Miliband's new adviser and Energy Policy
It would appear that the former Obama campaign strategist and "astroturfing" expert David Axelrod, who has just been hired by Ed Miliband to help advise on Labour's campaign, has previously worked on a campaign in which his clients had a better understanding of Energy policy than the former Energy secretary does ...
Hat tip to Oliver Cooper via Twitter (@OliverCooper) for drawing my attention to this article whicn mentions that Mr Axelrod previously ran a campaign arguing that freezing energy prices could lead to blackouts.
The agency in which Mr Axelrod is one of the three main partners arranged for a "consumer" group organised by his client to put out a message which included the following statement "
A few years ago, California politicians seized control of electric rates. They held rates down, but the true cost of energy kept rising. Soon the electric company went bust; the lights went out. Consumers had to pay for the mess. Now, some people in Illinois are playing the same game."
And so, of course is Mr Alexrod's new client, Ed Miliband.
Whether or not David Axelrod actually believes what his agnecy put out out, I certainly do.
What's more, whoever drafted this appears to understand the distinction between the price of energy and it's cost. Which is more that can be said, if you judge by his recent comments in the House of Commons, for Ed Miliband when he appeared to suggest it was the same thing to have a government imposing a price freeze while leaving costs unchanged (his policy) and the government reducing the upward pressure on energy prices by reducing the costs it imposes on energy companies (which is what the coalition government had done.)
Let's hope Mr Axelrod gets the change to give the same advice to Mr Miliband that he was paid to give in America.
Hat tip to Oliver Cooper via Twitter (@OliverCooper) for drawing my attention to this article whicn mentions that Mr Axelrod previously ran a campaign arguing that freezing energy prices could lead to blackouts.
The agency in which Mr Axelrod is one of the three main partners arranged for a "consumer" group organised by his client to put out a message which included the following statement "
A few years ago, California politicians seized control of electric rates. They held rates down, but the true cost of energy kept rising. Soon the electric company went bust; the lights went out. Consumers had to pay for the mess. Now, some people in Illinois are playing the same game."
And so, of course is Mr Alexrod's new client, Ed Miliband.
Whether or not David Axelrod actually believes what his agnecy put out out, I certainly do.
What's more, whoever drafted this appears to understand the distinction between the price of energy and it's cost. Which is more that can be said, if you judge by his recent comments in the House of Commons, for Ed Miliband when he appeared to suggest it was the same thing to have a government imposing a price freeze while leaving costs unchanged (his policy) and the government reducing the upward pressure on energy prices by reducing the costs it imposes on energy companies (which is what the coalition government had done.)
Let's hope Mr Axelrod gets the change to give the same advice to Mr Miliband that he was paid to give in America.
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