McClaughry: The superabundance of climate lobbyists

By John McClaughry

I took some time last week to work through the photo book of registered lobbyists at the Vermont State House, with a particular eye for the number of them announced as working for “climate change” legislation.

I focused on just four organizations battling for more climate change legislation, although there are several more lobbyists employed by contract lobbyists like the Necrason Group and the Nature Conservancy who could reasonably be included.

The four lobby groups I selected were Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG), the Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC), the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), and Bill McKibben’s climate action group, 350.org.

Here’s the count: VPIRG registered 13 lobbyists, VNRC registered 14, CLF registered four, and 350.org registered two. Total from these four: 33 lobbyists.

How much do these groups spend to influence our legislators? Of the top three, VPIRG spent $119,916, making them the ninth  biggest spender among all lobby groups. VNRC spent $97,973. CLF, which is eager to go to court to enforce the Global Warming Solutions Act that all of these groups battled fiercely for, spent $52,519. The total for these three lobby groups: $270,408.

To put this into perspective, how many lobbyists are working to protect the taxpayer, electric ratepayer, and property owner? Zero. How much was spent for those interests? Zero.

Now you know why you are overtaxed and overregulated by state government.

John McClaughry is vice president of the Ethan Allen Institute. Reprinted with permission from the Ethan Allen Institute Blog.

Image courtesy of Public domain

10 thoughts on “McClaughry: The superabundance of climate lobbyists

  1. If it’s gov’t, or “do good” nobody count’s the $$$$,$$$,$$$$ Horrid Costs !!

    We will spend all we can steal, then borrow the rest from our great Grand Kids,
    who will pay the interest on the debt for the rest of their lives.

  2. Nww that the climate bill is law, you have a choice to make. The Kumbaya’s are far too entrenched, too well funded and far too “everything” for you to ever think your vote will count in VT. If you have the ability…leave VT asap. Those that can’t leave for whatever reason (often family related or job)…welcome to Hell. VT will be close to insolvent within 3-5 years…even faster if Biden wins…because Vermont does NOT BREAK OUT how much free money comes to the State coffers from Capital GAINS taxes. All capital gains, dividends and interest are lumped in as a numer with VT SALARY incomes…to come up with blended “personal income”. Of course personal incomes are UP in VT…not all because of salaries, but because of Trumps economic policies & fabulous stock market, which created huge capital gains and if stocks sold, VT takes a big cut…risk free. if Biden wins and stocks go down…..the State Bean Counters will be shocked, shocked – that personal income RECEIPTS went down! If the State of VT broke OUT just how much they get (for free) in capital gains, from about 6,000 upper income VT’ers, I think the numbers would surprise. We’ll see what happens to VT when stocks go down if Biden wins. It will also hurt the UNION unfunded pension. If you can possibly do it…GET OUT NOW! Either out full time ,or just to a condo in “Sunny F.L.A. – For Sixth Months & A Day”. If you stay on in VT….your hard earned money will soon be – “theirs”…and your retirement dreamed of?… much less nice. Kumbaya, Komrade. You will be owned by the “Tie Dyed Birkenstock Enviros & Bernie’s” They HATE YOU if you are upper income – they are not! They will vote for income equality, via higher taxes… so THEY don’t have to pay…tax the rich more! NEVER FORGET this…About 6,000 people of upper incomes pay 65% of ALL VT personal income taxes & huge portion of all residential Property taxes….it will only take 25% to 35% of them to leave VT (as I have) and VT will be in deep financial trouble. Then come big credit downgrades and State has harder time borrowing needed funds. Majority pf people in VT don’t pay much in taxes…70% of VT’ers have their property taxes SUBSIDIZED! Get woke. Get out! Life is wonderful….on the “outside’!..you can’t imagine how nice it is 🙂

  3. Everyone should read the history of Ethan Allen relative to his treatment of New Yorkers. That should be the norm.

  4. A Independent little state we’re not…. legislated over by flatlanders who are owned
    lock stock and barrel by NY leftist lobbyist and run as a model of leftist
    virtue signaling… there’s little hope of ever reverting to the days of old, pre 70’s when
    common sense and frugality of government were the norm…

    Remember those days? We even had budget surpluses, and nil government intrusion
    of our lives… the pre leftist state era..

    • There is an election coming up which gives Vermont an opportunity to elect legislators that might change that.
      Part of the problem is the number of our fellow citizens who do not vote at all.
      Voting is, in my opinion, an obligation and a sacred duty not to be taken lightly.
      Jon Christiano for Vermont Senate, Bible, Constitution, sound family values. Vote

  5. All four groups cited are funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Rockefeller Family Fund, and other Rockefeller “Philanthropies” all with the same NY address. The Rockefellers use Venture Philanthropy and Impact Investing to drive public policy towards their pre-positioned investments. Taxed Enough Already? Vote For Freedom!

    • NIce to see you post Linus! A few yars ago, I was one of the ones who had Merrill’s Auction come to my house and took a truckload out, so we could downsize and move to AZ. I remember, Ethan…he came down first. He asked me if I was “mad”. I said, “No, I’m in a good mood today!”….Ethan said, “No, not mad today…are you mad at what is happening to Vermont”? I said, ‘Hell yes, why do you think I am selling all this excess stuff? I am selling, downsizing & leaving VT!” Ethan then stated that he had half a dozen other clients – just like me….close to retirement, well to do….sick of Vermont taxes & cold….selling off excess stuff to move…. Sick of the Kumbaya & Enviro’s and the taxes…. And all of us were long time collectors. My first antiques came from Duane, and Nathan…mid 1970’s…when Duane ran his first auctions at the Elementary School on Williston Rd….Nathan still had his wonderful shop.. I still have with me…here in AZ…some of the pieces I bought at Merrills . FYI all? Merrill’s Auctions did a great job selling my excess house stuff. None of it was high end, but they were happy to help. The only issue was that it took three years almost to parcel items off in different auctions, that fit the stuff….Merrills is backed up with stuff to sell, they said. But, they kept track of all perfectly and did the best they possibly coudl to show and sell all of it. I was very pleased…but markets for antiques are way down from what they used to be. A lot of people very grumpy at what their “Brown Furniture” sells for these days. I took all good such stuff with me.

  6. So the climate lobbyists have succeeded……They’ve worked over the legislature and gotten the Global Warming Solutions Act passed.

    Now that the GWSA has passed, what’s next?………Perhaps the largest undertaking in Vermont history will now be handed off to state government to make it all happen…….or else get sued!

    So how will state government handle this massive task? A look at the state government’s recent performance in handling the replacement of a single member of the Green Mountain Care Board might give us some clues as to how things may go………And it’s not good.

    Take a look at the article below from the VTDigger to see how state government has handled the replacement of one Green Mountain Care Board member.

    https://vtdigger.org/2020/09/22/questions-and-confusion-surround-green-mountain-care-board-reappointment/

    This story is as good as Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on first” routine………Projecting from the GMCB member replacement…….How do you think the GWSA will do now that the climate lobbyist’s have done their work?

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