Thread: The Power of Steyer

The Power of Steyer

U.S. extends Keystone XL comment period, delaying final decision

Construction of the TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline in Texas / AP

BY: Reuters
April 18, 2014 4:00 pm

(Reuters) – The Obama administration said on Friday it would extend the period of time for federal agencies to weigh in on the Keystone XL oil pipeline, giving no new deadline.

The move, which likely delays a final decision beyond November mid-term elections, angered Republican and some Democrat lawmakers who have urged President Barack Obama to make the final decision on TransCanada’s project after more than five years of government reviews.

Environmental groups hailed the move saying it underlined arguments against the pipeline.

Here is a selection of key comments from various groups:

LAWMAKERS:

Mitch McConnell, Republican leader in the Senate:
“It is crystal clear that the Obama administration is simply not serious about American energy and American jobs. I guess he wasn’t serious about having a pen and a phone, either. At a time of high unemployment in the Obama economy, it’s a shame that the administration has delayed the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline for years. Here’s the single greatest shovel-ready project in America – one that could create thousands of jobs right away – but the President simply isn’t interested. Apparently radical activists carry more weight than Americans desperate to get back on the job. More jobs left behind in the Obama economy.”

House Speaker John Boehner, Republican from Ohio:
“This delay is shameful. With tens of thousands of American jobs on the line and our allies in Eastern Europe looking for energy leadership from America, it’s clear there is little this administration isn’t willing to sacrifice for politics. For no reason other than the president’s refusal to stand up to the extreme left, good-paying jobs and North American energy remain out of reach. This job-creating project has cleared every environmental hurdle and overwhelmingly passed the test of public opinion, yet it’s been blocked for more than 2,000 days. And if we’ve learned anything from the events in Ukraine, it’s that energy security sends signals across borders, and nations in the region hoping for greater American energy exports will no doubt take notice of this egregious decision. There are no credible reasons to block this pipeline even one day more, and the House will continue to press the administration to move forward so we can put Americans back to work and strengthen our energy security.”

Senator Heidi Heitkamp, Democrat from North Dakota:
“Once again, we’re hearing more delays and more uncertainty over the Keystone XL pipeline. It’s absolutely ridiculous that this well over five-year long process is continuing for an undetermined amount of time. This most recent delay leaves everyone waiting in limbo – federal agencies, construction and energy workers and companies, state officials, and Canada. It hurts all of us when no decisions are made. I’ll keep pressing the Administration for a clear timeframe for the pipeline, as I did just last week with 10 other Democratic Senators. But because of this latest delay tactic by the Administration, I’ll continue to seriously consider other available options for approval.

Senator John Thune, Republican from South Dakota:
“On a day when many Americans are observing Good Friday and preparing for Easter, the administration took the opportunity to quietly announce yet another Keystone delay despite the five successful environmental reviews of the energy project. The president’s own State Department has said the Keystone pipeline will support more than 40,000 jobs – good jobs the administration has delayed for over five years. It’s disappointing that the president today chose to further pander to his extreme environmental donor base over the 10 million jobless Americans looking for work.”

CANADA:

Office of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Director of Communications Jason MacDonald:
“We are disappointed that politics continue to delay a decision on Keystone XL. This project will create tens of thousands of jobs on both sides of the border, will enhance the energy security of North America, has strong public support, and the U.S. State Department has, on multiple occasions, acknowledged it will be environmentally sound.”

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS:

Jim Murphy, Senior Counsel, National Wildlife Federation:
“This decision is yet another indication that the problems with this pipeline continue to grow and it’s a bad idea that needs to be rejected. The President and Secretary (John) Kerry have all the information they need to deny the pipeline. The facts show that it exacerbates the problem of carbon pollution and fails the President’s test. We are confident that ultimately the President will reject this project pipeline as it is clearly a step in the wrong direction and not in the national interest.”

