Bombshell: Emails Reveal Direct White House Tie to Solyndra Scandal

Originally posted by Indigo5

That is utter BS since everyone agrees that the Bush administration tried to fast-track and pass this loan a week before Pres. Obama took office.

But he didn't, because everyone, except Obama, knows that "haste makes waste".
Tried and doing are two different things, but I guess the buck no longer stops at the desk of the President.
Everyone knows Obama pushed this loan to pay off his union buddies.

...btw, why all the hate?
Just because you are disappointed with Obama doesn't mean you can start calling people names.

Originally posted by butcherguy
It is painfully obvious what you are trying to do. You are trying to deflect the problems of the current administration on to the former one.

No. Each President is responsible for their own mistakes.

After the Bush administration pushed the loan and failed, the Obama Adminstration finished vetting it and loaned out 500 Million and change (1.2% of the DOEs loan program) and the loan failed.

Pres. Obama can own that.

Pres. Bush presided over the collapse of the US Economy.

Sh*& happens.

reply to post by Indigo5

Pres. Bush presided over the collapse of the US Economy.

Again, deflection.

A weak one at that. Thank you so much President Obama for bringing us up out of the pit that President Bush created. Oh, what's that? He didn't? Wow, I sure Hope that Changes.

We need some more of his 'Shovel ready jobs' like we need another George Bush in office.

reply to post by Alxandro

I guess the buck no longer stops at the desk of the President.

That's right.

It will probably stop at the first convenient scapegoat that Obama picks out.

reply to post by butcherguy


Well, Now Holder's DOJ is being invited to investigate Solyndra. Here is the letter to Holder from Rep. Lamar Smith(House Judiciary Committee) seeking an independent investigator.

The letter gives a concise synopsis of the details in this case. Now we know why the Solyndra execs are expected to plead the fifth at the hearing. I don't trust Holder or any of his DOJ minions if they get their mitts on this case file.

Enjoy!

biggovernment.com...

Originally posted by Indigo5

Originally posted by butcherguy
It is painfully obvious what you are trying to do. You are trying to deflect the problems of the current administration on to the former one.

No. Each President is responsible for their own mistakes.

After the Bush administration pushed the loan and failed, the Obama Adminstration finished vetting it and loaned out 500 Million and change (1.2% of the DOEs loan program) and the loan failed.

Pres. Obama can own that.

Pres. Bush presided over the collapse of the US Economy.

Sh*& happens.

Nice twist of the words

The loan was not approved under Bush because it was not deemed viable in the vetting process. Obama picked it up and ran with it while he was holding his bundlers hand all the way to the bank. Then restructured the loan (knowing that Solyndra would have a hard time paying it back) so the investors would get paid before the taxpayers. Hmmm....

Honestly...you just make crap up...no need ebating with someone that does that.

Originally posted by jibeho

The loan was not approved under Bush because it was not deemed viable in the vetting process.

It was not approved under Bush because the Bush administration opted to skip the final due dilligence step and rush it before the approval comittee days before Pres. Obama was sworn in.

That comittee simply said...nope, finish the due dilligence, which they did and then the loan was approved.

"not deemed viable"??? what are you talking about?

Originally posted by jibeho
Obama picked it up and ran with it while he was holding his bundlers hand all the way to the bank.

Kaiser was a "bundler"???

Originally posted by jibeho Then restructured the loan (knowing that Solyndra would have a hard time paying it back) so the investors would get paid before the taxpayers. Hmmm....

What?

Argonaut and Madrone have ponied up $4 million (at a 15% interest rate) to finance the bankruptcy reorganization, which must be paid back first along with the $69.3 million from the $75 million lent in February.

www.forbes.com...

Argonaut (Kaiser - Democratic Conributor)

and

Madrone (Sam Walton - GOP backer)

both gave more money to finance the actual Bankruptcey proceeding, thus they get a portion of whatever little is left.

Is Sam Walton, Billionaire GOP Cheerleader also getting payola from the Obama adminsitration in your...logic doesn't matter...world?

reply to post by Indigo5


Read the letter to the DOJ.

Originally posted by jibeho
reply to post by Indigo5

 

Read the letter to the DOJ.

I have linked and quoted Congressional Testimony from a GOP led investigation and articles from conservative publications like Forbes magazine all stating factual data supporting everything I have said.

I have no interest in reading a letter posted on "BigGovernment.com" written by a GOP Representitive from Texas that has a history of less than honest claims . ...I try to find facts, not spin and BS.

Here is Lamar Smith's (the letters author) politifact sheet. The vast majority of his public claims are false.
www.politifact.com...

I will stick with Congressional Testimony and the countless other factual, non-biased documents if you don't mind.

Anyone interested should get a hold of tomorrow's NYT. It is supposed to be rather interesting. They may just run with a lead story on Solyndra.

reply to post by Indigo5


Clearly we see things differently

Solyndra officials were intensely pressuring Bush administration officials in early January 2009 to approve a government loan for the solar company before the Obama administration took power, according to new emails obtained by Fox News on Friday.

