A new book details how environmental extremist and Occupy Wall Street enthusiast Van Jones may still be influencing President Barack Obama’s policy decisions.
Jones resigned from his post as Obama’s green jobs czar on September 5, 2009 amid political pressure after his history of radicalism was revealed in conservative media outlets. It was reported that Jones, among other things, had supported convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, signed a 9/11 “truther” petition calling for an investigation into whether the Bush administration deliberately allowed the 9/11 attacks to occur, and had been involved in the pro-Mao Zedong group Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement, or STORM.
At the time of his resignation, then-White House press secretary Robert Gibbs thanked Jones “for his service to the country,” but insisted Obama “doesn’t endorse” Jones’ radical beliefs.
But in the recently released “Red Army: The Radical Network That Must Be Defeated To Save America,” World Net Daily’s Aaron Klein reveals several different backdoor channels from which Jones appears to be indirectly helping to shape White House policy. The first is through the Presidential Climate Action Project. Jones serves on PCAP’s 20-member advisory committee.
Before the 2008 presidential election, PCAP developed a proposal to guide the incoming president’s environmental policy during his first 100 days, whether the president turned out to be Arizona Sen. John McCain or Obama. Then, in 2010, PCAP developed a new environmental plan to be implemented in 2011, which Klein says recommends Obama use the U.S. military and Department of Defense “for technology innovation and its procurement of energy-related goods and services to accelerate energy efficiency gains in the U.S. economy.”
“It directs the White House to ‘make clear to the Secretary of the Navy that long-term objectives in the Gulf Coast restoration plan should include the restoration of vital ecosystems that were degraded prior to the [2010 BP] oil spill and would enhance the economy of the region while protecting Gulf Coast communities from the anticipated impacts of climate change,’” Klein adds.
Klein said PCAP’s executive director, William S. Becker, confirmed to him in a phone interview that the plans were developed with Jones serving on PCAP’s board. Klein said Becker admitted that the Obama administration “adopted quite a few of our recommendations or variations of them.”
Jones also continues to influence Obama administration policy through the Efficiency Cities Network, according to Klein. Though Jones isn’t officially a part of the ECN, Klein points to how the ECN is really a “partner group” of many of Jones’ organizations.
“The group holds regular sessions on energy and environmental policy issues with officials from Congress, the Department of Energy, and local governmental agencies,” Klein wrote.
“The Efficiency Cities Network is hosted in collaboration with Green for All, their Retrofit America’s Cities Community of Practice project, and the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, or COWS. The group’s board council includes Green for All and the Apollo Alliance. Green for All was co-founded by Van Jones.”
Jones is a former Apollo Alliance board member and his Green for All has endorsed the Apollo Alliance’s work.