A little over a year ago, Tom Steyer, a California-based environmentalist, stepped down from the investing firm he created in 1986. At that time he announced he was going to concentrate his efforts full stop on trying to combat global warming, which he has called "the moral issue of our time." In recent years he's spent tens of millions of dollars on the development of affordable renewable energy and the advancement of public policies to support it. And he's been a big player in trying to persuade Barack Obama not to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which would bring oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
Now, theNew York Times reports, Steyer intends to spend as much as $100 million this election cycle through his political action committee NextGen Climate Action, seeking to pressure federal and state officials to enact climate change measures through a campaign of attack ads.
Among his intended targets is one Rick Scott, Republican from Florida.
Although Steyer obviously intends to spend most of his firepower against Republicans, you should believe him when he talks about climate change being the issue for him, not partisan politics. That's why Louisiana Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu will be a target in her uphill battle for re-election this November. (Another one listed by NextGen supporters as a target — Marco Rubio — isn't actually running this year.)
Landrieu is a big supporter of the Keystone XL pipeline, incurring NextGen's wrath. And so will Obama, if he approves the pipeline. But if you've been following that tale, you've seen the president come up with every reason in the world to continue to have to "study" the issue, which is hogwash. All things considered, many analysts believe Obama would prefer to let the pipeline go through — but the potential political backlash from the environmental movement has frozen him from making that decision.
Is somebody like Steyer good for our democracy? Are the Koch Brothers? No, they're not. Anybody with that much money who can have that much influence ain't a good thing, even if they're fighting the fight you believe in.
But after George Soros decided to save his wealth for things outside of Democratic party politics, the D's have been looking for a big sugar daddy who could compete with the Kochs. They may have found their man, but not if you're a Democrat who has strong links to the gas and oil industry.
Meanwhile, as our gubernatorial campaign slowly unwinds, you can expect the civil and voting rights of ex-felons to become an issue. Charlie Crist has a record of granting those who have paid their debt to society the right to vote without going through a bureaucratic nightmare. Rick Scott? Not so much. Yesterday Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Castor threw down the gauntlet on that topic, joined by representatives from the NAACP and the ACLU.
CL spoke to Elizabeth Snedecker over the weekend. She's part of that octogenarian Largo-based couple currently starring in a much-played commercial criticizing David Jolly's take on Social Security.
And how about that Comcast-Time Warner deal? The more you learn about it, the less there is to like about it.