Posted on 04/27/2009 8:14:16 AM PDT by 2nd amendment mama
At the conclusion of the week-long hearing on “cap and trade” legislation in the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Friday, the Democrats’ headline witness was none other than Mr. Global Warming himself, former Vice President Al Gore.
One member of the panel, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), took the opportunity to ask her fellow Tennessean a multi-million dollar question on behalf of “some of his former constituents.”
Throughout Gore’s earlier testimony, he had questioned the integrity of scientists and studies that found the opposite conclusions of his personal view: there is no smoking gun either proving or disproving that the behavior of humans is in any way responsible for climate change. Gore blamed greed and corporate profits for manipulation of outcomes of studies that disproved his theories.
But when Blackburn asked about his investments in green technology and the millions of dollars he stands to pocket at the expense of the American taxpayer should this cap and trade legislation become law, the former vice president was outraged.
Here is a partial transcript of their exchange:
REP. MARSHA BLACKBURN: Vice President Gore… You talked a little bit about people have to have trust in what we’re doing, and I think you know that this bill is going to fundamentally change the way America works, and it’s going to affect families. We’ve all talked about how it affects individuals and what it’s going to do to their budgets and what it’s going to do to jobs in this country. Given the magnitude of those changes, I think that it’s really important that no suspicion or shadow fall on the foremost advocates of climate change legislation, so I wanted to give you the opportunity to kind of clear the air about your motives and maybe set the record straight for some of your former constituents.
I’ve got an article from the October 8 New York Times Magazine about a capital firm called Kleiner-Perkins. Are you aware of that company?
FORMER VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE: Why, yes, I’m a partner in Kleiner-Perkins.
BLACKBURN: So you’re a partner in Kleiner-Perkins, okay. They have invested about a billion dollars in 40 companies that are going to benefit from cap and trade legislation, the legislation that we are discussing here today. Is that something that you are going to personally benefit from?
GORE: I believe that the transition to a green economy is good for our economy and good for all of us, and I have invested in it, but every penny that I have made I have put right in to a non-profit, the Alliance for Climate Protection, to spread awareness of why we have to take on this challenge. Congresswoman, if you’re… if you believe that the reason I have been working on this issue for 30 years is because of greed, you don’t know me.
BLACKBURN: Sir, I’m not making accusations, I’m asking questions that have been asked of me and individuals, constituents that were seeking a point of clarity, so I am asking you for them…
GORE: I understand exactly what you’re doing, Congresswoman, everybody here does.
BLACKBURN: Well, are you willing to divest yourself of any profit, does all of it go to a not- for-profit that is an educational --
GORE: Every penny that I have made has gone to it, every penny from the movie, from the book, from any investments in renewable energy -- I’ve been willing to put my money where my mouth is.
BLACKBURN: I am simply asking for clarification --
GORE: [overlapping] Do you think there’s something wrong with being active in business in this country? I’m proud of it
BLACKBURN: -- of the relationship.
GORE: I’m proud of it.
BLACKBURN: Thank you, and I appreciate the answer. Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Rep. Blackburn spoke with HUMAN EVENTS in the hallway outside of the hearing after her questioning of Gore.
Blackburn told me, “I have constituents who are very concerned about this,” Blackburn said. “This legislation is going to cost a lot of households a lot of money. We know that. Everybody that we have questioned this week has said yes the price at the pump is going to go up, your electricity rates are going up, even the President said that they would ‘necessarily skyrocket.’
“My constituents wanted an answer to this question. There have been reports that the Vice President was heavily invested in green technologies, and they wanted to know was he doing this because he’s going to personally benefit so that was the nature of my question, it was asked in good faith. As I said, it was an opportunity for him to clear the air -- to set the record straight. I presented the question in that manner, and I wish it had been received in that manner.”
I asked about Gore’s dodging her questions about his personal income from these ventures and his willingness to divest himself from any future earnings.
“I did not get an answer to that question,” Blackburn said. “He just repeated the comment that he had been placing money from the movie and the book into a trust that was used for environmental education. … I did not feel I got an answer to that question.”
Al Gore has reportedly gone from a net worth of $2 million at the end of his Vice Presidency just over eight years ago to a net worth of over $100 million. Using Gore’s standards stated at the hearing, he should have to answer the hard questions about his financial motivations for backing the cap and trade legislation that will wreck the economy, cost millions of jobs and place the disproportionate burden of this massive energy tax on America’s Midwest.
Just how much of this taxpayer money is going to end up in Al Gore’s pocket?
In a right world, Gore would be locked away in a tower where exhaust fumes rise from below. He is the worst of what humanity has to offer, ten times the crook of the businessmen he slanders.
Al Gore has reportedly gone from a net worth of $2 million at the end of his Vice Presidency just over eight years ago to a net worth of over $100 million.Just a weird coincidence, like Hillary's commodities trading fortune.
I don’t believe AlGore that he donates all profits to green bullshit causes. This needs to be verified”
Even IF Gore is making ‘donations’ to any other causes or foudations, look long and hard at the people who are named as directors and controlling positions and what MONEY they then get as a ‘stipend’ or salary or whatever.
This is an old dodge that the very elite have been using for years.
I would like a comparison of the number of ‘foundationds’ and like groups in 1950 and the number in 2008 that are registered in the entire USA.
It is a great scam, IMO.
Al Gore has reportedly gone from a net worth of $2 million at the end of his Vice Presidency just over eight years ago to a net worth of over $100 million ‘
I am a life-long bookkeeper.
Someone has to explain to me how Gore’s NET WORTH could climb from $2 million to over $100 million in that short of a time IF he is putting ALL of his income back into charity.
That would make it $XXX income and $XXX charitable deductions. Net of ZERO.
This smells to high heaven.
Gore is a crook- apples don’t fall far from the tree.
We, the American public being royally screwed by the Gorester, get nothing of value in return for the Gorester's scam taking our money.
The other practitioners of the oldest profession at least give some satisfaction for the money.
One of his most noteworthy scams was faux "Cattle Auctions." He would invite lobbyists to his breeding farm, and auction off breeding stock. The bids would reach astronomical proportions. Then, the "winners," would fork over a "management fee," and of course would never receive a dime back ... or oddly enough, delivery of the cattle they had just "purchased," at "auction." What they did get back was quick action on legislation that benefitted their clients.
Another scam among many, was Al Gore, Sr.'s decades long and extremely lucrative relationship with Armand Hammer, the Soviet Union's Business Representative in the United States, and an intelligence operative, as confirmed by the Venona Reports.
The first Senatore Al Gore received millions of dollars under the table from the Soviets for urging the approval of import-export deals the Soviets needed, plus a piece of the deals.
Scam deals? Al Gore, Jr. comes by them honestly. It's in his blood. BTW, some say that his mother was the real brains ... and the real commie .... in the family.
The other practitioners of the oldest profession at least give some satisfaction for the money.
How very true.
After Gore lost in 2000 he was asked by Google and Apple to join their board of directors. He accepted and got beaucoup stock options laid on him that were worth 50 million within a few years ... say 2004 or so
I wouldn't trust anything he claims he does with the money he earns from being a made man in the green mafia
AlGore lies and exaggerates about global warming so I assume he lies about this too
Trust but verify as far as that kook is concerned
Good article. Algore i assume, was under oath when he testified. fat chance he`ll be prosecuted tho.
When did “saving the planet” become nothing more than a commodity (carbon) with no fixed price to be traded for nothing but pure profit?
Right from the start.
Algore is evil
Gore gives money to a non-profit, i.e. a lobbying group for green rent-seeking industries like Generation.
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