On Jan. 12, 2009, Solyndra CEO Chris Gronet sent an Energy Department official an email marked “urgent” expressing outrage that Bush officials had decided a few days earlier that while the loan application had “merit” it needed further study before officials could move forward with a taxpayer-financed loan.

“I was appalled to learn on Friday that our application is being delayed yet again,” Gronet wrote to Energy official Steve Isakowitz, writing there had been “countless communications” back and forth suggesting the application would be reviewed Jan. 15.

The Bush administration backed off of Solyndra for this very reason. Much to the dismay of Solyndra.

The new emails obtained by Fox News show that on Jan. 12, 2009, Energy officials received several emails from Solyndra officials pressing the department to make a decision and complaining about the Jan. 9 decision to do an independent market analysis.

In a second email from Gronet to Isakowitz on Jan. 12, 2009, the CEO noted he had just been on the phone with another Energy official, David Frantz.

“And I find the response completely unacceptable,” wrote Gronet. “An apology from David is enough.”

Gronet added, “In addition, the rules and conditions keep changing. The impact on Solyndra is severe.”

The next day, Jan. 13, 2009, [Bush DoE official Lachlan] Seward sent his email to Energy Department colleagues saying it was time to stop engaging with Solyndra officials.

hotair.com...

Amazing how you question my comment of the loan restructure to favor investors and yet the Forbes article you cited is titled Solyndra: Pay Some Investors Before Taxpayers In Solar Flame Out. You only honed in on two names and no other facts presented in the article. OK Rob Walton's investment manager is involved but is Waltons money?. No mention of that in the article. Just the name of his Investment manager Madrone Partners. They are a private equity firm that deals heavily in energy investments.

As its finances deteriorated, Solyndra restructured its debt in February. Argonaut Ventures, which owns 38.99% of Solyndra, led a group that agreed to make a $75 million loan available in exchange for the right to be repaid first if the company failed. Next in line is the U.S. government – i.e. the taxpayers – who are owed the $527 million given to Solyndra to build the robotic assembly plant known as Fab 2.

Then comes a group called the “Tranche E” lenders who are owed $187 million. Those secured creditors include Richard Branson’s Virgin Green Fund, US Venture Partners, the Masdar Clean Tech Fund and, curiously, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute of Chevy Chase, Md., which is on the hook for $4.8 million.

Despite the $75 million infusion, things just got worse and in June and July the group led by Argonaut struck a deal called the Inventory Facility to buy $75 million worth of Solyndra’s accounts receivable and solar panels at a steep discount.

When it all boils down

Left holding the bag were hundreds of unsecured creditors, a list of which ran 201 pages in the bankruptcy filing. Solar parts supplier Schott North America is owed the most at $7.7 million

www.forbes.com...

Thanks for the article!!

Strange thing is Solyndra never made donations to Obama.
You can look for your self. I searched 2008 through 2011.
www.opensecrets.org...

And I find this interesting. This is one of thier lobbyist.
www.opensecrets.org...

Nickerson, Gregory
2009-2010 Political Contributions
Lobbyist Profile: Summary, 2010

Lobbyist total: $28,750
to Democrats: $2,500
to Republicans: $26,250
to recipients not affiliated with a political party: $0

Family total: $28,750
to Democrats: $2,500
to Republicans: $26,250
to recipients not affiliated with a political party: $0 Recipient Affiliate From Lobbyist From Family Members
C. W. Bill Young (R-Fla) $1,000 $1,000
Charles W. Boustany Jr (R-La) $1,500 $1,500
Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) $2,000 $2,000
Continuing a Majority Party Action Cmte Dave Camp (R-Mich) $3,000 $3,000
Dave Camp (R-Mich) $1,000 $1,000
Dave Reichert (R-Wash) $500 $500
Paul Ryan (R-Wis) $3,000 $3,000
Peter Roskam (R-Ill) $500 $500
Rob Portman (R-Ohio) $1,250 $1,250
Roy Blunt (R-Mo) $1,500 $1,500
Tom Carper (D-Del) $1,000 $1,000
Johnny Isakson (R-Ga) $1,000 $1,000
Kevin Brady (R-Texas) $1,000 $1,000
Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) $1,000 $1,000
National Republican Congressional Cmte $2,500 $2,500
Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) $500 $500
Patrick J. Tiberi (R-Ohio) $1,000 $1,000
Deborah Ann Stabenow (D-Mich) $1,000 $1,000
Devin Nunes (R-Calif) $500 $500
Eric Cantor (R-Va) $3,000 $3,000
Every Republican is Crucial PAC Eric Cantor (R-Va) $250 $250
Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz) $500 $500
Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla) $250 $250

Seems the company is in bed with Republicans not Democrates.

reply to post by JBA2848


George Kaiser, a large investor in Solyndra, is the connection to Obama. It is reported that he raised between $50k and $100k for the 2008 campaign. He personally donated $53,500 along with some Solyndra Execs. most likely under their names and not that of the company

Campaign finance records show Kaiser and Solyndra executives and board members donated $87,050 total to Obama’s election campaign.

