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DNC Strikes a $10 Million Deal with Cap and Trade Lobbyist
Mark Hemingway

March 14, 2011 1:12 PM

The Charlotte Observer notes that the DNC have struck quite a deal to host their convention next year: Duke Energy Corp., whose CEO is leading the fundraising for the Democratic National Convention, is guaranteeing a $10 million line of credit for the event. The credit line from Fifth Third Bank is apparently the first time such an arrangement has been used by any Democratic convention organizers. A Duke spokesman said stockholders, not rate-payers, would be on the line if the convention's host committee defaults. But the head of the committee said it may never have to draw on the money. "It is just security in the event of a cash shortfall," Will Miller, acting executive director of the Charlotte organizing committee, said Friday. "The host committee is obligated to pay it back, and the host committee will pay it back." Some suggest the arrangement is tantamount to a large corporate contribution at a time when the party is touting new rules that bar corporate cash and individual contributions over $100,000. Democrats have pledged "a people's convention" and say the line of credit doesn't violate the new rules.

The issue here isn't so much that the DNC has corporate sponsorship -- but it's the particular corporation that's underwriting them. Duke Energy is one of the biggest cap-and-trade lobbyists out there, and one of the most active members of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership.

About half the electricity the company supplies comes from traditional coal-fired plants, the other half comes from nuclear power. Taxing carbon dioxide will make its nuclear portfolio -- which doesn't emit any greenhouse gases -- much more valuable, and most of the companies coal-powered energy plants are in areas where they have a government enforced monopoly. They can just pass the carbon tax on to consumers who will have no choice but to pay higher rates or go without electricity.

Duke also has a growing windmill and green energy portfolio that are profitable through subsidy suckling. Oh and did I mention that Duke Energy's CEO, Jim Rogers, is a former Enron executive?

If the DNC is going to strike a $10 million deal with Duke Energy, they might as well to put up a big flashing neon sign announcing that they are still promoting regulatory overreach and hostile to business.

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