Full Disclosure: This is Spam

Remember Steve Westly?

He's the guy who, had he won the Democratic primary, would probably be governor of California right now. He also was an Ebay founder, and now he's a venture capitalist who focuses on Cleantech.

I liked and supported Westly (full disclosure!), and somehow or another I wound up on his email list when he was running for Governator. I forget how, exactly, but when I signed up for it, I used plus addressing so I'd know if he sold my email address to someone else.

Which, to date, he hasn't. But he did something that I think was equally sleezy. Maybe even sleezier. To wit, he sent the below to his Steve Westly for Governor mailing list:

Dear Mathew:

When I graduated from college I was so passionate about alternative energy, I moved to Washington DC to work for President Carter in the Office of Conservation and Solar in the Department of Energy. I’m just as passionate today.

The City of San Francisco just passed a new solar energy incentive program that goes into effect next month. By combining this new San Francisco program with California’s existing rebate program and the Federal Tax Credit (which expires at the end of this year), the economics of solar power have never been better.

Anita and I just installed solar panels on our home, and we couldn’t be happier. We used a firm called Akeena Solar which has been in business for several years and has offices around the state. If you’ve ever thought of putting solar on your home—there has never been a better time.

There are few things you can do that are better for the planet.

Sincerely,

Steve Westly

Oh, hey, Solar panels! Good idea, Steve Westly. Except, don't you think you ought to disclose that what you're doing is using your political mailing list to advertise for a company in which you are an investor, sit on the advisory board, and are even listed on the company website's management page? I covered Westly and Akeena for a Cleantech story(full disclosure!), and so I recognized the connection right away. But I very seriously doubt it's something most of those who supported him would know about. I think it's the "we used a firm called Akeena Solar" that really rubs me the wrong way. Why not just come out and say it? "We used a firm I helped fund called Akeena Solar."

Comments

[Jennifer Kutz]

Wow. Don't people understand by now that you can find out anything nowadays.... lying (or leaving out crucial truths) is just stupid. You gotta be transparent.

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