当选总统乔·拜登的能源部长人选，格兰霍姆在立法者准备考虑她的提名时，她披露了数百万美元的公司和私人商业利益投资，包括数百万美元的与能源行业有关的公司投资。
根据政府道德办公室周一发布的新财务披露报告，这位前两届密歇根州长和她的丈夫丹尼尔·穆尔赫恩(Daniel Mulhern)报告说，她拥有440万美元至1680万美元的公司权益和私人资产，如住宅房地产。
她最大的资产包括价值100万至500万美元的股票期权，她可以在Proterra Inc .行使这些股票期权。Proterra Inc .是一家设计和制造零排放电动公交车和卡车的公司，为包括加利福尼亚州、弗吉尼亚州和华盛顿州在内的几个州的市政当局提供电池供电的公交车和充电系统。该报告称，她还持有该公司大量未公开的股票期权，其价值不容易确定。
格兰霍尔姆是该公司的董事会成员，她在与披露报告一起提交的道德协议中写道，一旦被确认为能源部长，她将辞去在公司的职务，并将放弃既得的股票期权，并放弃公司未授予的股票期权。她还表示，在从公司董事会辞职一年前，她将回避与Proterra有关的问题。
格兰霍尔姆加入了一系列与企业和私人利益相关的拜登提名者的行列，这引发了对潜在利益冲突的担忧。
根据他的披露，上个月底，国务卿提名人托尼·布林肯(Tony Blinken)报告说，他从咨询公司WestExec Advisors赚了100多万美元，并达成了一项从该公司撤资的协议。据财政部长提名人珍妮特·耶伦(Janet Yellen)提交的文件显示，过去两年，她从银行和大公司获得了超过700万美元的演讲费。
总部位于华盛顿的好政府组织竞选法律中心的道德法律顾问德莱尼·马斯科(Delaney Marsco)表示:“我们已经看到，拜登政府中有很多人与行业有联系，或者与私营部门有联系，一旦他们进入政府，他们将监督或监管什么。”“这绝对是我们一直在警惕的事情，因为特朗普政府在旋转门方面一直很糟糕。”
在过去四年里，唐纳德·特朗普总统领导下的内阁成员面临着一系列利益冲突问题。特朗普的第一任能源部长里克·佩里2017年加入特朗普政府，与石油和天然气行业有着深厚的联系，他的继任者丹·布鲁莱特(Dan Brouillette)在汽车行业有着悠久的历史。同样，特朗普的环境保护署署长安德鲁·惠勒(Andrew Wheeler)是前煤炭说客，特朗普的内政部由前石油和天然气说客大卫·伯恩哈特(David Bernhardt)管理。
马斯科说:“我认为特朗普政府的一些问题是，有很多行业联系，对剥离金融利益有很多犹豫，有很多游说者，以前的游说者进来了。”“我没见过这么多，尤其是在(新)政府中有前说客的情况下。”
约书亚·罗伯茨/盖蒂影像公司
12月19日，能源部长提名人詹妮弗·格兰霍姆在女王剧院发表演讲
“但我们仅仅说他不会像特朗普政府那样糟糕也是不够的，所以如果一两个人有利益冲突，我们可以让他摆脱困境，”马斯科说。“我们绝对不会这么做。我们有责任让拜登政府负责，就像我们让特朗普政府对任何利益冲突负责一样，无论大小。因此，我认为会出现一些事情，我们肯定在寻找它们。”
“当选总统拜登表示，他的政府面临的最大指控之一是恢复对美国政府的信心，”拜登过渡小组的一名官员告诉美国广播公司新闻。“即将上任的政府将继续坚持竞选期间确立的高道德标准，并将其贯彻到过渡时期，[和]被任命者和被提名者将与总统和副总统当选人的价值观和政策重点保持一致。
格兰霍尔姆没有立即回应美国广播公司新闻的置评请求。
格兰霍尔姆在能源领域与企业利益的联系预计将在她的确认过程中受到特别密切的审查，因为作为她的角色之一，她将参与执行拜登提出的气候政策。这一2万亿美元的提议包括到2035年使国家转向无碳污染的能源，并在基础设施和汽车工业上大量投资。
她作为下一任能源部长的工作也可能导致与她在其他几家与该行业相关的公司的利益发生潜在冲突，包括对总部位于北卡罗来纳州的电力控股公司杜克能源(Duke Energy)、太阳能电池板制造公司第一太阳能(First Solar，Inc .)以及一家专注于气候解决方案和可再生能源的投资公司汉农阿姆斯特朗(Hannon Armstrong)的投资。
这些股份是通过格兰霍尔姆与其丈夫共同拥有的一家咨询公司持有的，该公司还管理着辉瑞(Pfizer)、美国银行(Bank of America)和美国电话电报公司(AT&T)等多家其他公司的投资。格兰霍尔姆在她的道德协议中写道，她将在确认后的90天内放弃对这些公司的兴趣，与丈夫共同拥有的格兰霍尔姆·穆尔赫恩联合公司(Granholm Mulhern Associates)将停止提供咨询和领导服务，同时继续“管理公司经纪账户和利润共享固定缴款计划中的投资”。格兰霍尔姆在过去两年中从格兰霍尔姆·穆尔赫恩联合公司获得了100万美元的工资和“业务收入”。
她还在道德协议中表示，尽管她与这些公司决裂，但她的丈夫预计将继续通过一家由他独资的新公司进行企业投资和咨询。她说，除非得到授权，否则她不会参与任何涉及她丈夫客户的事情。
马斯科说，格兰霍尔姆承诺回避与她丈夫的客户有关的问题，这是道德协议的“样板”语言，格兰霍尔姆“没有超越法律”——尽管马斯科补充说，格兰霍尔姆采取的措施“有利于我们目前记录在案的法律”。
“我认为这其中的一个难题是，很难知道人们实际上在参与什么，尤其是当你很高的时候，很可能你或多或少地以这样或那样的方式参与了一切，”马斯科说。“直到人们提出[信息自由法案的要求]并得到答复，许多这类事情才被曝光...因此，很难实时了解这些人到底在做什么，是否违法。”
“我们希望更多的主动披露，”马斯科说。“我们希望有更好的法律，让这类事情更难隐藏。”
根据这份报告，在过去的两年里，格兰霍尔姆作为美国有线电视新闻网(CNN)和自由非营利组织美国桥梁基金会(American Bridge Foundation)以及美国媒体事务(Media Matters for America)的政治撰稿人，已经获得了6位数的工资和律师费。她还从各种演讲活动中获得了超过17万美元的收入，其中包括在美国以色列公共事务委员会、首都集团和美国医院协会主办的活动中露面。她在加州大学伯克利分校担任兼职教授的工资约为11.4万美元，据报道，她在加州奥克兰拥有100万至500万美元的住宅房地产资产。
