Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer is not ready to commit to Hillary Clinton and is open to supporting Bernie Sanders if he becomes the Democratic nominee.
Steyer is a major advocate for halting climate change and has been cited as the Left’s equivalent of David Koch or Sheldon Adelson.
“What Bernie Sanders is talking about, which is trying to get back to a more perfect democracy, is something that we support,” Steyer told Yahoo News.
Steyer said he was not endorsing at this point, and explained that he is waiting to hear more about Hillary Clinton’s environmental plan.
“I don’t think she’s fully fleshed out everything she has to say about energy and climate,” Steyer said of Clinton, who only recently came out against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, a major issue for Steyer.
Steyer’s comments likely will be seen as a minor rebuff of Clinton.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Steyer fundraised for Clinton in his San Francisco home in October.
Sanders for his part has railed against the influence of big money in politics and does not have a super PAC.
Steyer said that approach was laudable, but suggested that if Sanders does want to win, he should consider playing more within the existing rules.
“We just think that the idea of … wishing the rules were different and then pretending they were, is something which, unfortunately, probably would be disastrous from the standpoint of energy and climate,” Steyer said, making clear that the possibility of a Republican president was unacceptable to him.
“If you look at the Republicans, there are a whole bunch of serious Republican candidates who are diametrically opposed to everything the president has spoken about in terms of progressive energy and climate policies. So when you think about what is at stake: almost everything,” Steyer said.
For now, Steyer seems prepared to write a blank check for his political efforts.
“We never have a budget. We know this stuff changes. What we do will depend on what happens,” Steyer said.
