Energy advocates are knocking Vice President Kamala Harris for bringing on a top campaign advisor with ties to a controversial environmental group behind the effort to ban gas stoves.
O.H. Skinner, executive director of the nonprofit Alliance for Consumers, told Fox News Digital that “this is sadly par for the course.”
“For years the left has been focused on assaulting consumers and the things in their homes. That has included a litany of Biden-Harris regulations and mandates,” he said. “From ‘green’ regulations on dishwashers and washing machines to EV mandates and bans on gas stoves, a Harris-Walz administration will no doubt continue to eviscerate consumer choice and force Americans to pay more for everyday products and household appliances that do a worse job.”
American energy production is a critical issue this election, especially in the largest swing state, Pennsylvania. The Harris campaign has made overtures to energy producers and consumers, saying that her administration would not ban fracking but would reduce energy production costs while investing in clean energy solutions.
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Vice President Kamala Harris, right, and new Climate Engagement Director Camila Thorndike. (Getty Images)
However, conservatives are knocking her for hiring Camila Thorndike, who previously worked for the dark money climate activist group Rewiring America as the campaign’s “climate engagement director.” Before joining the campaign in September, Updike worked in multiple positions at Rewiring America between late 2022 and last month, according to her Legistorm profile.
Rewiring America is an environmental advocacy group that made headlines in 2022 for its push to ban gas stoves.
The group does not file federal tax forms since it is sponsored by the Windward Fund, a nonprofit that is part of the billion-dollar dark money network managed by the Washington, D.C.-based Arabella Advisors.
The only public contribution to Rewiring America is a 2020 grant worth $300,000 from the left-wing nonprofit Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
The group was founded by Alex Laskey, Saul Griffith and Ari Matusiak in 2020. The three founders have all pursued various wind, solar, electrification and energy efficiency ventures, some of which have netted them millions of dollars in buyouts or received significant federal funding. They have simultaneously advocated for policies benefiting those ventures through the nonprofit.
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Among its key objectives, Rewiring America has maintained that Americans must broadly electrify their homes to combat climate change and has advocated for massive spending on climate programs.
In an October interview with Politico, Thorndike indicated that Hurricanes Helene and Milton were caused by climate change. She told Politico that Harris is “not promoting expansion [of fossil fuel drilling]. She’s just said that they wouldn’t ban fracking,” despite Harris repeatedly supporting a fracking ban during her failed 2019 presidential campaign.
Camila Thorndike, the director of policy programs at the nonprofit climate group Rewiring America, is among a growing number of people who have begun to factor climate change into their decisions about whether to have children, Nov. 7, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Jahi Chikwendiu)
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The climate advisor has a long history of controversial comments, including accusing the oil and gas industry of “ecoterrorism” and calling for Americans in the fossil fuel industry to “consider putting their talents elsewhere” and stop “continuing to cook the planet,” according to a recent Washington Free Beacon report.
She also previously said she is hesitant to have children because of climate change threats, saying it’s an “ethical question that keeps me up at night.”
Jason Isaac, a former Texas representative and CEO of the American Energy Institute, told Fox News Digital that Harris’ decision to bring on Thorndike “underscores her administration’s hostility towards American energy sources that power our economy and support millions of jobs.”
“If her campaign’s staff is any indication, we can expect Harris to continue pushing policies that harm American energy independence and target the livelihoods of countless workers,” he said. “This isn’t just about gas stoves. It’s a coordinated effort to undermine affordable, reliable energy that Americans depend on.”
Rewiring America did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News’ Thomas Catenacci and Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.