EDITORIAL: Opt-Out of Prov’s New Electricity Program or Support DeSantis’ Corp. Friends
Tuesday, March 28, 2023
Make no mistake about it, NextEra — the Florida-based energy giant selected by Providence and six other communities in Rhode Island as their new electric company — has been a major supporter of Republican Ron DeSantis, the Governor of Florida.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTIt has poured tens of millions to ensure DeSantis is in power.
And there is so much more to NextEra's political story.
The company is tied to dark money, political dirty tricks, and secret dossiers on reporters who unveiled misdeeds by NextEra’s subsidiary Florida Power & Light.
Here is what the Miami Herald wrote in an editorial last July 29:
Florida’s utility giant seems to get what it wants at all costs — whether it be by backing dirty political tricks to sway elections, using its power to bully dissenters or buying favorable news coverage. Florida Power & Light has tried to smear reporters and media outlets that publish stories it doesn’t like. One of its consultants went so far as compiling a 72-page dossier of personal information on a newspaper columnist who wrote critically about the potential sale of a Jacksonville-area utility to FPL’s parent company. The report was emailed to a top FPL executive, but the company claims it had nothing to do with the creepy report, which included photos taken secretly of the journalist walking his dog, the Florida Times-Union reported in June…FPL’s involvement with the Capitolist is yet another tentacle FPL has used to exert political influence at the expense of democracy in Florida.
Think that is dirty; how about this news report from the Miami Herald, just a month later:
On August 13, the Herald reported:
When Florida Power & Light faced a spate of bad publicity and political blowback, a small but ambitious news website called the Capitolist sprang to the public utility’s defense. Taking aim at foes of FPL’s proposed rate hikes and controversial attempts to buy Jacksonville’s public utility, the Capitolist savaged the critics, impugning their motives and suggesting they were part of “dark money” schemes. “Documents suggest Florida’s largest companies are secretly sabotaging effort to protect power lines from hurricane damage,” declared the headline of one such article from 2019.
Not sleazy enough? Oh, don’t worry; NextEra can go far lower.
Who says?
The National Democratic Party. Florida Power & Light has poured about $20 million in political donations from the election cycle in 2018 to this past 2022 election — the vast majority of that money went to the GOP, according to the Energy & Policy Institute.
A Democratic party whitepaper issued in September criticized the close relationship between Florida Power & Light and Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis.
"In fact, no other elected official in Florida did more to help Florida Power & Light land its $5 billion rate increase than DeSantis — who is now running for re-election and who, campaign-finance records show, has raised more than $3 million from FPL and a network of big-business front groups and dark-money nonprofits that the company helps to fund.”
The company’s support of extreme Republicans goes beyond even DeSantis. And a report by ProPublica found that NextEra gave $127,000 in corporate political donations to members of Congress who are election deniers.
Embarrassing
We understand that for the Smiley administration, the selection of NextEra is embarrassing. The city of Providence, under Jorge Elorza, turned over the process to a New York-based consultant, “Good Energy,” who cut a deal with NextEra for a five-year contract. And, the other six communities — Barrington, Central Falls, Narragansett, Newport, Portsmouth, and South Kingstown are part of the program too.
On a community call on Monday night, Providence city officials and a consultant repeatedly made misleading statements about NextEra’s politics. They tried to minimize the damage and hide their lack of due diligence in selecting the Florida energy giant.
Make no mistake about it — NextEra is a highly political corporation that has flooded tens of millions of dollars into the campaigns of DeSantis, Republicans, and election deniers.
If you are a strong supporter of DeSantis and his policies — then NextEra is your company. Don't do anything.
But make no mistake about if you stay in this program; it is your dollars that will support a company with an ugly activist track record.
We, as a company, do not support the vast majority of the policies expound by DeSantis -- extreme positions on gender rights, education, Ukraine, and the environment. We can both support the adoption of renewables without selling out our values. Providence and the other six communities need to reboot.
We are opting out.
An editorial is the opinion of a publication — specifically, the ownership.
While based on facts and news reporting, it is an opinion intended to discuss critical community issues. Often, the opinion is written with the intention of positive change.
GoLocal editorials have sparked conversations, change, and even the naming of a bridge.
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