. . . and gets $500 million in grants and investments from Secretary Chu’s DOE. No way the two are related, right?
San Jose Mercury News:
Report raps Steve Westly over stimulus money doled out to cleantech firms
Steve Westly’s career has long straddled the worlds of progressive politics and alternative energy.
Now, Westly’s roles bankrolling green-energy firms such as Tesla Motors (TSLA) and alternative-energy-friendly politicians such as President Obama have drawn questions about whether the former eBay (EBAY) executive and Democratic state controller’s investments unduly benefitted from his political connections.
An investigative report this week by the nonprofit Center for Public Integrity in Washington, D.C., and ABC News suggested that after Westly raised $500,000 for Obama’s presidential bid, cleantech firms backed by his Menlo Park venture capital firm clinched more than a half-billion dollars in federal aid.
Both Westly and the White House denied any impropriety.
The report drew a puzzled response from Silicon Valley Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino, who wondered why his longtime friend should be dinged for engaging in the kind of civic involvement people say they expect and want from their business executives.
“This is what he believes business leaders should do — be successful in business and involved in the community and government,” Guardino said. “This is what people always said they wanted to see in Silicon Valley executives. Suddenly, when someone like Steve does it well, there are aspersions cast.”
Robert M. Stern, president of the watchdog Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles, said Westly appears to be caught up in a common occupational hazard for politically active business officials — the suggestion that they are buying undue influence, even if there’s no proof of illegal deal-making.
The rest here.