Hillary Clinton’s Transition Team Headed By TPP And Fracking Lobbyist

Remember when Hillary Clinton was pretending to be a progressive? Well, that phase of the campaign might be over. Beyond courting neoconservatives, Clinton looks to be locking up the support of the corporate sector.

Former Secretary Clinton has now named former Colorado Democratic Senator and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to be the chair of her presidential transition team. If elected president, Salazar will lead the effort to staff the Clinton White House, helping decide who will (and who will not) be running the top of the executive branch of government.

While in office, Salazar was a textbook corporate Democrat, with a particular interest in shilling for the energy industry. Salazar caused controversy by leasing millions of acres of new areas for oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico shortly after the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster. When he left office, he came out in support of the toxic tar sands pipeline known as the Keystone XL project, calling it a ‘win-win.’

Since then, Salazar has transitioned to, wait for it, a lobbyist for super firm WilmerHale, with a special focus on promoting fracking.

Salazar’s advocacy of fracking has veered into the absurd. He reportedly told people at an energy conference “We know that, from everything we’ve seen, there’s not a single case where hydraulic fracking has created an environmental problem for anyone.”

Salazar also claimed in an op-ed supporting Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), “The TPP is a strong trade deal that will level the playing field for workers to help middle-class families get ahead. It is also the greenest trade deal ever.”

I guess if you believe (wrongly) that fracking has not created a single environmental problem for anyone, then TPP could be the greenest trade deal ever.

Former Secretary Clinton has claimed she opposes the TPP, even though she negotiated the deal and key supporters say she is actually for it. Clinton also claims to oppose fracking, though she sold it to the world and appointed one of its most prominent advocates to help pick the very staff that will deal with the issue under her administration.

And, in keeping with Clinton’s extensive history with Wall Street, she also appointed a mortgage industry lobbyist named Thomas Donilon to the transition team. I’m sure he will do his best to find good staffers to help the Clinton White House fight Wall Street.

So, I guess the question is: how dumb does Hillary Clinton think progressives are? I guess we’ll find out.