EXCLUSIVE — Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is facing an ethics complaint over "conflict of interest" concerns from a watchdog group related to her husband's prior stock holdings in an auto manufacturer.
Republican lawmakers have demanded the Energy Department launch investigations after Granholm's June admission to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that her husband, David Mulhern, owned Ford stock, despite the Biden administration approving electric vehicle subsidies that will likely benefit the company. Now, the right-leaning watchdog Protect the Public's Trust is alleging in a Wednesday complaint to the department that the secretary engaged in a "blatant violation of her ethics obligations" while being involved in matters related to Ford, according to documents obtained by the Washington Examiner.
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"Secretary Granholm is an experienced, sophisticated government official who understands her legal and ethical obligations,” Protect the Public’s Trust Director Michael Chamberlain said. “Her participation in matters involving Ford Motor Company while her husband owned stock in the company would represent a blatant violation of her ethics obligations."
Chamberlain told the Washington Examiner the department's inspector general should immediately investigate the matter, adding it's "precisely the type of episode that has led to the American public’s trust in its government having all but disappeared."
In her mid-June letter to the committee, Granholm alleged she did not report the Ford shares on financial disclosures due to only becoming aware of their existence on May 13. The shares, which were sold on May 15, were valued at over $2,400, the letter said. The secretary also had described to the committee how she "mistakenly" testified in April that she "did not own any individual stocks," though she meant to say she "did not own any conflicting stocks."
The Ford stock acknowledgment has been ripe for criticism from the GOP and watchdogs since the company has maintained close ties to the Biden administration. Through Biden's August 2022 signing of the Inflation Reduction Act, a $740 billion spending bill, the administration authorized electric vehicle subsidies that work to Ford's advantage.
Granholm and Biden have also notably "worked closely with the Biden administration to promote Ford's electric car fleet during the time her husband continued to own stock in Ford," the watchdog said in its complaint. The secretary notably called Ford's electric Mustang "cool" last year in a department video with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, records show.
Ford also was awarded almost $25 million in 2021 to "develop and demonstrate five hydrogen fuel cell electric Class-6 Super Duty trucks targeting cost, payload, towing, and refueling times that are equivalent to conventional gasoline trucks," according to the department, which noted in a press release that Granholm and Vice President Kamala Harris announced the projects in New York at the John F. Kennedy International Airport.
In April, Granholm tapped Ford lobbyist Christopher Smith to join an advisory board that advises her on the "global clean energy revolution," records show. Smith has lobbied the federal government on a handful of policies, including Inflation Reduction Act provisions, according to federal disclosures.
"After applying the legal factors to the facts surrounding Secretary Granholm’s participation in the SuperTruck 3 program — through the JFK Event and her other advancement of the program — and her promotion of Ford Motor Company and its products, it appears clear that Ms. Granholm’s conduct was prohibited under the law," Protect the Public's Trust alleged in its complaint. "A full investigation is warranted to understand whether and to what extent Secretary Granholm willfully violated her legal and ethics obligations as a cabinet official."
Granholm was the Democratic governor of Michigan from 2003 to 2011, a role that saw her working closely with automakers headquartered there, such as Ford. She often prioritized green energy policies in the state and applauded Ford in 2009 after the Obama administration awarded it roughly $6 billion to "retool its plants to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles," Granholm said at the time.
The complaint comes roughly one month after Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), ranking member for the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, asked the department to investigate Granholm's false April testimony and lack of prior Ford stock disclosure. The top Republican said the secretary has displayed "repeated noncompliance with established financial rules and regulations" that "has contributed to the erosion of the public's trust not only in her, but the Department of Energy as a whole."
Protect the Public's Trust previously called on the Energy Department to investigate whether Granholm violated federal law by purportedly using her official role to boost Proterra, an electric vehicle manufacturing company that counted her as a board member prior to the secretary's February 2021 confirmation. Granholm sold 240,000 shares in Proterra for $1.6 million in May 2021 after Republicans and watchdogs raised conflict of interest concerns, records show.
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The Energy Department did not return a request for comment.
"As part of her commitment to the highest ethical conduct and transparency, Secretary Granholm timely divested of all conflicting assets that were known at the time of her confirmation, and subsequently even divested of assets she wasn’t legally required to sell," Energy Department spokesman David Mayorga previously told the Washington Examiner. "The secretary is focused on delivering an equitable clean energy future that will bring cheaper power, cleaner air, and more good-paying jobs for more Americans."