Rep. Marsha Blackburn Questions Al Gore

Rep. Blackburn Questions Al Gore on Charitable Giving (Video)

Rep. Marsha Blackburn says — “I’ve got an article from Oct. 8th, New York Times magazine,  about a firm called Kleiner Perkins, a capital firm called Kleiner Perkins. Are you aware of that company”? Former Vice President Al Gore replies: Well, yes I’m a partner of Kleiner Perkins. (Gore starts laughing nervously while Rep. Blackburn continues the questioning.)

Blackburn probes further: “Now, they have invested about a billion dollars in forty companies that are going to benefit from Cap and Trade legislation. So, the legislation we are discussing here today, is that something that you are going to personally benefit from?”

Gore sighs deeply, and then responds: “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 into a non-profit, the Alliance for Climate Protection, to spread awareness of why we have to take on this challenge.

And Congresswoman, if you’re, if (Al stutters) you believe that the reason that I have been working on this issue for thirty years is because of greed, you don’t know me.”

Sounds like a very defensive Al Gore. And the question that is posed here, struggling Americans would like to know the answer. Is greed really the motive?

Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Republican of Tennessee, asked Al Gore about the financial motives that Gore stood to profit from, especially after strongly encouraging Congress to act on Cap and Trade legislation. Read Testimony of Al Gore (PDF).

The Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment continued its hearings on “The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009,” on Friday, April 24, 2009, in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building.

Al Gore, a foremost advocate of the climate tax bill, is a partner with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Gore and his partners decided to back Silver Spring Network, a company that produces hardware and software to make the electricity grid more efficient.

Silver Spring Network came looking for $75 million to expand its partnerships with utilities seeking to install millions of so-called smart meters in homes and businesses (New York Times 11/02/09).

Maybe it’s sheer coincidental that the Energy Department just announced $3.4 billion in smart grid grants. Imagine that. Out of that cash, more than $560 million went to utilities with which Silver Spring has contracts. Do you think the deal went well for Mr. Gore and his friends?

Mr. Gore and his partners have hundreds of millions of dollars invested in 40 companies that could benefit from Cap and Trade legislation.