Granholm Group Promotes Controversial Green Activist

The Granholm Leadership Fund, a political action committee started by the governor, is promoting an event for controversial former White House adviser, Van Jones.

Jones held the "green jobs czar" position of "Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation" in the Obama administration before eventually being forced to resign after a series of controversies.

In 2004, Jones signed a petition circulated by the group "911Truth.org" that questioned whether Bush administration officials "may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war."

Also, last fall, Fox News personality Glenn Beck broke the story of Jones' affiliation with a now-defunct 1990s anti-war group called Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM) which, according to Politico, "opened him to accusations that he associated with Communists." Jones has also advocated on behalf of death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, a man convicted of fatally shooting a Philadelphia police officer in 1981.

In his resignation speech, Jones said that his involvement with 9/11 conspiracy theories "does not reflect my views now or ever." He also apologized for other past remarks, but blamed his resignation on a "smear campaign" based on "lies and distortions."

Jones will be the keynote speaker at The Michigan Summit, an annual progressive conference held in East Lansing on June 12th. The Summit is where people "join with savvy policy wonks, leading lawmakers, student scholars, movement professionals and hard working activists in confronting Michigan's toughest challenges with solutions that work for Michigan's families and communities." In a promotional e-mail, the Granholm Leadership Fund (GLF) said, "Jones' message is vital to remaking our economy so we all share in the prosperity, not just the privileged few."

The Michigan Summit is sponsored by both major Michigan teachers unions (AFT Michigan and the Michigan Education Association), Michigan National Organization for Women, Michigan Nurses Association, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Michigan, and others.

GLF is a political action committee started by the governor in 2003 that raises money for "state and local candidates and other activities that build the Michigan Democratic Party and help the governor invest in the people and the policies that put Michigan first." To read the full e-mail, please click here.

National Review contributor Henry Payne first broke this story.