Mother Jones has a report today that former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Donald Trump’s pick to head the Department of Energy, has been and continues to be a paid member of the Energy Transfer Partners board of directors. Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) is the company best known for trying to build the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Perry joined ETP in February 2015, shortly after he left the governor's office. As Mother Jones reported last summer, he kept his spot on the company's board even as he launched a presidential campaign. According to SEC filings, ETP paid Perry $236,820 in 2015. In the past, Perry's business entanglements would have represented an unusual conflict of interest for a presidential candidate, but in this election cycle, they were overshadowed by Trump's massive web of conflicts.
Perry's ties to the company proved beneficial to his brief presidential campaign last year. At the same time Perry sat on the board, ETP CEO Kelcy Warren poured millions of dollars into Perry's political ambitions. Warren was involved in both Perry's official and unofficial campaign organizations. He served as the official campaign's finance chairman, and he chipped in $6 million to super-PACs backing Perry. (Warren later received a partial refund when the PACs didn't spend all of that money before Perry exited the race.)
The Energy Department does not control whether or not the Dakota Access Pipeline is built one way or the other but having a cabinet position is an important position of influence. Former Gov. Perry is set to head an agency he has previously said he wants to eliminate and in quintessential Rick Perry fashion is also a department he was unable to recall the name of when asked about eliminating it. You voted for the worst, you got the worst!