Jennifer Granholm Under Fire for Promoting Proterra, an Electric Vehicle Company She Served on the Board of and Held Stock in
- November 24, 2021
Jacob Bliss, Breitbart News
President Joe Biden’s Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is the subject of an ethics complaint for promoting, in her role as a member of the executive branch, an electric bus company she sat on the board of and held over a million dollars of stock in.
Granholm — who oversees moving the country toward an electric vehicle transportation system and enjoys newfound powers after the passage of Biden’s infrastructure package — is facing scrutiny for promoting Proterra, a Burlingame, California-based electric bus company she sat on the board of and held 240,520 shares of stock in, which garnered her $1.6 million when she finally divested them 157 days after her nomination.
Granholm has been criticized for promoting Proterra in her official capacity as energy secretary and for hyping grant access to companies with connections to Proterra. These critics argue that Granholm’s promotion of the company, which as of Monday had a market cap of $2.6 billion, has increased Proterra’s visibility and thereby potentially increased the value of Granholm’s stock in the company before she was required by ethics rules to sell her shares on May 24.
All of these potential conflicts of interest caught the attention of Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT), a government watchdog group, which issued a statement raising questions about Granholm’s involvement with the Biden administration’s electric vehicle initiatives.
PPT’s director Michael Chamberlain told Breitbart News, “Protect the Public’s Trust raised questions about Secretary Granholm’s involvement with Proterra months ago. When presented with questions regarding behavior by its leadership that may have crossed the line, DOE’s response has been silence, when not dismissiveness. The American public deserves transparency from the officials who wield power over the public and authority over billions in taxpayer dollars.”