Hopeful’s Connections Jolt Bitter Virginia Race

By TRIP GABRIEL, NYT

McLEAN, Va. — Frustrated by government red tape slowing his electric car company, Terry McAuliffe repeatedly sought a meeting at the Department of Homeland Security.

He and his lawyers sent a stream of e-mails to a senior official in charge of approving foreign investments that Mr. McAuliffe sought, and he went up the chain of command to Janet Napolitano, the secretary of homeland security, documents show.

When a meeting finally took place in 2011, the official seemed to burn with resentment that Mr. McAuliffe went over his head, recalled Charles Wang, the president of the car company. In his first interview since Mr. McAuliffe began his campaign for Virginia governor, Mr. Wang spoke about his former partner’s use of his political connections. He also discussed the role of a brother of Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom Mr. McAuliffe, 56, a Democratic fund-raiser close to the Clintons, brought to the company.

The venture, GreenTech Automotive, has become an explosive issue in the race for governor. Republicans have used it to question Mr. McAuliffe’s ability to create jobs, laying the groundwork for a possible line of attack in 2016 against Mrs. Clinton, who will hold a fund-raiser for Mr. McAuliffe next month. The official Mr. McAuliffe and Mr. Wang met with in 2011, Alejandro Mayorkas, is the focus of an internal Homeland Security Department investigation into whether he gave GreenTech special treatment, which he denies.

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