‘FEELS LIKE A BETRAYAL’

Biden Appoints Fossil Fuel Ally as His Climate Movement Liaison

Congressman Cedric Richmond has received about $341,000 from oil and gas industry donors.

President-elect Joe Biden has named Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA), a recipient of major donations from the fossil fuel industry, to lead the White House Office of Public Engagement, according to The Daily Poster. Richmond—who has a decade long history of collecting thousands of dollars from oil and gas industry donors—will “serve as a liaison with the business community and climate change activists.” The congressman has received the fifth highest total donations from fossil fuel donors among House Democrats and also has received one of the lowest ratings for any Democrat in Congress from the League of Conservation Voters. “Today feels like a betrayal, because of one of President-Elect Biden’s very first hires for his new administration has taken more donations from the fossil fuel industry during his career than nearly any other Democrat,” Varshini Prakash, executive director of the Sunrise Movement, a grassroots group advocating for the Green New Deal, said in a statement.