1/14/2015
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By Rob Nikolewski │ Watchdog.org
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| Tom Steyer |
The path appears a bit clearer for a U.S. Senate run for billionaire hedge fund manager and environmental activistTom Steyer — a potential bid that figures to draw polar opposite reactions in the worlds of energy and politics.
“With climate change being the most serious issue that our world is facing right now, the election of Tom Steyer would put the strongest climate advocate possible into the United States Senate,” said Tim Ream, a climate and energy activist in San Francisco.
“I think (a potential Steyer Senate energy policy) would be to crush fossil fuels at any cost, no matter how bad it would be for the American economy and the workforce or how much it would increase prices for the average American family,” said Drew Johnson, a fierce critic of Steyer and senior scholar at the Taxpayer Protection Alliance, a limited government, fiscally conservative organization based in the Washington, D.C., area.
Last week, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, announced she wouldn’t run for another six-year term in the Senate in 2016. Her announcement has led to fevered speculation across the Golden State about who might run to replace the 74-year-old Boxer, one of the most liberal voices on Capitol Hill.
On Monday, one high-profile name bowed out while another jumped in.
California Lt. Gov. and former San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom announced he will not run for the open Senate seat, but California Attorney General Kamala Harris will throw her hat into the ring, according to the Sacramento Bee.
Former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is reported to also be considering a run. California House members Loretta Sanchez and Jackie Speier have also been mentioned.
But none of them have the cash on hand that Steyer — estimated to have a net worth of about $1.6 billion — would have at his disposal.
Since Boxer announced last week she was stepping down, the 57-year-old Steyer has reportedly been making phone calls to political strategists and prominent Democrats.
The Hill newspaper indicated Steyer will make a decision soon, quoting an unnamed Steyer confidant who used unvarnished California lingo.
“The dude will make a decision over next few days or so,” said the Steyer ally. “He is focused on ways to both do a race and continue Next Gen — the idea being that a combination could really help support a strong progressive platform.”
NextGen Climate Action is the environmental super-PAC that Steyer heads and has poured millions into. NextGen is expected to continue, even if Steyer runs for Senate, but environmental activists have worried its impact could be lessened if Steyer is focusing his money and attention on a campaign that’s expected to cost at least $100 million.
Steyer spent $74 million of his own money in the 2014 campaign, crisscrossing the country in support of Democrats and climate change issues while castigating Republican candidates he deemed to be “climate deniers.”
But Steyer didn’t get much bang for his buck as the GOP won big, even in states such as Florida and Colorado where Steyer spent considerable time and money.
Now Steyer may make his own run.
“It seems like if you’re going to spend tens of millions on someone else losing a Senate seat, you might as well try it yourself,” Johnson told Watchdog.org in a telephone interview. “So my assumption is that he will run … and with nobody else able to self-fund on the level that he can, it makes sense for him. It seems like he sees politics as an investment.”
Environmentalists such as Ream say they’re delighted with the prospect of someone like Steyer in Washington.
“The majority of the Senate denies that climate change is even happening,” Ream said. “That is an extreme position. The majority of Americans want Congress to address climate change and the Congress has failed to do anything in the last two years.”
Steyer has been called “Mr. Tipping Point” by Al Gore when it comes to climate change, but has also been accused of not practicing what he preaches.
Steyer promised last year to “destroy” candidates who support oil and coal, but the Farallon Capital Management hedge fund Steyer founded has invested in fossil fuels companies. A New York Times story last July reported that a 4,000-acre coal mine in Australia is bankrolled by Steyer’s firm.
Steyer said he sold his ownership stake in Farallon in late 2012, but the Times reported he was still a passive investor.
Steyer is also opposed to building of the Keystone XL pipeline, but Farallon is an investor in the oil and gas pipeline company Kinder Morgan, which plans to expand its own TransMountain pipeline from Alberta oil fields to the United States.
A Steyer spokesperson, in an email exchange with the Washington Post, said Steyer has pledged to donate all personal profits from Farallon’s investments in Kinder Morgan to help victims of wildfires. “When Tom left Farallon he sold his management stake and directed that his investment holdings be divested from Farallon’s tar-sands and coal-related financial positions,” the spokeswoman said.
“I think the thing that bothers me the most about Steyer is his hypocrisy,” Johnson said. “The fact that he made a lot of his fortune on fossil fuel investments and now he thinks everyone else shouldn’t benefit from cheap energy and the jobs they produce.”
“I think he’d be a great United States senator on climate issues,” Ream said in a telephone interview. “That would only be a good thing for California and the United States.”
A look at the NextGen website highlights the group’s focus on climate, as well as a host of environmental issues. “We act politically to prevent climate disaster and preserve American prosperity,” the site said.
Despite Steyer’s deep pockets, a run for Senate doesn’t figure to be easy. Harris and Villaraigosa are popular in the Democratic Party, which has dominated California politics in recent years.
And Steyer’s bankroll may hurt as well as help in a state that hasn’t been kind to billionaires who run for office. Meg Whitman spent almost $150 million as a Republican in the 2010 race for California governor and lost by double-digits.
A discussion of a Steyer run for Senate on the über-liberal website The Daily Kos saw a healthy dose of comments that included: “It’s nice that an overly rich man has some progressive views, but is giving another billionaire more political power really good for democracy?”
In addition, California recently adopted a “jungle primary” system where the top two vote-getters in the statewide primary advance to the general election — regardless of party affiliation. That may open the door for a more centrist candidate or moderate Democrat to oppose a would-be Steyer candidacy in November 2016.
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