Kelly Ayotte, once a U.S. senator from New Hampshire, has portrayed herself as a champion to clean energy. But as she mounts a bid for governor of the Granite State, her past role on the board of a troubled company may undermine that message.

Ayotte joined Bloom Energy Corp.s board of directors in November 2017, about a year after narrowly losing her 2016 reelection bid to Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan. At the time, the California-based fuel cell manufacturer was in the midst of mounting financial and environmental scandals.

Bloom saw in Ayotte someone with a track record of working in a bipartisan manner to promote energy solutions that are good for the economy, the environment and national security, as the companys founder and CEO KR Sridhar said at the time.

In Congress, Ayotte had bucked her party on energy and climate change, becoming the first Republican to endorse the Obama administrations Clean Power Plan to curb carbon pollution from power plants and joining a handful of GOP lawmakers in supporting a nonbinding amendment that stated climate change is real and human activity significantly contributes to climate change.

The Bloom post, along with joining the right-leaning environmental advocacy organization Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions as a senior adviser, allowed Ayotte to further position herself as a clean energy advocate. In a news release announcing her appointment to the board, Ayotte said Blooms mission aligned with three of her top priorities: ensuring energy security, reducing harmful emissions, and the creation of high quality advanced manufacturing jobs.

Media investigations and a 2019 report from Hindenburg Research, an investment research firm, have poked many holes in Blooms claims that its fuel cell technology is clean, green and cheap. Ayottes tenure followed and overlapped with many of Blooms financial and legal woes.

Ayottes campaign did not respond to HuffPosts requests for comment. Bloom Energy also did not respond.

The extent to which Ayotte was aware of or played a role in the companys missteps is unclear. But as a member of Blooms board from November 2017 to May 2019, she was tasked with helping to oversee the integrity of Bloom Energys financial statements and financial reporting process , as well as to prevent and detect violations of law, regulation, or Bloom Energys policies and procedures. Ayotte served as chair of the boards nominating, governance and public policy committee.

Ayotte is one of four candidates running to succeed New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, who is not seeking reelection. A former senator and state attorney general, Ayotte will face Chuck Morse, a former state senator, in Septembers Republican primary.

On her campaign website, Ayotte writes that she would take an all-of-the-above approach to lower energy costs while focusing on stability, affordability, modernization, sustainability, and market-driven solutions. And in a September interview with the New Hampshire Bulletin, she said her energy policy would focus on the very best affordable clean energy for New Hampshire residents.

But her time at Bloom, for which public filings show she earned at least $131,250 and received more than 13,000 company shares, threatens to complicate her image as a clean energy advocate.