Watchdog files complaint over possible ethics violation by Acting Assistant Secretary of Energy
- July 29, 2021
The group alleges the secretary had endorsed her former employer’s company.
Nicholas Sherman, Just the News
A government ethics watchdog Wednesday filed a complaint to the Department of Energy regarding possible ethics violations by Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Kelly Speakes-Backman.
The watchdog, Protect the Public Trust, alleged in their complaint that Speakes-Backman had violated prohibitions against endorsing her former employer, Energy Storage Association, and its member organizations a month after the watchdog had sent another ethics complaint alleging the same thing.
“The pattern is so blatant a neutral observer is left wondering whether Ms. Speakes-Backman ever participates in events that DON’T involve her former employer or its board members,” Michael Chamberlain, Director of Protect the Public’s Trust, said Wednesday. “The American public can rightfully ask why DOE is not taking these repeated apparent ethics violations more seriously.”