State Sen. Aaron Rouse, a longtime Clean Virginia candidate who has received $360,000 from the group for all of his races in the past, appears to have made the switch over to Dominion’s side, and the investment is already paying out for the utility company.
The dynamics of the battle between Clean Virginia and Dominion Energy go back to the late 2010s when Michael Bills arrived on the scene to begin funding political candidates who would stop accepting money from Dominion.
Clean Virginia, which Bills founded, has multiple goals, but its primary motive is to counter Dominion’s influence in Virginia politics.
Rouse received $25,000 from Clean Virginia during the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor last year, and Ghazala Hashmi, the eventual nominee, also received the same amount. The other contender in the race, former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, received $427,604 from Dominion.
Sonjia Smith, another powerful Democratic donor who is married to Bills, donated $475,000 to Hashmi’s primary campaign.
Smith has no public ties to Clean Virginia, and her official stance is that she and her husband are separate donors.
Rouse has not commented publicly, but it now appears that after losing the primary, he has soured on Clean Virginia and Bills.
Following his loss, Rouse received $250,000 from Dominion in three separate donations.
Rouse declined to comment when asked by Virginia Scope on Tuesday, but it appears those donations have helped Dominion’s fight against legislation that would hamper its efforts in the General Assembly.
The Senate Privileges and Elections Committee took up a bill last week, sponsored by Sen. Danica Roem, D-Prince William, that would have banned public utilities from using ratepayer money to donate to political candidates.
This legislation has long been a priority for Clean Virginia and the elected officials they support.
In the past, Rouse has voted in favor of the bill.
Last week, as chair of the committee, he waited until all of his colleagues had voted before making his decision.
He asked for the count, which was 7-7, before abstaining from the vote, thereby killing the bill.
During the debate on the legislation, Rouse specifically named Bills and Smith.
“For the record, last year’s top individual donors were a married couple: Michael Bills and Sonjia Smith,” Rouse said. “Mr. Bills donated over $7 million, and Mrs. Smith contributed more than $2.3 million — nearly $10 million combined. Dominion Energy, by comparison, donated close to $20 million. So my question is, why should utilities be specifically targeted and not individuals, and say like Elon Musk or someone who can come and play political games with political candidates?”
Clean Virginia did not respond when asked to comment for this story.