Right-Wing Media Figures Attack Bryson

Fox's Bolling: Bryson “Is So Pro-Green” That “You Could Almost Call Him An Eco-Terrorist.” From the June 2 edition of Fox & Friends:

ERIC BOLLING: Mr. Obama has a green agenda. No question about it. Steven Chu is green -- he's the energy secretary -- Ken Salazar, the interior secretary, also very green, permatoriums and whatnot. The new guy -- this is very important -- the guy that Obama nominated on Tuesday for the Commerce secretary job, his name is John Bryson. There are those of us who watch this stuff carefully, you can almost call him an eco-terrorist. He is --

KILMEADE: What?

BOLLING: He is so pro-green. This -- the point is, all these secretary -- these cabinet positions are held by very, very green agenda environmentalists. It's scary. And by the way, our gas prices go up. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 6/2/11]

Right-Wing Blogger Jim Hoft: Bryson Is A “Radical Green Activist.” From Hoft's blog Gateway Pundit:

What a stunner.
The Commerce Department's mission is to help make American businesses more innovative at home and more competitive abroad. But, instead of making American business more competitive Obama wants to strangle business and punish American business owners. Today Barack Obama, the worst jobs president since the Great Depression, doubled down and nominated a radical green activist as Commerce Secretary.

Obama's nominee, John Bryson, is a radical green activist who thought the democrat's cap and trade bill was “moderate.” [Gateway Pundit, 5/31/11]

Hoft: Bryson Is “A Raving Socialist.” From Hoft's blog Gateway Pundit:

Figures. Obama's Commerce Secretary Nominee Is a Raving Socialist Too

Wow. This kook is even more radical than Obama!

Commerce Secretary nominee John Bryson believes we need to begin moving immediately towards the elimination of all carbon-based power production.

Barack Obama's nominee for Commerce Secretary says the rich nations should redistribute wealth to poor people so they won't cut down trees.
And, Obama wants to put this loon in charge of growing the US economy? [Gateway Pundit, 6/2/11]

MichelleMalkin.com: Bryson Is A “Global Warming Fanatic.” From an entry on Michelle Malkin's blog written by Doug Powers, headlined “Of Course: Obama's Commerce Department Nominee is a Global Warming Fanatic”:

Because designing an economy around the assumption that we're all about to die from man-made global warming is working out so well for commerce in Spain, let's keep the ball rolling in the United States:

(CNSNews.com) - John Bryson, nominated by President Barack Obama today to head the Department of Commerce, once said it was “incredibly important” that the United States pass cap and trade legislation and that America needed to become a global leader in combating man-made global warming.

“I regard it as incredibly important that the United States comes forth in this year with federal climate change legislation as a foundation for moving ahead,” Bryson told the U.N. International Energy Conference in late August 2009. “I think we in the U.S. have an obligation to assist in significant ways in providing leadership in this community of nations that you represent and addressing energy and climate change.”
[...]
Bryson, a co-founder of the liberal environmentalist group Natural Resources Defense Council, was most recently a member of the United Nations' Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change, a panel of scientific and industry experts tasked with providing advice on combating global warming.

[MichelleMalkin.com, 5/31/11]

In Fact, Bryson Is A Former Energy Company Executive Who Sits On The Boards Of Major Corporations

NY Times: Bryson Was Chairman And CEO Of Edison International. The New York Times reports:

Trained as a lawyer, Bryson helped co-found the Natural Resources Defense Council in 1970 and headed California state commissions governing utilities and water during Gov. Jerry Brown's (D) first administration. Bryson retired as chairman and CEO of Edison International, the parent company of electric utility Southern California Edison, in 2008 after 18 years. [The New York Times, 6/1/11]

U.S. Chamber Of Commerce President Supports Bryson Nomination. The New York Times reports:

But another familiar opponent of many Obama administration policies, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue, sounded a more conciliatory note.

“With his extensive knowledge of the private sector and years of experience successfully running a major company, we hope Mr. Bryson will be a strong voice for American business,” he said. [The New York Times, 6/1/11]

Bryson Sits On The Boards Of Directors Of Several Major Companies. The New York Times reports:

Bryson, a graduate of Yale Law School, sits on the board of directors of Boeing, Walt Disney Co., Coda Automotive Inc., the California Endowment and the W.M. Keck Foundation. He is chairman of the board of the Public Policy Institute of California and of the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California's Board of Overseers.

Bryson is also a senior adviser to asset management firm KKR, a trustee of the California Institute of Technology, co-chairman of the Pacific Council on International Policy and an adviser to Deutsche Bank Americas. [The New York Times, 6/1/11]

Natural Resources Defense Council Is A Mainstream Organization, Has Been Praised As One Of Nation's Best Charities

Charity Navigator Gives NRDC Four Out Of Four Stars. Charity Navigator, a nonprofit group that describes itself as “the nation's largest and most-utilized evaluator of charities,” gave the NRDC a rating of four stars overall on a scale of zero to four stars, based on “two broad areas of a charity's financial health -- how responsibly it functions day to day as well as how well positioned it is to sustain its programs over time.” [Charity Navigator, accessed 6/2/11]

As Far Back As 1990, Wash. Post Reported That NRDC Is “Solidly In The Environmental Mainstream.” The Washington Post reported:

Along with groups like the Sierra Club and the National Wildlife Federation, NRDC is solidly in the environmental mainstream exemplified by the so-called “Group of 10,” organizations that banded together in 1981 to coordinate strategy during the Reagan administration. [The Washington Post, 4/19/90, via Nexis]