New York 2006

Chapter 279 The establishment of the American New Energy Interest Group
On May 2009, 5, Luo Ji, Fiona, Jen Psaki, and two bodyguards took a plane to the Washington, D.C., airport.

Today Luo Ji wore a mask and a hat and was well disguised, but he was still recognized at the airport.

An elegant-looking Chinese man in a suit and tie with a briefcase approached the crowd. He was immediately stopped by the conscientious bodyguard next to him. He quickly raised his hands to show that he meant no harm: "Logic, is that you?"

"It's me." Luo Ji waved his hand to the bodyguard to let him go, and then walked with the man outside the airport while chatting with him: "Who are you?"

He introduced himself: "I'm Edwin Chan, a reporter for Bloomberg and this year's rotating chairman of the White House Correspondents' Association."

"Hello." Luo Ji took the initiative to reach out and shake his hand.

Being a White House correspondent is basically the highest achievement in a reporter's career.

Edwin Chen said directly: "Are you here to attend the White House Correspondents' Dinner hosted by President Barack tomorrow?"

"No." As a star, Luo Ji still deliberately conceals his political leanings and generally does not appear in public with the bigwigs of the Democratic Party.

The person on the other end immediately asked, "Then what did you do in Washington?"

Luo Ji said, "Are you interviewing me?"

Edwin Chen smiled: "It's a professional habit that I want to interview people when I meet them."

"I'm here for a trip, there's no big news." Luo Ji then laughed and said, "You are the White House reporter. When President Bush went to Baghdad last year, did you go with him?"

Edwin Chen also laughed: "You want to ask about President Bush's shoe-throwing incident, right?"

"Yes."

"I was present at the time and reported the news back to the headquarters as soon as possible. Bloomberg was the first media to report this incident at that time."

Luo Ji smiled evilly and said, "Bush's two dodges were pretty good at that time. His reaction was pretty quick."

"Hahahaha." Several people nearby laughed loudly, and even the two bodyguards, who were always serious, couldn't hold it back.

Luo Ji looked at Edwin Chen: "What is it like to be a White House reporter?"

"Extremely busy." Edwin Chen recounted: "Basically, we will follow the president during his global travels. In the White House, people are also arranged to be on duty at night to prevent any sudden events from happening..."

Unknowingly, the two of them arrived at the exit of the airport.During this period, Luo Ji heard many things that he had never heard before.

For example, there are 535 senators and representatives in the Congress in Washington. They all want to be in the news to increase their media exposure, and sometimes they will take the initiative to send news to them.But there is so much news like this that sometimes there is no point in reporting it at all.These reporters will refuse directly without giving any face.

In order to dig up big news, some reporters based in the White House will establish "relationships" with lobbying organizations, staff, interest groups, politicians, and White House insiders in Washington to exchange interests.

Correspondents stationed in the White House can also take relatives and friends to visit the White House. They can often eat and drink and attend parties of representatives, senators and the president.

At the airport gate, Luo Ji got in the car, then asked Fiona for a business card and handed it to her: "If you don't want to be a reporter anymore, I can provide you with a job."

Edwin Chen took it: "Okay, Logic."

The car started and drove towards Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

In the car, Psaki said: "Edwin Chen has been a White House correspondent for more than ten years. He is very familiar with politicians and relevant interest groups in Washington. He is very suitable to join our lobbying public relations company. Now our lobbying company business Basically concentrated in New York, we took advantage of this new energy industry’s public relations to enter Washington.”

Luo Ji said unhappily: "When I first established this company, it was mainly for my own service. I never thought about making money with this company, and I don't expect to make money with it."

"I know." Psaki looked at Luo Ji pitifully and whispered, "But now that the company has been established, it would be a shame not to develop."

This lobbying company has two major shareholders. One is Luo Ji's mother, Sami, who is basically just a name.The other is Psaki, who is the actual controller of the company.

Luo Ji actually doesn't want to develop this company. He can just be the financial backer behind the scenes. Now Psaki wants to enter Washington and expand the company.Maybe one day Luo Ji would come out in the open because of this company, which would be more than worth the gain.

But looking at the expectant expression on his woman's face, he could only say helplessly: "Okay, as long as you think it's suitable, I'll leave everything in the company to you."

"Yeah, you're the best," Psaki said.

Fiona looked at the two of them suspiciously, did they really have something?
…………

The vehicle drove for more than 40 minutes, and several people arrived at the door of a four-star hotel in Washington. The bodyguard said: "Boss, we're here."

When he arrived at the hotel, Luo Ji hid in his room and tried to keep a low profile throughout.Psaki took several employees from the lobbying company and got busy.

She contacted the hotel manager and party company to arrange the venue.Check with the assistant staff of the political officials to see if they will attend on time, contact new energy companies to confirm their attendance list, and work with several lobbying companies to determine who they will bring to attend.

