Days before the Pennsylvania Democratic primary, The Washington Examiner investigated Katie McGinty’s career-long use of the revolving door, summed up best by this excerpt:
McGinty’s time in the Clinton administration bore fruit for her on K Street, where she helped companies try to wriggle out from under Clinton Administration environmental policy. McGinty’s time in the Rendell administration bore fruit for her in corporate board rooms where she helped companies pocket the subsidies she had advocated.
The story highlighted McGinty’s stint as a lobbyist with Troutman Sanders (which she oddly denies despite the existence of documented proof), as well as the positions and financial benefits McGinty received from her time with Iberdrola and Thar Energy.
Read more from The Washington Examiner here:
The revolving-door path Katie McGinty took to the Pennsylvania Senate race
Former lobbyist Katie McGinty has spent three decades in politics getting rich off the companies she regulated and subsidized. Now this master of the revolving-door wants Pennsylvania voters to give her another perch in government: U.S. Senator.
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McGinty left the White House in 1998, and soon joined the K Street law/lobbying firm Troutman Sanders. Her sole lobbying client, for those three days, was drugmaker Glaxo Wellcome, a predecessor to Glaxo-Smithkline. The disclosure forms indicate she was Glaxo’s sole lobbyist at Troutman Sanders, lobbying the EPA on its rule on "chloroflourocarbon allotments."
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In brief, while McGinty was Bill Clinton’s top environmental advisor, the Clinton administration cracked down on CFCs. She then left and went to work for a leading CFC emitter, pleading for ways out from under those limits.
McGinty in the following decade served at Gov. Ed Rendell’s Secretary of the Environment. (Rendell later became a corporate lobbyist, and he is now chairman of McGinty’s campaign.) Rendell and McGinty spent years handing tens of millions of dollars in subsidies to Spanish wind company Iberdrola and its subsidiaries.
As soon as she left the Rendell administration, McGinty took a spot on Iberdrola’s board. Iberdrola paid McGinty $100,000 a year in quarterly payments. The company cut her last $25,000 check on January 14, 2015, less than a week before she became Gov. Tom Wolf’s chief of staff, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
In 2014, Iberdrola subsidiary Gamesa had closed its Rendell-subsidized plant in Cambria County.
To sum up that story, Iberdrola came to Pennsylvania, and got corporate subsidies from McGinty. McGinty then got hundreds of thousands of dollars from Iberdrola while the company laid off Pennsylvanians.
McGinty’s Department of the Environment in 2007 held up Thar Energy as an example of the alternative energy the state should be funding. Secretary McGinty on at least one occasion met with a Thar executive about state grants. Thar later received state grants and contracts, after McGinty had left state government. In 2012, Thar Energy put McGinty on its board.
Perhaps you see a pattern here. McGinty’s time in the Clinton administration bore fruit for her on K Street, where she helped companies try to wriggle out from under Clinton Administration environmental policy. McGinty’s time in the Rendell administration bore fruit for her in corporate board rooms where she helped companies pocket the subsidies she had advocated.
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BACKGROUND:
McGinty Served On The Board Of Directors Of Thar Energy
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McGinty Was On The Board Of Directors Of Thar Energy. “Closer to home, McGinty is on the board of directors of Pittsburgh-based geothermal startup Thar Energy.” (Tim Schooley, “Katie McGinty: Turning Challenges Into Opportunities,” Pittsburgh Business Times, 5/16/14)
- McGinty Listed Herself As A Director Of Thar Energy In September 2012. (“Pathways To Leadership: C3E Ambassador’s Careers In Clean Energy,” U.S. Clean Energy Education & Empowerment C3E Initiative, September 2012)
In 2007, McGinty’s Deputy At DEP Pitched PA House Appropriators On The Potential For Thar Technologies
- In March 2007, DEP Deputy Secretary Daniel Desmond Pitched A Pennsylvania House Of Representatives’ Appropriations Subcommittee On Thar Technologies, Saying The Company’s Technology “Has Potential Future Applications In The Energy Sector Such As The Extraction Of Tar Sands Oil…” Desmond: “Thar Technologies, also based in Pittsburgh, develops supercritical fluid technology for industrial purposes that utilize carbon dioxide. Today, this technology can be found in the pharmaceutical, food, chemical and electronic industries. Thar is adapting its existing line of high pressure pumps for supercritical fluids to extract oil from crops such as soybeans. This results in at least a 25 percent greater fuel yield plus a high protein soy powder for human consumption. The technology has potential future applications in the energy sector such as the extraction of tar sands oil and the low-energy extraction of ethanol from a variety of materials, which could reduce the utilization of com for fuel production. (Testimony, DEP Deputy Secretary Daniel Desmond, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Fiscal Policy, 3/6/07)
In May 2008, McGinty Met With Thar Technologies CEO Regarding Possible Grant Funding; Thar Received A $588,000 Grant The Next Year
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In May 2008, McGinty And Daniel Desmond Met With Thar Technologies President And CEO Lalit Chordia About The Possibility Of Alternative Fuels Incentive Grant (AFIG) Funding. (Mtg w/ Lalit Chordia, Thar Technologies Inc., Sec. Katie McGinty Briefing Materials, Pennsylvania State Archives, 1/28/08)
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In January 2009, Ed Rendell Announced A $588,000 AFIG Grant For Thar Process “For A Demonstration Project To Produce Ethanol Without Distillation.” “New investments in innovative clean energy and biofuels projects announced today by Governor Edward G. Rendell will accelerate Pennsylvania’s drive toward energy independence, expand markets for emerging technologies, and ultimately make them more affordable for families and businesses. The Governor said the state’s support for 49 projects will leverage nearly four times as much in private investment, create jobs, clean the environment, and save consumers tens of millions of dollars a year in energy costs. He added that making these kinds of investments is critical to helping Pennsylvania weather a challenging national economic downturn… The grants announced today, which include $7.2 million through the Energy Harvest program and $6.5 million through the Alternative Fuels Incentive Grant program, will support projects in at least 25 counties and will leverage more than $53.1 million in private investments. The projects are also expected to create at least 77 jobs… Thar Process Inc. — $588,000 for a demonstration project to produce ethanol without distillation. The process uses pressurized propane to extract ethanol, potentially cutting production costs by one-third.” (Gov. Ed Rendell, “Investments In Clean Energy, Biofuels Boost Energy Independence, Open Markets For Emerging Technologies,” Press Release, 1/29/09)
- On October 5, 2009, Pennsylvania’s Department Of Environmental Protection Executed Thar Process’ $588,000 Grant. (Department Of Community and Economic Development, Contract #4100050345, Executed 10/5/09)