[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
|
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
Corrupt Government Title: Solargate Update: Obama knew Solyndra would crash but gave them our money anyway White House officials were repeatedly warned by government accountants and a private investor about the financial troubles of the now-bankrupt solar panel maker Solyndra, which received a $535 million "green energy" government-guaranteed loan, newly released emails reveal. The emails, released Monday by House Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats, show that President Obama was told not to visit Solyndra in May 2010 by an adviser who feared the firm would default on its loan before the 2012 election, embarrassing the president. But those warnings were overruled by White House advisers who said backing Solyndra was a risk worth taking, the emails show. "The reality is that if [Obama] visited 10 such places over the next 10 months, probably a few would be belly-up by election day 2012," Ron Klain, chief of staff to Vice President Biden, wrote to Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett before Obama's visit. "But that to me is the reality of saying that we want to help promote cutting edge, new economy industries." Solyndra declared bankruptcy on Sept. 1, laid off all of its workers and left taxpayers on the hook for the $535 million loan. In his first public comments on Solyndra's crash, Obama on Monday defended the government's loan guarantee. "Hindsight is always 20/20," Obama told ABC's "Good Morning America." "It went through the regular review process and people felt that it was a good bet." Democrats released the emails to blunt suspicions that Solyndra got the loan guarantee because its chief investor was a major Obama campaign donor. The messages that were released were among 700 pages of emails the White House and Office of Management and Budget turned over to the House subcommittee investigating the deal. The documents "do not contain evidence that government decisions relating to Solyndra were influenced by considerations relating to campaign donations," Democrats wrote in the memo. "Rather, the documents show that there was internal disagreement within the administration about Solyndra's viability and the effectiveness of the loan guarantee program throughout the process." Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., chairman of the investigating subcommittee, said Monday that the emails do not remove the whiff of possible corruption, noting that the emails show that Obama fundraiser Steve Westly, the California investor who tried to warn Obama away from the Solyndra appearance, had direct contact with the White House about the loan guarantee. David Boaz, executive vice president of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, said that while the emails contained no "smoking gun" linking campaign contributions to the loan guarantee, they did raise red flags. "You've got a whole lot of examples about the way government works that officials who are spending other peoples' money don't have much incentive to spend it prudently and that you are substituting political judgment for the judgment of investors, that you get caught up in fads like green energy and that you get political officials ignoring warnings from civil servants," Boaz said. The emails also exposed an ongoing battle between the Department of Energy and the Office of Management and Budget over the loan guarantee, with OMB complaining that DOE did not adequately monitor the loan. "DOE ... has one loan to monitor and they seem completely oblivious to this issue," an OMB staffer wrote. In another exchange, an OMB official fretting over DOE oversight warned, "Bad days are coming." sferrechio@washingtonexaminer.com
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 3.
#3. To: Happy Quanzaa (#0)
Remember how the media went after Haliburton and Cheney for 8 years? Here is a clear cut example of an administration funneling half a billion plus dollars to campaign contributors, and the media is in effect ignoring it, compared to the faux Haliburton Cheney crap. Amazing, and frightening.
There are no replies to Comment # 3. End Trace Mode for Comment # 3.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest |
|
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
|