Maryland Governor MARTIN O'MALLEY -- Looking More LIke A Modern BOSS TWEED! Lining-Up His Buddies To Share BILLION$ From Offshore Wind Farms!
Schwitt Kylers
energy CUSTOMERS, who are already being ripped-off by their electrical
contractors.
And a WOLF's at the door ... BEOWULF Energy, that is.
------------------------------
"For O’Malley and friend, interests align in offshore wind bill"
By Aaron C. Davis
The Washington Post
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s childhood friend and right-hand man
for a decade stands to gain from the governor’s ambitious plan to
subsidize development of an estimated $1.5 billion offshore wind farm.
Michael R. Enright is managing director of an energy firm behind a
joint venture competing for federal leasing rights to develop the
project.
The company would have to win both federal and state approvals. But if
it does, a commission appointed by O’Malley (D) would work out a
complex deal sending billions in revenue to the company over 25 years
by raising almost every state resident’s electric bill.
As the governor’s chief of staff, Enright was deeply involved with
energy issues but later said he never significantly contributed to the
administration’s wind energy policy. Before he left the governor’s
office in January 2010, he requested an ethics review clearing him and
his new employer to work on the wind energy initiative. Weeks later,
Beowulf Energy and Enright filed paperwork with the state identifying
the company as an interested developer of offshore wind.
Two other members of O’Malley’s trusted inner circle who are now in
the private sector also have business interests aligned, indirectly,
with the governor’s offshore wind bill through their work for Pepco.
There has been no suggestion that the potential benefit for Enright,
who became fast friends with O’Malley at age 14, was a football buddy
in high school and became O’Malley’s first deputy mayor in Baltimore
and ultimately his chief of staff in Annapolis, would violate Maryland
law.
But never before has such a high-ranking aide who helped intimately in
the governor’s ascent — and whom O’Malley still counts among his
closest friends — stood to possibly gain from one of his signature
bills.
Enright’s move is emblematic of a revolving door between government
and the private sector that has become common in Washington and in
every state capital.
With more O’Malley staffers likely to migrate to the private sector
before his second term ends, the governor’s ties to Enright and
growing ranks of former staffers and friends in the private sector are
certain to be scrutinized as talk increases of a possible O’Malley run
for the presidency.
“The governor will be able to say that he would have supported these
issues regardless — he’s talked about a green economy for years — but
they are the kinds of connections that nonetheless raise eyebrows,”
said Todd Eberly, a political science professor at St. Mary’s College.
“In Maryland, they probably do not hurt him because with a very, very
united [and Democratic] state government, there’s no real chance of an
investigation . . . but if he seeks higher office, does someone bring
this up and say, ‘You were trying to give sweetheart deals?’
Potentially, that’s the case, the risk for O’Malley.”
A federal decision
In an interview, O’Malley stressed that it is not his administration
but the U.S. Interior Department that will initially decide which
company will win the right to develop Maryland’s offshore wind area,
because it is in federal waters. “As I understand it, Michael’s new
employer is one of many people seeking to win approval from the
federal government in one of the areas that they have designated for
offshore wind, so I think it’s a pretty attenuated chain of events” to
tie it to the state, O’Malley said.
In an e-mail, Enright also stressed the federal competition. His firm,
Beowulf, is a partner in Maryland Offshore LLC, one of eight companies
seeking leasing rights to develop Maryland’s offshore wind area,
according to state and federal records.
“Offshore wind is a promising clean energy industry for the state and
the nation’s economy. Maryland Offshore Wind is competing against
seven other companies in a federal process that is in its infancy,” he
said.
After the federal government awards leasing rights, Maryland’s Public
Service Commission, controlled by O’Malley appointees, would assess
the feasibility of each developer’s business model, and if more than
one developer wins federal leasing rights, it would determine which
company or combination of companies would be included in the state’s
long-term power purchasing agreement. That agreement would set the
cost to ratepayers and essentially determine the developer’s profit
margin.
Proponents believe that with similar investments in other states,
competition will increase and make the price of wind power competitive
with that from fossil fuels.
The cost of the subsidy in Maryland, however, would be spread among
nearly every ratepayer for the next quarter-century. The monthly cost
for most has been estimated at $1.44 to $3.61.
