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Title: Mitch McConnell's wife resigns over coal issues
Source:
WKYT
URL Source: http://www.wkyt.com/home/headlines/ ... ver-coal-issues-289412781.html
Published: Jan 22, 2015
Author: Associated Press
Post Date: 2015-01-22 09:52:26 by Willie Green
Keywords: None
Views: 4685
Comments: 13
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's wife has resigned from Bloomberg Philanthropies' board of directors after the charity announced plans to expand its efforts to shutter coal-fired power plants. Elaine Chao joined the board one year after it announced a $50 million, four-year commitment to the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal initiative. Alison Lundergan Grimes made Chao's membership on the board an issue during her failed bid to unseat McConnell last year. At the time, McConnell defended his wife's position on the board and said she would not resign. But a McConnell spokesman said Wednesday Chao decided to resign after learning the charity planned to expand its Beyond Coal commitment, saying her service on the board was incompatible with her commitments to Kentucky. About 90 percent of Kentucky's electricity comes from coal-fired power plants.
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#1. To: Willie Green (#0)
OK. But one has to wonder why now?, since "Elaine Chao joined the board one year after it announced a $50 million, four-year commitment to the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal initiative."
The election is over. Ditch Mitch won with his normal tactics.
Mitch has gone green. The Senate just overwhelmingly endorsed climate change. I still do not understand why she has resigned. Staying I don't think helped his reelection, and true he did get reelected. Since the election is over, I do not see what is her incentive to resign now? Did someone pay her a big bonus to resign? Help me out here Fred.
I was going to cut and paste excerpts, but you can read more here: www.kentucky.com/2015/01/...-from-bloomberg.html?rh=1 The foundation is committing $48 million over the next 3 years to anti-coal causes. 90 percent of Kentucky's electricity is produced by coal. She is wife to Ditch Mitch who wants to be senator for life. She loses $600,000 annual compensation as a member of the board/foundation. I'll gladly replace her.
It was a campaign issue that his challenger used against him. It bruised his shin, and her resignation then would have made him look like he caved and would have hurt him worse at the polls. Now, in the middle of winter, it's a two day story which won't come back and haunt him in the future.
Yeah, I would too. But since he got reelected, and will not have to run again for 6 years, I still do not see why she is giving up that kind of money now. Oh well, I guess they figure would be better to resign now, six years early.
A year or more ago she donated something like $40 million to some sort of institution. Let me look around. It was in Oct 2012: news.harvard.edu/gazette/...-gives-40-million-to-hbs/ So, $600K is just pocket change to her. Edit: Okay, it was the Chao family that donated it, not her as an individual. Either way you look at it, that's a lot of scratch!
Yes, it is a lot. I knew her family was wealthy. I still don't understand why she is resigning NOW. In preparation for another election 6 years away? I don't buy it. There has to be another reason, I just don't know what.
Her father, James Si-Cheng Chao, is a shipping tycoon: "Capesize bulkers" are ships that are too big to go through either the Suez or Panama canals and thus have to go around either the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn. "Bulkers" carry ore or COAL as opposed to "tankers" which carry oil & fuels. So Mitch's father-in-law probably ships coal to China using Liberia-flagged ships to avoid US taxes. In 1986, his daughter became Deputy Administrator of the Maritime Administration in the US Department of Transportation. From 1988 to 1989, she served as Chairwoman of the Federal Maritime Commission. She married Mitch in 1993. She was Dubya's Labor Secretary for 8 years and has a dubious record regarding mine safety during that period. Way too many potential conflicts of interest to speculate about... Where do you begin trying to unravel this can of worms?
"Some people march to a different drummer — and some people polka."