League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld:

“This is great news! Today’s announcement by the State Department that it is extending the comment period makes us even more confident that the harmful Keystone XL tar sands pipeline will ultimately be rejected. Not only does the pipeline lack a legal route, it clearly fails the President’s own climate test and threatens our waters while providing no benefits. As the administration continues to examine the Nebraska route and the disastrous climate impacts, we believe that President Obama and Secretary Kerry will find that this pipeline is not in America’s national interest.”

(Writing by Jonathan Leff; Editing by Frances Kerry)
http://freebeacon.com/issues/the-power-of-steyer/

The Black Book of Tom Steyer

Allegations of fraud plague hedge fund of Democratic super-donor

Tom Steyer believes in American democracy… for now (AP)

BY: Lachlan Markay
April 21, 2014 5:00 am

The former hedge fund of one of the Democratic Party’s most important donors was involved in a scheme to defraud foreign investors out of tens of millions of dollars, according to documents filed in a Texas court.

Farallon Capital Partners L.P., a fund run by Farallon Capital Management, the multibillion-dollar hedge fund founded by Democratic donor Tom Steyer, became a limited partner in a project to build a large shopping mall near Seattle, Wash., in the mid-1990s after it guaranteed a line of credit for the project.

According to the Texas case, Farallon and other parties involved in the deal operated “in conjunction with” foreign-owned corporations in Texas “to defraud a group of over three-hundred German investors out of approximately sixty-million dollars.” A “Ponzi scheme” in which the companies planning to build what was to be called the Washington Supermall “transfer[red] millions of dollars in funds through ‘loans’ and ‘advances’ to other unrelated entities,” the plaintiffs alleged.

“At the end of the scheme,” the plaintiffs say, “after the money-drained Supermall project was sold in January of 1998, the remaining funds were distributed to the entities that had assisted the [foreign-owned] entities in their scheme, including … Farallon Partners, in improper preferential distributions that ultimately left the German investors with nothing to show for their $60 million investment.”

The case, which was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds—the court agreed with Farallon that it didn’t operate in Texas and hence could not be sued there—is being re-examined by the Republican politicians and activists scrutinizing the record of the billionaire and controversial environmentalist, who has pledged $100 million to help Democrats in this year’s midterm elections.

Another Farallon entity—Farallon Capital Partners L.P.—worked a separate shopping mall project that is also drawing the attention of critics, who say the hedge-fund bought companies and fired workers with little regard for the livelihood and concerns of the unemployed.

Farallon Capital Partners was involved in April 2007 in a joint venture to purchase Mills Corp., a Maryland-based shopping mall developer. “After the acquisition, dozens of Mills employees, including some executives, left the company or were laid off,” Washington Business Journal reported. Other Farallon-backed companies have seen layoffs well in excess of “dozens.”
Farallon and a pair of other financial firms teamed up with the World Bank in 1999 to buy Alpargatas, one of Argentina’s largest textile manufacturers.

Months later, the company laid off about half of its 6,000 employees.

“The company had already been battered during the 1990s by the drastic opening of the Argentine economy which came on top of an ill-advised attempt to diversify,” Latin Trade reported at the time. “This time, however, the idea was not to reduce operations as part of a restructuring, but simply to transfer them to neighboring Brazil to cut costs.”

Farallon’s history of layoffs is liable to spark attention with labor unions, a key Democratic constituency that has already found itself opposed to Tom Steyer’s agenda.

Steyer has vowed to throw his considerable political fortune behind candidates who oppose the Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline, which an ABC News pollfound is “overwhelmingly favored by Americans,” was delayed once again last week by the administration of Barack Obama, for whom Steyer bundled campaign contributions in the 2012 election.

Keystone opponents such as Steyer are “trying to destroy job opportunities for our LIUNA brothers and sisters,” Terry O’Sullivan, general president of the Laborers International Union of North America (LiUNA), wrote in a letter to union members in the districts of congressional Democrats who oppose the pipeline.

Steyer came under scrutiny last year when it was revealed that he still owned shares through a Farallon fund in a top competitor to TransCanada, the company building Keystone.

