Paul Scott Drops $32K to Talk Electric Cars with Obama

[JimSouCal]

Interesting how matter of fact it is that we consider getting a voice in political venues needs the $$$s. There was a book I never read that had the title, "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy". Humm...

In any case, I hope this works out for Paul and he achieves what he is looking for. Has a better of succeeding than setting yourself on fire in protest, or taking a left hook swing at the president.

 

[JimSouCal]

Regardless, one would need to have a follow up with the staffer who writes policy on the issue and get them to see it "your" way, whatever that is... They tend to look to see who is standing behind you... Perhaps that is why the NY Times and the LA Times passed on the op ed Paul Scott wrote.

Clearly our problems relate to "too many people" and "too much stuff" however you see how the pie is being sliced and diced.

No, but because of what I do, I have been present on a few occasions over the years and seen how it works from the presidential handler side... I was just offering that prospective...

 

[TomT]

Well, Paul made John Dvorak's blog... This may or may not be a good thing...

http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2013/06/01/lobbyist-pays-16k-per-minute-for-an-audience-with-the-potus/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[mbender]

I think if he manages to get a small amount of the benefits of EVs to the general public (and supposedly reinforce them to the president), his money may be "well spent". And who knows, if he plays it right or gets lucky (with media coverage, interviews and exposure), he could end up making a profit!

Regardless of the outcome, I give him a lot of credit and kudos, especially since he is presumably well aware of some of the flack that he is going to take.

 

[smkettner]

I would ask about mandating EV charging access at all govenment installations and buildings both civilian and military.
Collecting a reasonable fee from the public is fine, however all agencies need direct open permission to install L2 or L3 systems.
IMO direct government employees should get free charging as a benefit to both themselves and the Country to reduce oil imports.

 

[mwalsh]

He's been scuppered:

http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/transportation/blogs/exclusive-obama-pulls-plug-on-32000-meeting-with-electric-car" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Weckel]

Really think Paul that he knows somethink that don't know Obama? who pay more money to Obama, Oil country and Companies or Paul?.

 

[JimSouCal]

He's been scuppered:

http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/transportation/blogs/exclusive-obama-pulls-plug-on-32000-meeting-with-electric-car" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

No surprise here at all. I saw that coming but didn't want to go public with the prognostication. In a way, this really worked out how it was supposed to... Now Paul can leverage the money in another way... He could ask who writes policy on the matters he wanted to talk to Obama about... Maybe a large paper would not refuse an ad that talks about the story... I should email him maybe...

 

[apvbguy]

He's been scuppered:

http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/transportation/blogs/exclusive-obama-pulls-plug-on-32000-meeting-with-electric-car" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

the obuma handlers must be embarrassed by the appearance of pay big bucks for access.
as much as I dislike obuma, the truth is that he didn't invent this level of corruption, that said, he does seem to do a lot of cash gathering events like this one.

 

[evnow]

Oh well. I guess Obama would have heard the message - even without Paul spending any money. I guess Paul will get invited to some Obama meeting in the future ...

 

[Reddy]

Here's an idea for Paul:

Eliminate the old $7500 tax credit, and change it to the following:
1) Only good for the first 1 million EVs sold, irrespective of manufacturer
2) $200/kWH battery available to the user for a pure BEV
3) $100/kWH battery available to the user for a PHEV
4) Probably should set an upper bound on the battery size, say 100 kWH, that can receive the credit.

This will incentivize the rapid development and sale of EVs and PHEVs. No manufacturer can sit back and expect the tax credit to be available in 2020. They will actually be competing with each other. All manufacturers will speed up production and will start producing BEVs and PHEVs with larger batteries.

 

[UBUYGAS]

Is he still talking to the President?

Because this article says he was uninvited!

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20130604/CARNEWS/130609934" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[z0ner]

Is he still talking to the President?

Because this article says he was uninvited!

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20130604/CARNEWS/130609934" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It was mentioned a whopping 6 posts ago.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=13119&view=unread&sid=1c66908703276c439fb79a1ab33e6660#p298372" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[UBUYGAS]

Yes! Thanks for your time in posting! I didn't read page #3 :evil:

Is he still talking to the President?

Because this article says he was uninvited!

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20130604/CARNEWS/130609934" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It was mentioned a whopping 6 posts ago.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=13119&view=unread&sid=1c66908703276c439fb79a1ab33e6660#p298372" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[DaveEV]

He's been scuppered

Oh well. I guess Obama would have heard the message - even without Paul spending any money. I guess Paul will get invited to some Obama meeting in the future ...

Yep, this is a win-win for Paul - I bet you he still gets his 2-3 minutes w/Obama - and he keeps his retirement. Even if he doesn't get time w/Obama - he will get the message.

I wonder if Paul knew this would happen.

 

[surfingslovak]

I wonder if Paul knew this would happen.

Heh, yes, you have to wonder now ;-) But in all seriousness, I don't think that Paul is that calculating. Perhaps it's the result of good karma?

 

[mirko]

Plug-In America is now starting a campaign to "push back for EVs"

http://hq-salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2711/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=1276490" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Dear Plug-in electric vehicle supporter,

You may have heard that Paul Scott, a Plug In America co-founder, was recently disinvited from a fundraising meeting with the President after news got out that he intended to use his time to urge for more support for EVs.

As the news spread - and most articles got the point that Paul was stepping up for an issue that he has carried personally, and deeply, for years - the online vitriol that surfaced was astounding. In some cases hundreds of comments rehashed the same old anti-EV arguments that advocates have been debunking for years. Either a well-funded attack campaign is underway or we're simply seeing the fruits of misinformation that has been spread for far too long.

WE HAVE TO PUSH BACK!

The birth of electric transportation is one of the greatest American technology innovation successes in history. EVs are now getting glowing reviews. The LEAF is now outselling all other vehicles in the Nissan inventory in FOUR cities - San Francisco, Seattle, Honolulu & Portland. May was the third-highest plug-in sales month ever.

Yet too few people know the facts, and far too many are regularly being fed a diet of anti-EV talking points about these amazing cars.

We need your help now to get the real EV story told. We've found that when people get a chance to see and drive these cars, preconceived notions evaporate. National Plug In Day is September 29th, and we need to hire an organizer to get it up and running in 100 cities. We need to mobilize our own outreach through Plug In @ Work to bring these cars to real people in real places and circumvent the ridiculous online chatter. Finally, we need our own media pushback campaign to highlight EV success stories.

Help us now with a donation. Please join us and spread the word - we need to push back for EVs now! Thank you for your support.

Richard Kelly
Plug In America

 

[TonyWilliams]

Plug-In America is now starting a campaign to "push back for EVs"

http://hq-salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2711/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=1276490" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's a good idea to capitalize on this event, it might be wiser to get things going while the 15 minutes of fame are hot (and not wait until a Sept NPID).

 

[TomT]

The L.A. Times has a followup article on the invitation being pulled by the DNC:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-electric-car-20130607,0,6461561.story" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Deleted member 8423]

Not sure which is worse: Pay for access, or generating fake rage.