Obama Operative Joins Taxpayer-Backed Solar Company

William Yeatman discusses the recent announcement that SolarCity recently added a top official from President Obama's personal advocacy group.

A top official at President Barack Obama’s personal advocacy group will join a major Obama donor’s solar firm, the company announced on Wednesday.

Obama operative Jon Carson will be a top executive at pop technologist Elon Musk’s SolarCity, where he will help build a program at the company designed to incentivize the purchase of the company’s solar panels

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Carson’s presence at SolarCity will dovetail well with a business strategy that critics of the green energy industry, and Musk in particular, say relies on currying political favors.

“SolarCity’s hiring of a key cog in Obama’s political machine is, alas, par for the course for the green energy industry,” said William Yeatman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute specializing in energy policy.

“Because renewables can’t compete with conventional energy, the green energy industry necessarily depends on government subsidies and mandates for survival,” Yeatman said in an email.

“As a result, businesses like SolarCity must pay keen attention to politics and are quick to bring on board former government officials, political strategists, and campaign bundlers.”