that will level the playing field for workers to help
middle-class families get ahead. It is also the greenest trade deal ever,"
and has claimed that "there's not a single case where hydraulic fracking has
created an environmental problem for anyone."
According to Politico, Salazar is also opposing an anti-fracking ballot
measure in his home state of Colorado.
The team was announced just days after 15 progressive groups published an
open letter calling on Clinton to appoint personnel that would prove her
commitment to issues such as ending economic inequality and stopping the
TPP.
"Historically, too many Wall Street executives and corporate insiders have
traveled through the revolving door between private industry and
government," the letter stated. "The result of this practice is that the
interests of elites are over-represented in Washington."
The signatories included advocacy groups Public Citizen, RootsAction, and
MoveOn.org. They urged Clinton to "publicly state that, should you win the
presidency, you will appoint personnel from backgrounds in public interest
advocacy, academia, and public service to influential positions within your
administration, rather than merely drawing from the usual set of corporate
insiders."
"Personnel is policy," they wrote.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License
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Clinton Transition Team Headed by Anti-Climate 'Powerbroker'
Published on
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
by
Common Dreams
Clinton Transition Team Headed by Anti-Climate 'Powerbroker'
Ken Salazar has previously claimed "there's not a single case where
hydraulic fracking has created an environmental problem for anyone"
by
Nadia Prupis, staff writer
64 Comments
Salazar has previously promoted the TPP, fracking, and the Keystone
XL pipeline. (Photo: Casa de América/flickr/cc)
Hillary Clinton has named her transition team should she be elected
in November, and the rosteras many fearedis a who's-who of establishment
figures, including former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who has a maligned
track record on climate.
The team will also include former national security adviser Tom
Donilon, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, president of the Center for
American Progress (CAP) Neera Tanden, and director of Harvard University's
Institute of Politics Maggie Williams. Two of the campaign's policy
advisers, Ed Meier and Ann O'Leary, will also serve as co-executive
directors.
Salazar, whose career includes positions both in government and
corporate Washington, D.C. firms, has previously pushed for projects that
are reviled among environmental activists, such as fracking, the Trans
Pacific Partnership (TPP), and the Keystone XL pipeline.
Just a year ago, Clinton and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) penned an
op-ed for the Huffington Post decrying the cyclical nature of Capitol Hill
institutions that enable lawmakers and lobbyists to jump in and out of the
private and public sectors.
"[I]ncreasingly, Americans' trust in government is eroding. And a big reason
for that is the so-called revolving door between government and the private
sector," they wrote.
But as David Sirota noted Tuesday at International Business Times, putting
Salazar in charge of Clinton's transition team only empowers more of the
same:
Salazar served as Colorado's Attorney General, U.S. Senator and Interior
Secretary before traveling through that revolving door and taking a job in
2013 as a partner at WilmerHalea law and lobbying colossus that has been
called one of the most influential forces in Washington. Salazar's biography
says that he "provides legal, strategic and policy advice to national and
international clients, particularly on matters at the intersection of law,
business and public policy." He is one of 39 former public officials now
working at WilmerHale, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive
Politics. The firm has recently been the subject of a ProPublica
investigation that showed one of its partners gave a personal loan to Gene
Sperling, then President Obama's economic adviser, as the firm represented
major financial institutions.
Salazar is not a registered lobbyist but he appears to fit the description
of the kind of powerbroker that Clinton has criticized.
http://commondreams.org/crossroadshttp://commondreams.org/crossroads
The former interior secretary has also previously said, "The TPP is a strong
trade deal that will level the playing field for workers to help
middle-class families get ahead. It is also the greenest trade deal ever,"
and has claimed that "there's not a single case where hydraulic fracking has
created an environmental problem for anyone."
According to Politico, Salazar is also opposing an anti-fracking ballot
measure in his home state of Colorado.
The team was announced just days after 15 progressive groups published an
open letter calling on Clinton to appoint personnel that would prove her
commitment to issues such as ending economic inequality and stopping the
TPP.
"Historically, too many Wall Street executives and corporate insiders have
traveled through the revolving door between private industry and
government," the letter stated. "The result of this practice is that the
interests of elites are over-represented in Washington."
The signatories included advocacy groups Public Citizen, RootsAction, and
MoveOn.org. They urged Clinton to "publicly state that, should you win the
presidency, you will appoint personnel from backgrounds in public interest
advocacy, academia, and public service to influential positions within your
administration, rather than merely drawing from the usual set of corporate
insiders."
"Personnel is policy," they wrote.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License