It wasn't until four o'clock in the afternoon that Luo Ji saw her again. She walked into the room with a laptop and sat down on the sofa.

Luo Ji said, "Are you done?"

"No?" Psaki pointed to the computer screen: "There are still four politicians who have not responded to my email. I don't know if they will attend."

"Who are they?" "New York State Senator Schumer, Tina Lu, Secretary of State Ms. Clinton, President Barack."

Luo Ji asked, "Could it be that they are afraid of oil interest groups and want to keep a low profile?"

"I don't know." Psaki shook her head.

Psaki's political lobbying this time is aimed at helping Tesla secure more low-interest government loans.In fact, it has been successful now, today is just a celebration party.

Today, the plan is to have more than 60 people attend, including politicians, people from new energy companies, and people from other lobbying companies.

The reason why so many people attended is that we need to talk about the lobbying process.

Thanks to the efforts of former Vice President Al Gore, civil society organizations and many scientists, the issue of global warming has gradually received attention from all countries.

Countries around the world are gradually paying attention to global warming, and the Democratic Party of the United States also supports environmental protection and new energy industries.The Democratic Party also has corresponding policies. When it came to power, it formulated a $40 billion loan guarantee plan for new energy, which was implemented by the U.S. Department of Energy.

With the support of Luo JiDemocrat's connections, there is no problem with Tesla's loan success. It's just a question of how much loan it can get in the end.

In an effort to secure more loans, Psaki was hired by Tesla to lobby the government.

However, as the lobbying deepened, Psaki discovered that other new energy companies were also lobbying at the same time, and everyone was fighting for the $40 billion in stock.

One of the larger companies is solar panel manufacturer Solyndra.Auto battery maker A123 Systems, which also develops electric buses.There's also Fisker Automotive, a Tesla competitor that makes consumer cars.There are also some small companies, start-ups.

The financial crisis is difficult for everyone. Companies like new energy companies are burning money. Banks cannot get loans and no one is willing to invest in financing, so they can only turn to the government for help.

But it is not okay for so many companies to compete for the 40 billion government-guaranteed loans. If such lobbying continues, both parties will lose. It is only right to let the government expand the loan guarantee limit.

Therefore, led by Tesla, these major new energy companies came together to form a new energy lobbying group, hoping that the government could increase the amount of guaranteed loans.

The lobbying went smoothly, and several companies jointly contributed funds to get the government to increase the guaranteed loan limit from 40 billion to 80 billion.

This new energy interest group will not disband in the future and will continue to lobby the government to support the development of new energy through federal policies, such as tax cuts, allowing the government to formulate policies to reduce carbon emissions, increase taxes on the oil industry, and subsidize new energy. Industry and so on.

However, these obviously cannot be achieved overnight and are a long-term lobbying process.

Recently, the establishment of this interest group, as well as the US Department of Energy's action to increase guaranteed loans for the new energy industry, have also attracted some media reports. This has naturally attracted enemies, that is, oil groups and traditional car companies. Under their instructions Some Republicans spoke out in protest.

However, this protest was muted.

New energy companies are currently too weak to attract the attention of these traditional giants.Coupled with the financial crisis, traditional car companies and oil companies are also having a hard time, and they also need government guaranteed loan support.

Ding ding ding ding!Four emails arrived on Psaki's computer.

Psaki opened the first email, which was from the White House Staff Office.After reading it, she said: "President Barack is busy and does not plan to attend this party."

"Yeah." Luo Ji nodded: "If you don't attend, then you won't attend. It doesn't matter, as long as you get the money."

Psaki looked at the other three emails, and then said to Luo Ji: "Ms. Clinton and Senator Schumer will not be attending. They have other plans, but Senator Lu Tianna will come."

Luo Ji nodded: "Yeah."

Psaki complained naggingly: "I don't know if they are really busy or pretending to be busy. Maybe they don't want to see us..."

"what!"

Luo Ji interrupted her, pointed at her computer and said in surprise: "Why is Secretary Clinton's email not from the official email, but from her private email? Shouldn't this kind of official correspondence be sent through government email?"

Psaki glanced at the computer: "This is indeed not an official email, but how do you know this is her private email."

Luo Ji explained: "I sent several quarterly earnings reports of private equity funds to her personal email address. I also chatted with her."

"Oh." Psaki said nonchalantly: "Maybe she forgot. Inviting the Secretary of State to the party is not a confidential matter."

Luo Ji glanced at Ms. Clinton's personal email address and turned his head without paying attention.

He leaned over, hugged Psaki's waist and said with a smile: "Hehe. There is still a little time before the party starts. I guarantee that this time it will be absolutely normal."

Psaki immediately refused and pushed away in disgust: "No, I'm going to work right away."

"I want."

"No, let's talk about it tonight." Psaki exclaimed, "Ah, uh-huh, don't..."

Gradually, the only sound left in the room was the sound of two people breathing harshly.

(End of this chapter)