Politics has long been the playground of millionaires. This election, however, the billionaires have taken over the table.
The biggest player this time out in California is billionaire Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, co-owner of Clean Energy Fuels Corp. The company has pumped $19 million into Proposition 10, the $5 billion state bond that would set up a rebate program for alternative-fuel vehicles.
According to Judy Dugan, research director of the nonpartisan Consumer Watchdog in Santa Monica, Pickens’ company controls 70 percent of the compressed natural gas sold in the United States and would stand to make a fortune fueling the newly subsidized trucks and cars.
However, Yes on 10 spokeswoman Amy Thoma tells us that the way the measure is drafted, "there’s no guarantee any one company or type of fuel will benefit."