凯文拉马克/池通过盖蒂图像，文件
当选总统乔·拜登被提名为国务卿后，皮特·布蒂吉格在他的注视下发表讲话
政府道德办公室周六还公布了拜登提名的交通部长皮特·布蒂吉格和拜登提名的退伍军人事务部长丹尼斯·麦克唐纳的披露表格和道德协议。
但是据报道，在过去的两年里，他从图书交易中获得了47万到140万美元的收入，并通过播客系列和圣母大学的一个教员职位获得了几笔利润丰厚的六位数和五位数的薪酬交易。
麦克多诺还从几个雇主那里获得了多份六位数的工资，包括圣母大学(Notre Dame University)，一家名为马克勒基金会(Markle Foundation)的私人基金会，以及一家名为宏观咨询伙伴(Macro Advisory Partners)的咨询公司。他的咨询客户包括葛兰素史克、苹果、万事达、普华永道全球和德意志电信等公司。
Biden energy secretary nominee Jennifer Granholm has millions in energy investments, per new filing
President-elect Joe Biden's energy secretary pick,Jennifer Granholm, has disclosed millions of dollars of investments in corporate and private business interests, including millions in companies linked to the energy industry, as lawmakers prepare to consider her nomination.
The former two-term Michigan governor and her husband, Daniel Mulhern, reported owning from $4.4 million up to $16.8 million in corporate interests and private assets like residential real estate properties, according to her new financial disclosure report released by the Office of Government Ethics on Monday.
Among her biggest assets are $1 million to $5 million worth of stock options she can exercise in Proterra Inc., a company that designs and manufactures zero-emission electric buses and trucks and provides battery-electric buses and charging systems to municipalities in several states, including California, Virginia and Washington state. She also owns a large amount of unvested shares of the company's stock options, the value of which is not readily ascertainable, according to the report.
Granholm, who sits on the company's board of directors, wrote in her ethics agreement filed with the disclosure report that she will step down from her position with the company upon her confirmation as energy secretary, and will divest from the vested stock options and forfeit unvested stock options in the company. She also said she'll recuse herself from matters related to Proterra until one year after her resignation from the company's board.
Granholm joins a series of Biden nominees who have ties to corporate and private interests, which have raised concerns over potential conflict of interest.
Late last month, secretary of state nominee Tony Blinken reported making more than $1 million from his consulting firm WestExec Advisors, and entered an agreement to divest from the firm, according to his disclosures. Treasury secretary nominee Janet Yellen reported making more than $7 million in speaking fees from banks and large companies over the last two years, according to her filings.