FWIW! That's chump change to billionaires, but if her loss were a few million, she might say ouch. jmho By Chris Moody August 13, 2014 5:47 PM Yahoo News EXCERPT Bissett was responding to a letter he received Tuesday from Democratic officials who represent districts that rely on the coal industry urging him to call for Chao’s resignation. “As Kentuckians with long histories of championing a strong, vibrant coal industry in the Commonwealth, who work with the Kentucky Coal Association, we call on you personally and on the Kentucky Coal Association directors to denounce the Bloomberg board’s disgraceful action and call on the McConnells to return the money they have pocketed from this and any other anti-Kentucky coal organizations,” the letter read. “We also urge you to join us in demanding that Ms. Chao resign immediately from the Bloomberg board.” August 13, 2014 excerpt Bissett was responding to a letter he received Tuesday from Democratic officials who represent districts that rely on the coal industry urging him to call for Chao’s resignation. the letter here- http://news.yahoo.com/kentucky-democrats-urge-kentucky-coal- association-to-demand-mitch-mcconnell-s-wife-resign-from-group-funding--war-on- coal--183317496.html “As Kentuckians with long histories of championing a strong, vibrant coal industry in the Commonwealth, who work with the Kentucky Coal Association, we call on you personally and on the Kentucky Coal Association directors to denounce the Bloomberg board’s disgraceful action and call on the McConnells to return the money they have pocketed from this and any other anti-Kentucky coal organizations,” the letter read. “We also urge you to join us in demanding that Ms. Chao resign immediately from the Bloomberg board.”
THE LETTER: Read the full letter below: Mr. Bill Bissett, President Kentucky Coal Association 2800 Palumbo Drive, Suite 200 Lexington, KY 40509 Dear Mr. Bissett: With shock and alarm, we read the report last week by Chris Moody of Yahoo! News regarding the service of Elaine Chao, a former Labor Secretary and a prominent Kentuckian, on the board of directors of the Bloomberg Philanthropies foundation. As you know, Bloomberg Philanthropies has committed $50 million over four years in support of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign to retire one-third of the nation’s coal-fired power plants by 2020 and targeted at least 16 Kentucky coal plants. The Bloomberg foundation’s website acknowledges in plain English its objective of “ending the coal era.” It further states, “With the Beyond Coal campaign, we’re helping to end our nation’s reliance on dirty coal, plant-by- plant, community-by-community, and state-by-state.” We were even further horrified to learn that Senator McConnell’s campaign confessed that Ms. Chao knowingly joined the board while the anti-Kentucky coal campaign was in full swing. We are certain that you and the Kentucky Coal Association membership share our dismay. As Kentuckians with long histories of championing a strong, vibrant coal industry in the Commonwealth, who work with the Kentucky Coal Association, we call on you personally and on the Kentucky Coal Association directors to denounce the Bloomberg board’s disgraceful action and call on the McConnells to return the money they have pocketed from this and any other anti-Kentucky coal organizations. We also urge you to join us in demanding that Ms. Chao resign immediately from the Bloomberg board. The Bloomberg/Sierra Club venture is a despicable assault on a proud industry that provides employment directly and indirectly for many thousands of our people and affordable electric power for us all. It is intolerable that Ms. Chao sits on a board that takes actions so hurtful to Kentucky. We urge you to act swiftly and decisively. Sincerely, Speaker Greg Stumbo Majority Leader Rocky Adkins Senator Johnny Ray Turner Representative Leslie Combs Representative John Short Representative John Will Stacy Representative Brent Yonts Magistrate Chris Harris ******************************** Democrats urge Kentucky Coal Association to demand McConnell’s wife resign from group funding ‘war on coal’ Elaine Chao sits on board of Bloomberg Philanthropies, which is spending $50 million targeting the coal industry By Chris Moody, August 12, 2014 2:31 PM Yahoo News http://news.yahoo.com/kentucky-democrats-urge-kentucky-coal- association-to-demand-mitch-mcconnell-s-wife-resign-from-group-funding--war-on- coal--183317496.html Democrats urge Kentucky Coal Association to demand McConnell’s wife resign from group funding ‘war on coal’ Elaine Chao sits on board of Bloomberg Philanthropies, which is spending $50 million targeting the coal industry Eight Kentucky state lawmakers sent a letter to the president of the state’s coal industry trade association demanding that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s wife break ties with Bloomberg Philanthropies after a Yahoo News report detailed her association with the group, which is spending $50 million on an ongoing campaign to kill the coal industry. Yahoo News reported on Friday that in 2012 McConnell’s wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, joined the board of directors of Bloomberg Philanthropies, which