A conservative group says it has uncovered a “scandalous” connection among billionaire climate change activist Tom Steyer, the Democratic Party and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who wants to run for governor.
The Energy & Environment Legal Institute said Wednesday it uncovered new documents that add to questions over the growing link between Steyer and the attorney general’s investigation into oil giant Exxon Mobil’s climate change strategy.
The free-market group said it obtained communications that show Steyer’s group working closely with the Democratic Governors Association to put pressure on states to go after “climate deniers” and support Schneiderman’s Exxon probe.
The group said the disclosure adds to “questions raised over the weekend with the release of correspondence showing … Schneiderman’s recruitment of eco-billionaire Tom Steyer to support his run for governor.”
“Tying political fundraising to investigation or prosecution is breathtaking enough but, taken with the series of DGA recruiting emails obtained by E&E Legal under public records laws, the connections become much more scandalous,” the group said. “The Democratic Party and its elected officials are using their powers of office inappropriately.”
The New York Post reported over the weekend about emails it obtained that show Schneiderman talking with Steyer about running for governor in tandem with the Exxon investigation. One email shows Steyer’s lawyer discussing Schneiderman’s desire to talk with Steyer about the gubernatorial run with another employee.
“Eric Schneiderman would like to have a call with Tom regarding support for his race for governor… [and] regarding Exxon case,” the email said.
Schneiderman’s investigation into Exxon, started earlier in the year, attempts to show that the oil company defrauded the public by hiding its own internal findings on the harm climate change would pose to its business. The investigation was based on news reports that showed the company covered up its own scientists’ findings in the 1970s. Many scientists blame the burning of fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, for raising the Earth’s temperature with catastrophic effects.
Exxon rejects the basis of the investigation and says it supports policies to combat global warming. It has been fighting Schneiderman and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey in court over subpoenas they issued requesting decades of documents and correspondence on climate change.
The attorneys general also have targeted conservative think tanks associated with Exxon for their records and emails on climate change. Groups such as the Competitive Enterprise Institute have been pushing back, arguing that the subpoenas are an affront to the Constitution and freedom of speech protections.
“Using taxpayer dollars to pursue a politically driven investigation, particularly when intended to provide economic life to subsidy- and policy-dependent ‘investments’ and to silence dissent from political opponents was egregious enough,” said Craig Richardson, E&E Legal’s executive director. “To see the direct connection between advocating desired, abusive campaigns while soliciting campaign contributions on the back of the scheme is an extraordinary abuse of the public’s trust and the power of office.”
