Does a Senior Obama Official Have Unseemly Ties to Notorious Human-Rights Abuser Chevron?

By Jeremy Scahill, AlterNet. Posted July 10, 2009.

In recognizing Chevron, the GBC cited the company's work in Nigeria. But Chomsky charges that the company has severely damaged Nigeria's environment and harmed indigenous communities. "The fact that Chevron uses some of its ill-gotten profits for public displays of civic actions does not balance out the greater harm for which it is responsible," she says.

While giving such an award to Chevron is perverse enough on its own, let's remember who the award is named after. Richard C. Holbrooke is currently the Obama administration's point man on Afghanistan and Pakistan, with a substantial portfolio that includes areas of Chevron's current and, likely, future operations.

Before becoming Obama's "Af/Pak" envoy, Holbrooke was the president and CEO of GBC, an organization he spent the past decade building. Holbrooke, who cut his teeth working for Kissinger during the Vietnam War, has for decades marched back-and-forth over the golden bridge linking corporations and government. Chevron received the award in large part because it committed $30 million over three years to the GBC-affiliated Global Fund in 2008, while Holbrooke was GBC's president and CEO.

In its press release on the award, Chevron labeled the prize "prestigious," despite the fact that it is the first time it has been presented and was named after Holbrooke after he joined the Obama administration.

"Chevron is increasingly viewed around the world as a rogue oil company whose human rights record is worse than its peers," charges Steven Donziger, an attorney who has long battled Chevron in human-rights cases. "I think Holbrooke allowed his name to be used for this award because he is aware of Chevron's serious problems. It is precisely the reason he let his name be used. It is part of Holbrooke's ersatz attempt to show Chevron the path to a greening of their image."

Michael Brune, executive director of Rainforest Action Network, which has monitored and protested Chevron's alleged environmental and human-rights violations for years says, "It is an obvious conflict of interest for a high-ranking Obama official to allow his name to appear on an award given to a private oil company that is spending considerable resources lobbying the State Department and other government agencies."

In the days leading up to the award, Holbrooke's name was splashed on full-page advertisements in the Washington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle singing Chevron's praises (along with fellow award recipient Levi Strauss). "Making Energy. Making Jeans. Making a Difference," read the ad, which lauded Chevron "for improving global health."

"Chevron and Levi Strauss are examples of the good that the business community can do; they can harness the power to help curb these global pandemics," the ad boasted. "When businesses like Chevron and Levi Strauss decide to make a difference, to fight disease, and to strike a blow for the greater good, there's nothing we can't overcome." 

Who paid for these ads praising Chevron as a beacon of social philanthropy? Chevron.

Newsweek's Isikoff asked: "How exactly can the name of a high-ranking Obama official be featured in a corporate advertising campaign? And does that really square with President Obama's commitment to prevent his administration from being tainted by the slightest whiff of corporate lobbying (much less federal ethics rules that forbid government officials from using their office 'for the endorsement of any product, service, or enterprise')?"

According to Isikoff, "after checking with a State Department ethics officer, Holbrooke ... did not personally hand out the awards." But, Holbrooke did reportedly praise Chevron during his speech at the awards ceremony. In fact, it seems like praising Chevron has become an annual event for Holbrooke in recent years.

At a GBC Awards ceremony honoring Chevron in 2007, Holbrooke said, "Chevron has set a new standard in the corporate fight against HIV/AIDS ... serving as a superlative model for other businesses around the world to follow." When Chevron gave the Global Fund $30 million last year, becoming its first "Corporate Champion," Holbrooke said, "Chevron's strategic investment ... sets a standard others should aspire to."

At this year's ceremony honoring Chevron, Holbrooke was introduced by CNN/Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria, who, not surprisingly, told Isikoff any complaints about ethical violations are "absurd."

"This strikes me as the usual Washington interest-group attack, which is unfair," he said. (CNN and Newsweek should examine why one of their "journalists" is cavorting with -- and defending -- a public official he interviews and uses as a source.)

While a spokesperson for Holbrooke echoed Zakaria, dismissing any complaints about the award as "silly," it is deadly serious to Chevron's victims. In fact, the award was given to Chevron at a moment when the company is ramping up its lobbying efforts to pressure the Obama administration, including the State Department, where Holbrooke works, to intervene in a major lawsuit against Chevron that the New York Times has suggested could be "the world’s largest environmental lawsuit."

See more stories tagged with: ecuador, big oil, michael isikoff, hillary clinton, condoleezza rice, chevron, william haynes, nigeria, richard holbrooke, andrew cuomo, steve kretzmann, steven donziger, fareed zakaria

Jeremy Scahill, an independent journalist who reports frequently for the national radio and TV program Democracy Now, has spent extensive time reporting from Iraq and Yugoslavia. He is currently a Puffin Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute. Scahill is the author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army. His writing and reporting is available at Rebel Reports.

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from Rights and Liberties! Sign up now »