The public claims of a green car manufacturer run by Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe were linked to his political ambitions, a former executive at the firm said in an interview with the New York Times.
The former executive, who worked at the shared office of GreenTech Automotive and Gulf Coast Funds Management, told the Times that McAuliffe’s desire to add "job creator" to his resume was the reason for GreenTech’s ambitious goals.
"Did Terry want to wait 10 years? No. Because he wanted to run for governor again," the executive said.
GreenTech has fallen short on a number of its promises, many of which were made publicly by McAuliffe.
America Rising PAC, a conservative research group, released a video Monday cataloging many of McAuliffe's claims and promises about the company.
McAuliffe is no longer affiliated with GreenTech, after quietly resigning from the company in December 2012, though he is a major shareholder. The car maker has become an issue for his campaign, from the location of its production plant to an S.E.C. investigation into the company's use of a visa program.
According to the Times, there are times when Charles Wang, president of GreenTech, "wishes he had never gone into business with a politically connected partner."
"I learned a lot of things," he told the Times in an interview. "Politicians or people with political backgrounds are dangerous to business."