Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Press release here:
RALEIGH, N.C., Feb. 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — At 11:30 a.m. ET on Thursday (February 5, 2009), four North Carolina groups will release a major new report detailing the statewide candidates and elected officials who have benefited from hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions in North Carolina by Duke Energy’s political action committee (PAC) and its top executives.
The North Carolina organizations joining together to release the report are: NC WARN (North Carolina Waste Awareness and Reduction Network, Durham, NC); The Canary Coalition (Sylva, NC); Southern Energy Network (Chapel Hill, N.C.); and Mountain Voices Alliance (Asheville, N.C.). The report is a comprehensive analysis of State Board of Elections data covering the period January 2005-November 2008.
News event speakers will be:
- Pete MacDowell, program director, NC WARN;
- Avram Friedman, executive director, The Canary Coalition;
- Russ Anderson, North Carolina campus coordinator, Southern Energy Network; and
- Grant Smith, executive director, Citizens Action Coalition, Indianapolis, IN.
The new report reveals multiple donations from Chairman/CEO Jim Rogers and about two thirds of Duke’s senior executive team. The contributions were made as Duke Energy sought favorable state action on a host of fiercely debated energy matters, including approvals for a new Cliffside coal fired power plant; approval of Senate Bill 3, which shifted much of the risk of building new power plants to the consumer; a possible nuclear plant just across the border in South Carolina; and the “Save-a-Watt” scheme the company touts as a tool to promote energy efficiency but which critics call a consumer rip-off that does very little to reduce demand for electricity.
