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House GOP Scrapes Bottom Of Koch Barrel For Latest Anti-ESG Charade [1]

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Date: 2023-06-06  

Environmental, social, and governance metrics, or ESG, are a basic way for companies to assess the business costs and risks of pollution, discrimination, and poor management. Because ESG investing means companies dealing in fossil fuels, racism, and foolishness might not get access to the same financing as clean, just, and responsible profits, it's become a major problem for the polluter-pandering Republican Party.

Last month saw an embarrassment of an ESG hearing in the House , full of antisemitism, white supremacy, and, of course, climate denial, and now the GOP has decided to double-down with part two of the series: A joint subcommittee hearing is scheduled for today at 2 p.m. ET.

In the first hearing, Republicans and their witnesses couldn’t convincingly refute the massive costs to state pensions, taxpayers, and consumers or the impacts on businesses resulting from the GOP’s crusade against responsible investing. The two state Attorneys General’s mediocre performances also failed to clearly articulate the dubious legal aspects of their campaign. Now, House Republicans are relying on three well-known fossil fuel industry-funded witnesses and the architects of state-based astroturf anti-ESG legislation to uphold the anti-ESG campaign's foundation: market-distorting protection of the fossil fuel industry, backed by disinformation, conspiracy theories, and outright denial of settled science.

In no particular order, here are the deplorable witnesses scheduled to speak at today’s hearing. First, there's Jason Isaac of the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), a well-known front group for fossil fuels that received millions from the Koch Network and DonorsTrust. TPPF’s Life:Powered project evolved from past efforts to undermine the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, and Isaac, a KochPAC- supported former Texas state representative.

As recently as 2022, Isaac perpetuated disinformation about renewable energy’s impacts on Texas power outages, allegations that have been repeatedly debunked but spread relentlessly anyway because they deflect blame from the fossil fuel industry’s catastrophic and costly failures.

Speaking of failures, next up is Stephen Moore of the Heritage Foundation , which has a lengthy and intimate relationship with the fossil fuel industry that coincides with its role as a leading spreader of ESG disinformation. The longtime climate denialist’s career as an economist has been marked by errors, deception, falsehoods, and incompetence, with leading fellow economists stating Moore has zero credibility .

Not only is Moore professionally reliant on funding from polluters damaging the environment, he's also not a big fan of the "social responsibility" aspect either, given that he was deemed too much of a sexist to serve in the Donald Trump administration. Moore was notably compelled to withdraw his candidacy for a Trump-era Federal Reserve board position due to Republican opposition in light of his history of sexist views and comments .

Moore thought women earning more than men was "disruptive to family stability" in 2014 (because a woman that out-earns her husband has the economic freedom to divorce); he was mad about the NCAA allowing women to referee back in 2002 ("is there no area in life where men can take vacation from women?"); and in 1994, per a Politico summary , Moore "blasted the Violence Against Women Act, a tool aimed at combating and prosecuting sexual assault and other violent crimes, as 'the most objectionable pork' in a crime prevention bill."

Moore’s sexist history might make it awkward for the third GOP witness, Mandy Gunasekara, of the Koch-funded Independent Women's Forum (IWF) , a group that, if you judge by the name only, you might expect would take some issue with Moore's patriarchal misogyny. You would probably be wrong, though, as the IWF is a perfect far-right, anti-trans group that's hiding a patriarchal mission behind a women's brand and using "Independent" as a euphemism for 'Republican, but ashamed of it for obvious reasons.'

Mandy Gunasekara is a regular witness for House Republicans, and in her latest testimony, Gunasekara falsely associated ESG with increasing energy costs, neglecting the fact that oil and gas companies primarily cited “investor pressure to maintain capital discipline” as the main reason for not expanding fossil fuel development (not regulations, financing, or ESG).

Between stints at Trump’s EPA , Gunasekara launched a dark money pro-Trump energy nonprofit, and she is a fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Life:Powered initiative.

In other words, in their attempt to argue that Wall Street is "woke" for not ignoring environmental, social, and governance issues, the GOP has invited witnesses funded by a cast of characters pulled straight from a central casting call for "Captain Planet villains," including one who was too misogynistic for the Trump administration.

It should be quite a show!

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/6/2173616/-House-GOP-Scrapes-Bottom-Of-Koch-Barrel-For-Latest-Anti-ESG-Charade

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