ANALYSIS/OPINION:
It’s right out of “Brewster’s Millions.” A rich guy quickly blows through $174 million and in the end, walks away with nothing to show for it. That’s the strange but true story of hedge fund billionaire-turned green activist Tom Steyer.
After making his fortune from investments that include some of the planet’s most environmentally unsound operations, Mr. Steyer said he experienced a “Road to Damascus” moment and repented by becoming “Daddy Greenbucks” to radical environmentalists and their elected champions.
In 2014, after boasting that he would make climate change the top campaign issue, he spent nearly $75 million, mostly from his own deep pockets, making him the election season’s largest single donor.
Politico and others criticized his ads as “super weird” and “bizarre.” One received “Four Pinocchios” from The Washington Post fact-checker for relying on “speculation, not facts, to make insinuations and assertions not justified by reality.”