"One of the things we're seeing already with the Biden administration is that there are a lot of folks with ties to industries or ties to the private sector of what they are going to oversee or regulate once they move into government," said Delaney Marsco, ethics legal counsel at Washington-based good government group Campaign Legal Center. "It's something we've definitely been on alert for because the Trump administration has been so horrendous with the revolving door."
Cabinet members under President Donald Trump have faced a range of conflict-of-interest concerns over the last four years. Trump's first Energy SecretaryRick Perryjoined the Trump administration in 2017 with deep ties to the oil and gas industry, and his successor, Dan Brouillette, had a long history with the automobile industry. Similarly, Trump's Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler is a former coal lobbyist, and Trump's Interior Department is run by former oil and gas lobbyist David Bernhardt.
"I think some of the problems with the Trump administration were, there were a lot of industry ties, a lot of hesitance to divest the financial interests, a lot of lobbyists, former lobbyists coming in," Marsco said. "I haven't seen as much of that, particularly with the former lobbyists coming into the [new] administration."
"But it's also not good enough for us to just say he's not going to be as bad as the Trump administration so we can let him off the hook if one or two people have a conflict of interest," Marsco said. "That's absolutely not going to be what we're doing. We are responsible for holding the Biden administration accountable as we hold the Trump administration accountable for any conflict of interest, however big or small. And so I think there will be things that crop up, and we are definitely on the lookout for them."
"President-elect Biden has said that one of the biggest charges facing his administration is restoring faith in American government," a Biden transition team official told ABC News. "The incoming administration will continue to adhere to the high ethical standards established during the campaign and carried into the transition, [and] appointees and nominees will be aligned with the values and policy priorities of the president and vice president-elect.
Granholm did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment.
Granholm's ties to corporate interests in the energy field are expected to receive particularly close scrutiny during her confirmation, as she would have a hand in carrying out Biden's proposed climate policy as part of her role. That $2 trillion proposal includes moving the country to carbon-pollution-free power by 2035, and investing heavily in infrastructure and the auto industry.
Her work as the next energy secretary could also lead to potential conflicts with her interests in several other companies tied to the industry, including investments in North Carolina-based electric-power holding company Duke Energy, solar-panel manufacturing company First Solar, Inc., and an investment company that focuses on climate solutions and renewable energy called Hannon Armstrong.
Those shares are owned through a consulting company that Granholm co-owns with her husband, which also manages investments in various other companies like Pfizer, Bank of America and AT&T. Granholm wrote in her ethics agreement that she will divest from her interest in those companies within 90 days after her confirmation, and that Granholm Mulhern Associates, the firm co-owned with her husband, will cease providing consulting and leadership services, while continuing to "manage investments that are held in a corporate brokerage account and a profit-sharing defined contribution plan." Granholm earned $1 million in salary and "business income" from Granholm Mulhern Associates over the last two years.
She also suggested in her ethics agreement that despite her break from those companies, her husband is expected to continue making corporate investments and consulting through a new firm solely owned by him. She said she will not participate in any matter involving her husband's clients unless authorized to do so.
Marsco said Granholm's promise to recuse herself from matters related to her husband's clients is "boilerplate" language for ethics agreements, and that Granholm is "not going above and beyond what the law is" -- though Marsco added that the measures Granholm has taken are "good for the laws we have on the books right now."
"I think one of the hard things with this is, it's very hard to know what people are actually participating in, and particularly when you're very high up, likely you're more or less participating in everything one way or another," Marsco said. "A lot of this stuff doesn't come to light until people file [Freedom of Information Act requests] and get answers back ... so it's hard to know exactly what these folks are doing and whether or not it's violating the law in real time."
"We want more proactive disclosure," Marsco said. "We want better laws on the books that make these kinds of things harder to hide and conceal."
Over the last two years, Granholm has earned six figures in salary and retainer fees as a political contributor at CNN and at the liberal nonprofit organizations American Bridge Foundation and Media Matters for America, according to the report. She also raked in more than $170,000 from various speaking engagements, which included appearances at events hosted by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the Capital Group, and the American Hospital Association. Her salary as an adjunct professor at the University of California Berkeley was roughly $114,000, and she also reported owning between $1 million and $5 million in residential real estate assets in Oakland, California.
The Office of Government Ethics on Saturday also released disclosure forms and ethics agreements from Biden's transportation secretary nominee, Pete Buttigieg, and Biden's pick for Veterans Affairs secretary, Denis McDonough.
Buttigieg reported earning between $470,000 and $1.4 million from book deals over the last two years, and also received several lucrative six-figure and five-figure compensation deals through a podcast series and a faculty fellow post at Notre Dame University.
McDonough also received multiple six-figure salaries from several employers, including Notre Dame University, a private foundation called the Markle Foundation, and a consulting firm called Macro Advisory Partners. His consulting clients include companies like GlaxoSmithKline, Apple, MasterCard, PWC Global and Deutsche Telecom.
