The small Montana energy company that botched the critical rebuilding of Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria spent $150,000 lobbying Congress last quarter amid investigations, a disclosure report filed Friday shows.
The fourth quarter lobbying report shows that Whitefish paid the law firm Foley & Lardner to have five representatives lobby the Senate and House on the company’s behalf.
What the firm was specifically hired to accomplish is unclear.
In the report, under “Specific lobbying issues,” Foley & Lardner wrote “Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority to rebuild transmission lines damaged from recent hurricane damage.”
The five lobbyists working for Whitefish included two former members of Congress (David Cardoza and Scott Klug); two former congressional staffers (Jennifer Walsh and Ted Bornstein); and Michael Crossen, an attorney whose experience includes representing “businesses before boards and administrative agencies in all forms dispute resolutions,” according to a company profile.
Whitefish Energy and Foley & Lardner did not immediately respond to questions from the Center for Responsive Politics on Wednesday.
Last year, Whitefish was thrust into controversy after it was awarded a $300 million contract by Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), an electric power corporation owned by the Puerto Rican government, to rebuild the island’s power grids after Hurricane Maria devastated the US territory. The September disaster knocked out the power of 3.4 million residents on the island and resulted in a death toll that may be upwards of 1,000.
The Puerto Rican government gave the two-person Montana utility company the contract almost out of the blue, without a competitive bidding process and with significant price markups certain services.
The deal also drew skepticism because the company is based in the small hometown of Ryan Zinke, interior secretary for the Trump administration. Zinke denied claims that he was tied to the contract.
“I had absolutely nothing to do with Whitefish Energy receiving a contract in Puerto Rico,” Zinke said in a statement. “Any attempts by the dishonest media or political operatives to tie me to awarding or influencing any contract involving Whitefish are completely baseless. Only in elitist Washington D.C. would being from a small town be considered a crime.”
In October, PREPA canceled the contract with Whitefish as it drew investigations by the Department of Homeland Security, multiple House committees and the Puerto Rican government.
When news broke the company had signed with Foley & Lardner, a Whitefish spokesman said in a statement to The Hill that the firm was hired to give the company “representation in D.C.”
“Whitefish Energy has a reputation to uphold and we felt that Foley would help us in being able to have those conversations in a productive manner,” said Ken Luce, a former spokesman for the company.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy