DC's Revolving Door Is Swinging Briskly For The Eco-Green Eyeshade People

Public records from the SEC show the commission held six meetings with representatives from Persefoni and Ceres - a prominent investor advocacy group that supports such climate disclosure - from September 2021 to June 2022.

Meetings on Sept. 14, Nov. 23, and Nov. 30 between Persefoni and the SEC office of the chair, Gary Gensler; Meetings on March 28 and April 5 between Ceres and the Office of Commissioner Allison Herren Lee; And one joint meeting involving Persefoni, Ceres, and ERM with the SEC's Division of Economic and Risk Analysis, the Division of Corporation Finance, and the Office of the Chief Accountant.

Lee, a Democrat who joined the SEC as a staff attorney in 2005, was appointed by President Trump as one of the SEC's five commissioners in 2019 - filling a Democratic vacancy on the commission, which was structured to be nonpartisan.

"Persefoni has a glaring conflict of interest in low-balling cost of compliance estimates to the SEC, which the SEC should have disclosed and been mindful of. Instead, the SEC put undue weight on these implausibly low estimates," Darwall said.

With Persefoni's letter intermixed with roughly 1,140 other comments, some saw this as an effort to bury the firm's relationship with the SEC. One critic is Bonner Cohen, a senior fellow with the National Center for Public Policy Research in Washington, D.C. "The collusion between the SEC and a select group of outside parties gives new meaning to the term climate cartel," Cohen said in an interview.

"Not only is there a hand-in-glove relationship between the SEC and outfits like Persefoni, Ceres, and ERM that stand to benefit financially from the climate disclosure rule the agency is set to release. They also appear to have had a hand in drafting that rule. The SEC and its cronies are so closely entangled that they are effectively acting as one."

In June, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer and Senate Banking Committee ranking member Sen. Tim Scott sent a joint letter to the SEC requesting documents and information, including "All nonpublic records referring or relating to the climate consultancy, climate accounting, or sustainability-related organizations Persefoni, Ceres, ERM, or South Pole since January 20, 2021." 

https://realclearwire.com/articles/2023/10/05/dcs_revolving_door_is_swinging_briskly_for_the_eco-green_eyeshade_lobby_983081.html