The chairman of Hillary Clinton’s Democratic presidential campaign wanted President Obama to consider billionaire Tom Steyer for a Cabinet position in 2008, according to a leaked email.
The revelation came among documents published on Monday by Wikileaks, which said they were from John Podesta’s email account.
{mosads}Podesta, a former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, was president of the Center for American Progress in September 2008 when he floated Steyer’s name to lead the Energy Department in an email to a top Obama aide.
Steyer, an outspoken climate activist and campaign contributor who has been described as a liberal version of the Koch brothers, did not have a national role at the time. He was then managing partner of investment firm Farallon Capital, a position he left in 2012 to start NextGen Climate.
In Podesta’s email to Cassandra Butts, he suggested that the Obama campaign consider Steyer, former Sen. Tim Wirth (D-Colo.) and “maybe” then-Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper (D), who is now Colorado’s governor, for Energy secretary.
Steyer has hosted fundraisers for Hillary Clinton and spent millions through NextGen on advertising, canvassing, voter turnout and similar efforts to aid her election effort. Podesta has previously served as an adviser to Steyer.
Butts had sent the Obama campaign’s shortlist to lead the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to Podesta, who was himself being considered.
“Needless to say, your name has come up repeatedly in our consultations,” Butts said.
Butts’s list for the Energy Department also included actor and then-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and then-Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D).
For the EPA, the campaign’s list included then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I), then-Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) and then-Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), who ended up becoming secretary of Health and Human Services.
Neither Butts nor Podesta mentioned the people who were eventually nominated and confirmed for the positions: Lisa Jackson for the EPA and Stephen Chu for the Energy Department.
Podesta renewed his push for Steyer to lead the Energy Department in 2013, when Chu stepped down.
“I think he would be a fabulous choice for energy secretary,” Podesta told The Washington Post at the time, “and I’ve let my friends in the administration know that.”