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DNC Passes Resolution Reversing Ban on Donations From Fossil Fuel PACs

Activists immediately denounced the measure, which “recommits the party to an ‘all of the above’ energy stance.”

DNC Chairman Tom Perez, speaks to a crowd of supporters at a Democratic unity rally at the Rail Event Center on April 21, 2017, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Just two months after the Democratic National Committee (DNC) was celebrated by environmentalists for banning donations from fossil fuel companies, it voted 30-2 on Friday to adopt a resolution from Chair Tom Perez that critics said effectively reverses the ban and represents “an absolute failure by the DNC.”

The Huffington Post’s Alexander Kaufman tweeted Friday:

As climate reporter Kate Aronoff outlined in a series of tweets, Perez’s resolution “is premised on the party’s support for unions,” but ultimately will enable fossil fuel executives to use their money to try to influence Democrats.

The unanimously approved original resolution—which requires the DNC to reject “corporate PAC contributions from the fossil fuel industry”—was spearheaded by Christine Pelosi, the daughter of Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and a member of the DNC’s executive committee.

Christine Pelosi tried Friday to pressure the committee to remove the language in Perez’s resolution which undermines the ban on corporate PAC donations, but her proposal was voted down 28-4:

While a DNC spokesperson claimed to Kaufman that the resolution is “not a reversal,” adding that “any review of our current donations reflects” the party’s “commitment” to no longer taking donations from the industry, reactions among activists and party supporters ranged from worried to infuriated.

Jerald Lentini, deputy director of the Democratic fundraising group It Starts Today, pointed out in an interview with Kaufman that this resolution may only apply to Democratic campaigns, meaning the new measure may not fully annul the first resolution but would still “repudiate the spirit” of it.

Others were far more critical:

And, as 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben noted, “the issue goes beyond the donations,” because Perez’s resolution “also recommits the party to an ‘all of the above’ energy stance, which was taken out of the platform after a lot of hard work in 2016.”

Responding to McKibben, Bold Nebraska founder and Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Fleming Kleeb vowed that “many of us” will fight the resolution at a DNC meeting later this month:

We’re not going to stand for it. Are you?

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