Bryson has been criticized for all the wrong reasons. He was co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council in 1970, and one of its first attorneys to file mountains of lawsuits against industry. He was just out of Yale Law School, filing suits over pesticides, smog and other fashionable issue-of-the-month cases. He got tired of that after six years, went into California Gov. Jerry Brown's first administration, and then into public utilities.
Obama's brief nomination announcement late last month recited Bryson's electric utility credentials and said the former executive would "add a business outlook to his inner circle."
But Bryson's resume neglected to mention that in August 2008, he joined the global private equities firm that pioneered Gordon Gekko-style leveraged buyouts, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, as a senior adviser.
And we missed the press release from two months earlier — coincidence, no doubt — that said, "Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Environmental Defense Fund Announce First-of-Its-Kind 'Green Portfolio' Partnership."
Read the complete opinion piece from The Washington Examiner.