Steyer, who left day-to-day control of the fund at the end of 2012, said he directed Farallon to divest himself from the company. However, the hedge fund has maintained its stake and stands to benefit from a rejection of the pipeline.
Phil Kerpen, president of the conservative activist group American Commitment, is organizing a campaign to educate voters in the secret financial background of one of the most powerful men in American politics.

“Steyer has a history of ‘environmentally destructive business ventures,’” said aMarch ad from Kerpen’s group, which quoted from a Washington Free Beaconreport on the controversial practices that sparked a divestment movement against Farallon in the 1990s.

Kerpen called Steyer a “shadowy, dirty energy billionaire” in a news release accompanying the video, noting that the opponent of climate change “helped finance the second-largest coal company in Indonesia.”
Kerpen is determined to highlight that conflict, as well as Steyer’s deep ties to the Democratic Party.

“Harry Reid believes the myth that corrupt, dirty billionaires call the shots on the right because in his party it really does work that way,” he said.

Farallon did not respond to a request for comment.

http://freebeacon.com/politics/the-b...of-tom-steyer/

APRIL 21, 2014 4:00 AM

The Non-Koch Good Billionaire

For Democrats, Tom Steyer is a hero for donating millions to anti-Keystone candidates.

By Tom Rogan





On Friday, the day to bury unpopular news, the Obama administration announced the extension of its Keystone XL review. A final decision is unlikely before the November midterms. The administration claims it needs this delay to resolve legal complexities. But let’s be clear: This is the submission of governance to partisanship. And it comes from the president who proclaims himself the maestro of infrastructure investment.

It’s impossible to overstate the absurdity of this situation. After all, the State Department recently found that Keystone XL would have no significant impact on the environment — a conclusion upheld by the department’s inspector general. And these reports are only the tip of a bureaucratic iceberg: The White House has spent years sending Keystone XL through the paperwork wringer.

Still, the motivation for this latest deferral is obvious. It’s a midterm-election payoff, intended specifically for Tom Steyer, a retired hedge-fund manager who has pledged to raise $100 million for anti-Keystone candidates. In short, facing the prospect of a Republican Senate, Obama has decided that governance can wait until November.

Thus we find ourselves left with a stellar example of Democratic campaign-finance hypocrisy. Cast your memory back to February. Remember Harry Reid’s rantagainst the Koch brothers for their “un-American” “attempt to buy” American democracy? What about Steyer? By Reid’s standards, Steyer’s $100 million purchase would surely represent a moral horror. Except that Steyer is a Democrat, which changes everything, because Democrats are the enlightened ones.

This is liberal hypocrisy at its insufferable worst. In the “courage pledge” that Steyer sent out Thursday, he presents himself as a visionary who stands up for “children” (a weapon-word he uses three times), and he claims that the Koch brothers’ “only interest is seizing complete control of Congress.” In one short letter, we get sentimental demagoguery (“working families” vs. “powerful forces”) alongside a heaping dose of moral superiority. And Steyer extends his focus far beyond the issue of Keystone: He lambasts conservatives for rejecting minimum-wage hikes, Obamacare, and union empowerment. If there’s any irony in the fact that a retired billionaire wishes to restrain an energy revolution that would create many thousands of jobs, Steyer seems oblivious.

Of course, Steyer is not the only hypocrite. In their foaming-at-the-mouth reaction to Citizens United v. FEC, and McCutcheon v. FEC, many leftists have made clear that they see free speech as an optional right, to be parceled out as progressives see fit. And Democrats as a party are simply subjecting every issue to this “us good, them evil” approach. Liberal media outlets are great guardians of democracy, while conservative advocacy groups are enemies of the Republic. Tom Steyer? Bold shield of the proletariat. The Koch brothers? Cloaked agitators for kleptocracy.

Overflowing with hubris and starved of logic, this is a truly repugnant distortion of democracy. Today, openly and proudly, many Democrats are not content to simplyoppose conservative viewpoints and put forth persuasive arguments against them. Instead, they favor the public purging of unclean views from American society. Ultimately, Reid, Steyer, and company would have us believe, as Orwell might put it, that all animals are equal, but billionaire donkeys are more equal than billionaire elephants.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articl...aire-tom-rogan