National Politics | Politics

Tom Steyer: Obama's rent-seeking Cal pal

tom_steyer_apPresident Obama was hosted in San Francisco Wednesday night at the spectacular mansion-with-a-Pacific Ocean-view of private equity billionaire Tom Steyer, the scion of a wealthy New York family (say, isn’t this the guy Obama beat in the fall election?). Their goal? Raise money for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to help restore California’s Nancy Pelosi – also in attendance – as speaker in 2014.

“I think Mitt Romney and I share the same income bracket,” said Steyer, a passionate member of the Green Church, at last year’s Democratic Convention. “But the reason I’m here tonight is that Mitt Romney and I don’t share the same vision for the future, especially when it comes to energy. Thanks to President Obama, America is laying the foundation for the way we power tomorrow. So here’s my question for you:  Should we go back to the boom-and-bust, ‘drill-baby-drill,’ polluting energy policies of yesterday, or should we embrace an advanced energy economy that meets opportunity with innovation? ”

Obviously the latter. Why? Because green start-up businesses are where Steyer’s greenventure capital firm has put its money.

Renewable energy investor Greener Capital is the name, and rent-seeking is the game.

The more the president presses anti-coal mandates and Keystone Pipeline delays, the more money Mr. Steyer makes. Last fall, he lobbied against Proposition 23, which would have reversed California’s landmark global warming law that mandates 33 percent of the state’s power in 2020 come from the renewables Greener Capital is vested in. Prop 23 was bad business for ol’ One Percent Steyer.

“As an investor who one might say is insanely obsessed with energy and its generation and use around the world, it seems crazy to me we would roll back science-based clean air standards because there are skillful political operatives and wealthy political donors who really want to get rid of EPA regulations,” he said in a Bay Area speech last month.

Crazy because there skillful political operatives and wealthy political donors like himself who need those same EPA regulations in place to make millions. And if Nancy Pelosi becomes speaker again, Congress can give Mr. Steyer’s companies subsidies to boot.

Henry Payne
Henry Payne is the auto critic for The Detroit News. A 25-year newspaper veteran, Payne is also a Pulitzer Prize-nominated cartoonist with United Feature Syndicate, a former columnist and editorial writer for The News, and a contributor to The Wall Street Journal, New York Post, and other publications. His auto reviews appear every Thursday in the Drive section.