Republican senators presented a united front of support for car magnate Lee Beaman’s nomination to the Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors this week in a committee hearing on Capitol Hill. West Virginia's Republican U.S. Sen. Shelley Capito presided over the first formal step in vetting Beaman, who received glowing in-person endorsements from both of Tennessee's senators. Beaman is a Trump megadonor who accumulated massive wealth through his Nashville car dealership, and his TVA position has the optics of a political favor in response to Beaman’s years of financial and vocal support.
During Wednesday's hourlong hearing in the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Beaman acknowledged various financial and personal conflicts of interest and awkwardly deflected questions about basic TVA subject matter, like modern energy production and the electric power grid. Democrats also extracted a verbal guarantee from Beaman that he would support the utility’s continued public status amid swirling rumors about the president’s wishes to privatize TVA, which serves more than 10 million people across the Southeast. This does not preclude a near-future selloff of various TVA assets, though new CEO Don Moul confirms to the Scene that neither he nor the TVA as a whole has considered selling any assets. The TVA board last met on Nov. 6 without a quorum — abrupt Trump firings this year left three seats currently filled and six vacant. Four Trump nominees await confirmation votes. Beaman still needs a formal recommendation from the EPW committee to move to the full U.S. Senate.
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In her introduction, Tennessee's Sen. Marsha Blackburn broadly emphasized the successful business career of Beaman, who lacks specific experience in the energy, utility management and environmental sectors.
“Every once in a while, as we look at these boards, we have people who are so well-qualified, that have such a thorough understanding of issues for an agency,” Blackburn told colleagues at the beginning of the hearing. “It’s an honor to have them offer themselves for service. And that, indeed, is Mr. Beaman. He brings decades of experience in business leadership, community service and organizational governance with him to fill this role at the TVA.”
Democrats skewered Beaman for financial and personal conflicts of interest. Beaman has donated more than $1.5 million to GOP candidates and committees since 2020, including about $250,000 to the Republican National Committee this year. Beaman has also been the landlord to sitting members of the U.S. House of Representatives including Speaker Mike Johnson and Tennessee's 5th Congressional Rep. Andy Ogles. The two have lived in the same D.C. townhome owned by Beaman where conservative pastor Steve Berger, Beaman’s spiritual leader, operates a shadowy nonprofit meant to influence policy on the Hill.
“Mr. Beaman’s prime qualifications are that he is a Trump loyalist and 2020 election denier,” said Rhode Island's Democratic U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, one of D.C.’s primary clean-energy advocates. “He even signed a letter urging state legislators to appoint fake electors to the electoral college to overturn the election. When the ask comes to raise TVA customers’ rates by backing away from less expensive clean energy to keep more expensive fossil fuel plant running, it’s a pretty safe bet whose back he will have.
Beaman later told Massachusetts' U.S. Sen. Ed Markey that he now believes Joe Biden fairly won the 2020 presidential election after having “gathered more information and more facts.” Another Democrat, Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, briefly gestured toward Beaman’s alleged porn fixation and use of sex workers — allegations made by an ex-wife in public filings during a 2018 divorce — as troubling markers of his character. If confirmed to help steer the region’s major energy producer, Beaman also vowed to divest from AI-related investments including Meta, Apple, Google and NVIDIA, which might stand to gain financially from his decision-making.
Tennessee's Sens. Blackburn and Bill Hagerty have both directly benefited from his election checkbook, as have Republican EPW committee members Dave McCormick, Cynthia Lummis and Lindsey Graham, all of whom will vote on his confirmation. Republicans control the Senate and its committees, paving a smooth path for any nominee with the president’s support.
