So let’s get this straight. This is different than the very similar story of Evergreen Solar Inc, which also received millions of dollars from the Obama administration, before going bankrupt.
The Obama administration guaranteed a another failing company, Solyndra solar panel company, $535 million government backed loan, which seems more like a reward for the donations Steve Westley gave to the Obama campaign. The company then declares bankruptcy, lays off 1,100 employees, and bilks the U.S. People out of a half a billion dollars of taxpayer money. Then Obama goes off the deep end and names the donor, Steve Westley, to the President’s Energy Advisory Board.
This stinks like more corruption of the worst kind from the Obama administration.
Solyndra, a San Francisco based solar panel company that received a $535 million loan guarantee from the federal government has declared bankruptcy. Last year President Obama touted the company as “leading the way” in the green jobs future he envisions.
Just a few months ago, ABC News revealed that one of the major financial backers for Solyndra is also a major donor to the Obama campaign.
The donor, Steve Westley, has subsequently been named to the President’s Energy Advisory Board. Solyndra was supposed to have produced 4,000 jobs with the loan guarantee. Now all of the company’s employees have been laid-off. Mr. Westley is still on the advisory board.
Congressman Cliff Stearns, Chair of House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Oversight Subcomittee, released the following statement this afternoon:
“In an apparent rush to push stimulus dollars out the door, the Obama Administration wasted $535 million in taxpayer funds in guaranteeing a loan to a firm that has proven to be unviable in the global market,” said Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. “For months, we have been investigating how and why nearly half a billion dollars in taxpayer money was committed to this financially troubled company.”
According to The Center for Public Integrity, one of Solyndra’s major investors was George Kaiser, an Oklahoma oil billionaire who raised large sums of money for Obama during the 2008 election. This raised concerns that politics my have played a role in putting taxpayer dollars at risk in making this loan guarantee. In addition, last year the Government Accountability Office issued an unusually blunt assessment of the Energy Department’s loan program, concluding that the department had “treated applicants inconsistently, favoring some and disadvantaging others.”
Using stimulus funds to promote job creation, the Department of Energy awarded a $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra and the Obama Administration was supposed to review the loan to ensure that taxpayer money was not put at risk. Stearns has been investigating this loan program, and specifically the loan to Solyndra, and was forced to subpoena the Administration for records involving this loan guarantee.
“Although the Administration has been uncooperative with this investigation, this decision by Solyndra does not end our inquiry and we will continue to look into how this loan guarantee was approved and why the American taxpayers are mostly likely out $535 million,” added Stearns. “In addition, this brings up concerns if taxpayers were adequately protected during the restructuring of the loan to Solyndra.”
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