The Apollo Alliance

What is the Apollo Alliance and how did they get their start? What role do they play in the environment/green jobs movement and what provisions in the stimulus bill did they write?

Tom Wright, in his piece The Apollo Stimulus, says:

Ever wonder who wrote the stimulus bill? Evidence is now surfacing in news reports it was the Apollo Alliance, a green jobs caldron of ideas dedicated to saving the earth and punishing those who are unfriendly to the environment...If you look at their board, they are mostly leftists and some really radical leftist like former member Van Jones, the now defrocked green jobs czar who was a self-avowed communist and community organizer in Oakland, Calif. Other former members include ACORN’s founder, Wade Rathke, and current member Gerald Hudson, vice president of the Service Employees International Union. The Apollo Alliance is mostly a shell corporation, and as its name indicates, is an alliance of environmentally centered organizations, union flunkies for the left like the Service Union Employees International, who turn out carrying signs for Obama’s health care rallies. Others, like John Podesta, CEO of the Center for American Progress and former Clinton chief of staff, lend their political savvy of progressive policy to the group, which has caught an angle on how to snare a large portion of the stimulus money for creating and funding green industries...Van Jones left the board when he was appointed as an advisor to President Obama, but was an active board member when the stimulus bill was written. Jones has been quoted as describing Apollo as “a grand unified field theory for progressive left causes.” Also close to Apollo is Jeffrey Carl Jones, who serves as a consultant to the national Apollo organization and runs an Apollo affiliate in Upstate New York. Jeffrey Jones was a national officer in the Students for a Democratic Society and along with Bill Ayers, later founded the Weather Underground, which bombed buildings and ran from the law for 10 years...

For a complete background on the group, including its origins, funding and goals, see The Apollo Alliance: Unifying Activists on the Left written by Phil Kerpen for the Capital Research Center.

That report also highlights their success in writing certain provisions in the stimulus bill:

In late 2008, the Apollo Alliance seized on
the fi nancial crisis to repackage its policy
ideas as a stimulus measure to be called the
Apollo Economic Recovery Act (AERA).
These were included in the stimulus bill, the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
(ARRA), which Congress passed in February
2009. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
(D-Nevada) specifi cally credited Apollo,
saying: “The Apollo Alliance has been an
important factor in helping us develop and
execute a strategy that makes great progress
on these goals and in motivating the public
to support them.”

There are more similarities between ARRA
and AERA than their names. A lengthy
analysis of the legislation posted on Apollo’s
website itemizes the parallels.

• Apollo wanted the government to
spend $50 billion on green jobs
programs. The stimulus bill spends
$110 billion.
• Apollo’s recommendation of more
spending for Energy Effi ciency and
Conservation Block Grants was
implemented.
• Apollo recommended fully funding
the Weatherization Assistance
program. The stimulus bill gave
the program more than fi ves times
the amount Apollo called “full
funding.”
• Apollo recommendations for the
electricity system, including extending
the production tax credit,
transmission grid upgrades, and carbon
capture and storage research,
were accepted.

Apollo did not merely claim credit for policy
ideas. As Sen. Reid pointed out, Apollo was
responsible for them.

Read the report and find out who is influencing Congress and the administration.

If you're getting gigged its nice to know who's gigging you. And keep your equipment ready, as we may get to do some gigging ourselves in the not to distant future.