(BSDMS) – UNITED STATES – As Democrats await 2020 presidential nominee Joe Biden to choose a pick for vice president, progressives note Susan Rice’s fossil fuel investments in the past that include holding stock in the Keystone XL Pipeline company and her hawkish foreign policy as reasons that should disqualify her from being a choice.
“The financial disclosure reports reflect at the worst conflict of interest, and at best, indifference to a perception of a conflict of interest,” Senior policy counsel with Demand Progress, Yasmine Taeb said to Politico which published an article in detail on Friday of some of Susan Rice’s financial holdings.
“It’s troubling to see that Susan Rice has invested in so many companies that fuel climate change and in entities at odds with Democratic values,” Taeb said.
“It’s troubling to see that Susan Rice has invested in so many companies that fuel climate change and in entities at odds with Democratic values,” Yasmine Taeb stated.
The recent concern over Susan Rice comes as reports reveal Joe Biden could announce his VP pick as early as this weekend but is expected to make the decision this week.
In June, Joe Biden unveiled a climate plan that would cost $1.7 trillion that climate activists celebrated. The former vice president also mentioned he will not accept campaign donations from corporations and fossil fuel executives in a bid to win over the more left Democratic party’s supporters. However, Joe Biden’s climate plan is accused of being plagiarized.
“It makes them look like hypocrites,” Julian NoiseCat, a vice president of Data for Progress who also used to work for the environmental group 350.org, said to Politico about potentially choosing Susan Rice for VP.
At a Democratic primary debate in March, Joe Biden mentioned his administration would have a no new fracking policy.
“It raises my eyebrows to think the potential vice president of the United States would have financial ties, whether present or historical, that are exactly opposed 180 degrees to the president,” NoiseCat expressed to Politico, and noted Biden also said he is opposed to the Keystone XL Pipeline. Susan Rice held fossil fuel company stocks as recently as 2015, Too Much Information reported.
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Along with her holdings in TransCanada, Too Much Information also wrote that “Rice also had over $1 million invested in pipeline firm Enbridge as well as more than $2 million splits between fossil fuel companies Cenovus, Encana, and Imperial Oil—all companies with significant involvement in developing the tar sands of Alberta. The investments netted as much as $237,000 in dividends that year.”
In combination with Rice’s husband, her net worth is between $23 and $43 million, according to TMI. To the outrage of anti-establishment progressives, her professional past also includes being employed by McKinsey & Company working as a management consultant, which is a firm that manages 90 of the world’s 100 biggest companies.
These potential corporate and environmental conflicts of interest aren’t the only reasons progressives are concerned.
Rice also made initial notorious comments about the 2012 Benghazi attack. Republican operatives have made it obvious that they have a strong desire to use Rice’s role in the incident to cause political uproar around the attack just as they did in 2016 against Hillary Clinton.
Politico wrote that a Trump campaign official who wasn’t named says Rice is the GOP’s “Number one draft pick.”
When Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb was shown Rice’s fossil fuel investment history and other potential conflicts of interest, which has fought against Keystone XL for a long time, mentioned to Politico that it concerned her, given the party’s current direction.
“If you’re a Democratic Party leader and you’re still invested in oil and gas it’s just a problem,” said Jane Kleeb.
Kyle James Lee – BSDMS – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
