Watch: Hillary Clinton Loses It at Greenpeace Activist
New York - home of Clinton and Wall Street - has become the conversation focus of the Democratic Party, particularly moving into the April 19 primary. But upstate, a different issue regarding campaign financing took center stage.
On Thursday, Hillary Clinton held a rally at SUNY Purchase College and was confronted by Eva Resnick-Day, a Greenpeace Activist who asked Clinton if she would pledge to reject fossil fuel contributions.
"Secretary Clinton, thank you for tackling climate change. Will you act on your word to reject fossil fuel money in the future in your campaign?" Eva Resnick-Day asked the Democratic candidate. Clinton's response was shocking.
"I do not have... I have money from people who work for fossil fuel companies," Clinton shouted, adding, "I am so sick of the Sanders campaign lying about me! I’m sick of it."
Watch: The Hillary Clinton - Greenpeace Activist confrontation
"I was genuinely shocked by her response," said Resnick-Day. "But I want to make sure we are focused on the issue at hand: asking our candidates to take a stand to fix our democracy."
Clinton's spokesman Nick Merrill was adament in defense. “This campaign has not taken a dollar from oil and gas industry PACs or corporations,” Merrill said in his statement regarding the incident. However, Greenpeace reported that the Clinton campaign has recieved over $1 million in donations from lobbyists currently registered as lobbying for the fossil fuel industry.
"The first step a candidate can take to stop fossil fuels is to stop taking fossil fuel money. That money matters when we hear great things about climate in Clinton’s speeches, but want to be sure she’ll truly listen to the people when she is in office. For instance, she supports a Department of Justice investigation of ExxonMobil and yet she takes money from an Exxon lobbyist," Resnick-Day further explained.
But an equally, if not more important event will occur the day before New York votes. In Washington DC, Democracy Awakening will bring thousands of activists together from groups like Public Citizen, the NAACP and Communications Workers of America. The April 18 gathering is part of a nationwide effort to get the big money out of politics, restore voting rights, and build a strong democracy.