had announced a four-year, $50 million funding commitment to the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” initiative a year earlier. The Sierra Club campaign’s stated goal is to "end our nation’s reliance on dirty coal, plant-by- plant, community-by-community, and state-by-state.” While Chao was not involved in the decision to fund the Sierra Club effort, her affiliation with Bloomberg Philanthropies led opponents of her husband to question why she would join an organization actively working against an industry whose health is so crucial to the state he represents. McConnell, a Republican, is currently in a tight race for re-election against Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, a Democrat. Both campaigns have aimed to highlight their support for the coal industry. McConnell, one of the staunchest defenders of coal in the Senate, has tried to tie Grimes with President Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency’s ongoing lawsuits targeting coal plants. The August 12 letter, signed only by Democrats, urged Kentucky Coal Association President Bill Bissett to join the clamor for Chao’s resignation from Bloomberg Philanthropies. “[W]e call on you personally and on the Kentucky Coal Association directors to denounce the Bloomberg board’s disgraceful action and call on the McConnells to return the money they have pocketed from this and any other anti-Kentucky coal organizations,” the letter reads. “We also urge you to join us in demanding that Ms. Chao resign immediately from the Bloomberg board.” The letter's signatories included Kentucky House Speaker Greg Stumbo and Majority Leader Rocky Adkins. In response to Yahoo News’ story last week, Bissett defended McConnell, saying he had full confidence in the lawmaker’s support for the industry. "I believe it is important to recognize that Bloomberg's contribution was made well before Secretary Elaine Chao began her service as a board member of Bloomberg Philanthropies in April 2012," Bissett told the Associated Press in a statement. In 2012, the Kentucky Coal Association published a report about the Sierra Club’s initiative entitled, “Know The Enemy,” which detailed Bloomberg Philanthropies’ role in aiding the anti-coal initiative. Republicans regularly accuse their opponents of partaking in a “war on coal” by seeking to link them to Obama’s clean-air efforts — but Democrats in coal-heavy states often place themselves squarely on the same side of the industry as Republicans. Last week, both McConnell and Grimes toured Kentucky coal country as part of an effort to shore up support from industry workers and communities that benefit from the industry. West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, a Democrat, has campaigned against the White House on coal issues this year as she seeks to win the open U.S. senate seat in the state. And in 2012, Obama himself took on Republican challenger Mitt Romney over who was more pro- coal in Ohio's coal-mining Southeast.
True enough. Thanks for the info you posted. But, I still do not understand WHY she resigned NOW?
" Mitch McConnell's wife has resigned from Bloomberg Philanthropies' board of directors after the charity announced plans to expand its efforts to shutter coal-fired power plants "
#2. To: Stoner (#1)
OK. But one has to wonder why now?
#3. To: Willie Green (#0)
(Edited)
Senate votes that climate change is real
The D&R terrorists hate us because we're free, to vote second party
"We (government) need to do a lot less, a lot sooner" ~Ron Paul
#4. To: Fred Mertz (#2)
" The election is over. Ditch Mitch won with his normal tactics. "
#5. To: Stoner (#4)
#6. To: Stoner (#4)
#7. To: Fred Mertz (#5)
" She loses $600,000 annual compensation as a member of the board/foundation. I'll gladly replace her. "
#8. To: Stoner (#7)
(Edited)
...I still do not see why she is giving up that kind of money now.
#9. To: Fred Mertz (#8)
" Edit: Okay, it was the Chao family that donated it, not her as an individual. Either way you look at it, that's a lot of scratch! "
#10. To: Fred Mertz (#8)
Okay, it was the Chao family that donated it, not her as an individual. Either way you look at it, that's a lot of scratch!
In July 2014, it was reported that Chao's Foremost Shipping had 15 ships in its fleet, but construction was underway for an additional 8 capesize bulkers. In August 2014, it was reported Foremost Shipping engaged in the business practice known in the merchant industry as flag of convenience to limit his U.S. tax liability by flagging its ships in Liberia instead of the U.S.. Foremost was singled out in the story because Chao's son-in-law Senator Mitch McConnell expressed disinterest in July for limiting a similar controversial business practice known as corporate inversion.
#11. To: Fred Mertz, Stoner (#5)
She loses $600,000 annual compensation as a member of the board/foundation. I'll gladly replace her.
#12. To: Fred Mertz, Stoner, All (#11)
Bissett was responding to a letter he received Tuesday from Democratic officials who represent districts that rely on the coal industry urging him to call for Chao’s resignation.
#13. To: Murron (#12)
" That's chump change to billionaires,"
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