ICYMI: Greedy McCready blasted over crony energy deals
Greedy Dan McCready was put on blast by the editorial board of the Washington Examiner this weekend for his “self-dealing crony capitalism,” after it was exposed he lobbied for expensive energy mandates that funneled millions to his own businesses.
North Carolina families lost thousands of jobs, electric rates skyrocketed, and McCready just got richer.
In case you missed it…
Crony capitalism is fine if the crony capitalists don green?
Washington Examiner
Editorial Board
July 6, 2019
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/crony-capitalism-is-fine-if-the-crony-capitalists-don-green
“Dan is proud of the role he played in making North Carolina the second in the nation for solar power,” says the campaign of congressional candidate Dan McCready.
This isn’t empty bragging. McCready, a Democrat, advanced North Carolina’s reliance on solar power in two ways: first, by investing millions in solar farms, and second, by supporting the lobbying effort to force North Carolinians to buy their electricity from those solar farms.
This self-dealing crony capitalism that transfers money from the people of North Carolina into McCready’s already large bank account was exposed by Washington Examiner reporter Alana Goodman. That this conflict of interest remained hidden in plain sight for so long is another demonstration that the Democrats who claim to oppose special interests, like the major news media who claim to oppose corruption, make exceptions when the corrupt special interests wear green.
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Conveniently enough, as Goodman reported in the Washington Examiner this past week, McCready sat on the board of directors of a nonprofit organization called the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association. While McCready sat on the board, the association lobbied to keep the renewable mandates high.
If solar power is so great, why does the state need to require utilities to purchase it? Because it’s more expensive than power from fossil fuels such as natural gas. Such mandates, then, drive up the price of electricity for consumers.
McCready’s nonprofit organization, in short, was lobbying for laws that would hike utility bills in order to profit McCready’s investment firm. That’s self-dealing crony capitalism. It’s Robin Hood in reverse.
If a Trumpian Republican invested in U.S. steel mills while lobbying for Trump’s steel tariffs, you can bet that would get plenty of scorn.
But it’s okay to Democrats because the wealthy guys getting paid off are getting rich in the name of the planet. Put another way: When Democrats like McCready talk green, they’re really seeing the color of money.