Can Al Gore Be A Profiteer Without Profits?
Lots of blog buzz today about a NY Times story on Al Gore's cleantech investments, and if such activity is ethically compatible with his lobbying for environmental legislation that could benefit his portfolio. Not surprisingly, critics see irreconcilable conflict. The Drudge Report, for example, has a breathless header about "Gore's big profits from global warming." Other outlets have used the term "profiteer," and even the NYT regurgitates the meme that Gore wants to become the world's first "carbon billionaire" (without noting it was first coined by virulent climate change skeptic Sen. James Inhofe). The NYT also rehashed Rep. Marsha Blackburn asking Gore about conflict of interest during a House hearing earlier this year, but without her daft question of whether or not Gore was "aware of... capital firm Kleiner Perkins." For the record, Gore has been a partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins for more than two years, and listed as such on the Kleiner Perkins website.
