Published: Thursday, January 21, 2021
Department of Energy headquarters. Photo credit: Francis Chung/E&E News
Department of Energy headquarters in Washington. Francis Chung/E&E News
A small number of Trump loyalists at the Department of Energy got plum overseas posts following rule changes to reward political appointees.
Historically, the department has sent civil servants to cities around the globe for two- to three-year appointments to carry out U.S. energy policy goals like nuclear nonproliferation, security of energy resources and technology transfer.
Five sources, who asked not to be identified to talk about internal agency matters, said the Trump administration in 2019 upended the charter of the Overseas Presence Advisory Board so political appointees could take those overseas assignments.
Biden Selects Former Defense, Finance and Fossil Fuel Lobbyist to Head the DNC
Jaime Harrison speaks to supporters on November 3, 2020, in Columbia, South Carolina.
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President-elect Biden will name Jaime Harrison as his pick for chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), according to reports Thursday morning. Harrison, whose name had been floated in the press as the likeliest favorite of the Biden-Harris campaign for chair, was recently a U.S. Senate candidate in South Carolina. From 2008 to November 2016, Harrison was a principal at corporate lobbying firm the Podesta Group, where his clients included some of the Hill’s top spenders on lobbying. Harrison’s biography on the DNC website describes this period as, “After a few years working in the private sector, Jaime took on his current role as associate chair and counsel of the Democr
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Jaime Harrison (Getty Images)
President-Elect Joe Biden has selected South Carolinian, Jaime Harrison, to head the Democratic National Committee, a sign that the party s future is in what party operatives call the New South and with the emerging majority-minority of the party rank and file.
Harrison, a 44-year-old, ran against South Carolina Republican Sen Lindsey Graham in 2020. Even though the charismatic Harrison lost that race, he then broke fundraising records, collecting a stunning $57 million in the final quarter of his campaign, which was way more than the previous record set by Texas Democrat Beto O Rourke in his 2018 campaign against GOP Sen Ted Cruz. He ran for the top national job in 2017 and lost to Tom Perez, who is now leaving the chairman job. Perez gave Harrison a senior role in the party and Harrison then became a national Democratic figure.
trying to drive coal out of business. and that these new rules will prevent any new coal plants from being built. mike duncan, the president of american coalition for clean coal electricity said quote, despite their talk about all of the above approach to energy the epa is banning construction essentially he means of modearn coal plants resulting in fewer fuel choices in the market. fewer energy choices could cause american consumers to pay the ultimate price of higher energy bills. prior to today s epa announcement, top senate republican mitch mcconnell proposed the saving coal jobs act. legislation that would block any new epa carbon pollution mandates and would also make it easier for new coal plants to get through the permitting process. mcconnell contends that federal regulations caused more than 5 how people to lose their jobs the past five years in his home state of kentucky. martha? martha: a lot of people up in arms about that. molly, thank you very much.
president obama s 2008 campaign. the issue of energy is apparently a sensitive one for the president. the washington examiner reports clean coal advocates for banned from entering two campaign events this week. tuesday, supporters had their clean coal t-shirts, hats and signs confiscated at a rally in virginia, featuring vice president bite bite. thepresident vice president biden. the american coalition for clean coal electricity says this has been happening for months. rereached out to the obama campaign and have yet to hear back. finally, politico roger simon wrote a satire of vice presidential nominee paul ryan this week using this quote. he has been marching around his campaign bus saying things like , if stench calls, take a message . he was referencing this quote in the new york times if ryan wants to run for national office again, he will probably have to wash the stench of romney off of him.