Friends and former colleagues of Enright’s bristle at any suggestion
that the former chief of staff or others from the administration have
sought to parlay their relationships with the governor into high-
paying private-sector jobs.
“There’s no K Street for O’Malley’s guys in Annapolis,” said Sean
Malone, who was employed by the governor until 2008 to lobby the
General Assembly on behalf of his agenda.
“The governor’s office gives good access to all lobbyists; they’ll
hear everybody out. But sometimes you’re on the right side, and
sometimes you’re on the wrong side,” said Malone, who is now a
lobbyist on the wrong side of O’Malley’s offshore wind effort. His
firm represents energy companies seeking to kill or significantly
alter the bill.
“Anybody who’s wondering: The governor’s office doesn’t do anything
because one of us is on an issue,” Malone said.
Encounters vs. lobbying
Enright has not registered as a lobbyist in Annapolis, and neither has
Beowulf.
But Enright’s every move in the state capital, where he still works on
many days, is watched carefully, given his close ties to O’Malley.
Even casual encounters around the capital can open him up to
criticism.
A case in point: After an offshore wind briefing this year before the
House Economic Matters Committee, which would have to approve the
governor’s plan, lobbyists for a rival energy interest who happened to
be in a popular restaurant and bar across the street from the State
House noticed when Enright began chatting with Del. Dereck E. Davis (D-
Prince George’s), the committee’s chairman.
“I saw him, and he spoke to me. It was sort of a casual mention” of
offshore wind, Davis said when asked about the encounter.
Enright told Davis to let him know if he could “be of assistance,”
Davis recalled. “He didn’t really come at me like, ‘Do this, do
this.’”
Enright’s discussion with Davis probably would not be enough to
require the governor’s former aide to register as a lobbyist, the
director of Maryland’s ethics commission said.
Ethics panel review
Documents show that before he left the state’s payroll, Enright sought
clarification on ethics rules to avoid any question of a conflict of
interest.
At the time, he was easing out of his role as chief of staff, serving
as O’Malley’s special adviser and working on, among other topics,
state energy policy.
The documents show that as the governor’s office announced Enright’s
departure to Beowulf in January 2010, Enright spoke with state lawyers
at least three times about post-employment ethics issues, including
asking whether an administration report drafted while he worked for
O’Malley and published that month would create a conflict.
The report concluded that offshore wind and other clean energy
projects “must be developed” in Maryland for the state to meet its
renewable energy goals.
“I was not involved in the drafting of the report and I did not sign
off on it,” Enright wrote on Jan. 20, 2010. State ethics opinions are
confidential, but Enright provided the opinion and e-mail
correspondence with state lawyers to The Washington Post at the
paper’s request.
Enright also asked the commission to review whether there would be
“any ethics issues” if Beowulf responded to a request for information
from O’Malley’s energy administration, which was in the process of
drafting its offshore wind strategy.
On Feb. 4, four days after Enright started at Beowulf, the commission
voted to approve a staff lawyer’s recommendation that Enright had not
met a threshold of having “significantly participated” in the state’s
offshore wind policy development “and therefore he would not be
precluded from working on these matters” on behalf of Beowulf.
At the beginning of March, Beowulf responded to the state with its
proposal.
Eddie Haskell
"Schwitt Kylers" <slipu...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:186ee732-84b4-45fa...@o21g2000prh.googlegroups.com...
> Off course, the wealth will come from a lifetime cost to the state's
> energy CUSTOMERS, who are already being ripped-off by their electrical
> contractors.
> And a WOLF's at the door ... BEOWULF Energy, that is.
> ------------------------------
> "For O'Malley and friend, interests align in offshore wind bill"
> By Aaron C. Davis
> The Washington Post
> Tuesday, March 15, 2011
> Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley's childhood friend and right-hand man
> for a decade stands to gain from the governor's ambitious plan to
> subsidize development of an estimated $1.5 billion offshore wind farm.
I wondered what kind of smear the fascist DNC / MSM cabal would orchestrate
against O'Malley for wanting to reign in the unions that are bankrupting his
state.
Fuck you fascists.
You are deservedly hated and despised by all Americans.
-Eddie Haskell