Read more: dailycaller.com...

reply to post by jibeho


www.opensecrets.org...

Kaiser, George Tulsa OK GBK Corp $33,600

$33,600 seems to be a long way from the amounts being qouted.

I also checked the ceo of Solyndra and he never donated to Obama.

reply to post by JBA2848


kaiser is a bundler for obama. Bundler's raise money and contribute. Big bundlers get special treatment in DC.

Campaign finance records show Solyndra shareholders and executives did their fair share of greasing palms.

Ben Bierman, executive vice president of operations and engineering for Solyndra, donated $5,500 to Obama’s election campaign. Karen Alter, senior vice president of marketing, donated $23,000 in 2008.

According to information collected by the Center for Responsive Politics, Solyndra board members have donated at least $27,400 to Democratic campaigns and affiliates.

Since 1998, Solyndra board member James F. Gibbons has contributed $13,500 on his own. Board member Winston Fu has contributed $4,550 since 2008. Since 1991, board member Thomas Baruch has contributed $7,150. And board member Steven R. Mitchell donated $2,300 to Obama in 2007.

Solyndra also spent $550,000 lobbying Congress in 2010. Between 2008 and 2011, the company spent more than $1 million lobbying for bills including the “American Clean Energy Leadership Act of 2009″ and the “Solar Manufacturing Jobs Creation Act.”

Despite Solyndra’s recent bankruptcy announcement, the Department of Energy and the White House insist the investment was not in vain.

Read more: dailycaller.com...

reply to post by jibeho


www.opensecrets.org... RID%3A11#605

BIERMAN, BEN
FREMONT,CA 94539 SOLYNDRA/EUP OPERATIONS ENGINEERIN 6/30/2010 $500 Democratic Congressional Campaign Cmte
BIERMAN, BEN
FREMONT,CA 94539 SOLYNDRA, INC./SOLYNDRA INC 9/12/2010 $500 DNC Services Corp
BIERMAN, BEN
FREMONT,CA 94539 SOLYNDRA, INC./SOLYNDRA INC 11/23/2009 $500 DNC Services Corp
BIERMAN, BENJAMIN
FREMONT,CA 94539 APPLIED MATERIALS/MANAGING DIRECTOR 11/17/2009 $500 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte
BIERMAN, BENJAMIN
FREMONT,CA 94539 APPLIED MATERIALS/MANAGING DIRECTOR 9/12/2010 $500 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte
BIERMAN, BEN
FREMONT,CA 94539 SOLYNDRA, INC./SOLYNDRA INC 9/12/2010 $250 DNC Services Corp
BIERMAN, BEN
FREMONT,CA 94539 SOLYNDRA INC./VP OPERATIONS 10/27/2010 $250 Democratic Congressional Campaign Cmte
BIERMAN, BEN MR
FREMONT,CA 94539 SOLYNDRA, INC/EVP OPERATIONS 9/12/2010 $250 Women Vote!
BIERMAN, BENJAMIN
FREMONT,CA 94539 APPLIED MATERIALS/MANAGING DIRECTOR 10/27/2010 $250 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte
BIERMAN, BEN
FREMONT,CA 94539 SOLYNDRA, INC./SOLYNDRA INC 12/2/2009 $200 DNC Services Corp
BIERMAN, BEN
FREMONT,CA 94539 SOLYNDRA INC./VP OPERATIONS

www.opensecrets.org...

ALTER, KAREN
PALO ALTO,CA 94301 SOLYNDRA/SVP MARKETING 10/30/2010 $1,000 Sanders, David
ALTER, KAREN
PALO ALTO,CA 94301 BELTER PLACE, INC./VP OF MARKETING 9/30/2009 $1,000 Khazei, Alan
ALTER, KAREN
PALO ALTO,CA 94301 BETTER PLACE INC./VP OF MARKETING 12/1/2009 $1,000 Khazei, Alan

I would think about a new source of info on this one. The Daily Caller seems to have a wrong number. No donations to Obama and one is generic donations to DNC. James F. Gibbons seems to have never made a donation. Winston Fu seems to have never made a donation. Steven R. Mitchell did donate $2,300.

Valerie Jarrett and even Michelle may be involved.

as usual, there is a tie back to Chicago.

In 2009, the same year Solyndra received its $535 million federal loan guarantee, the George Kaiser Family Foundation made a $10,000 donation to the Urban Health Initiative at the University of Chicago Medical Center. The foundation controls 35.7 percent of Solyndra.

Just months before Kaiser’s foundation poured tax-exempt cash into its coffers, Valerie Jarrett served as the medical center’s chairwoman. The initiative was created by none other than future First Larcenist Michelle Obama. In an earlier act of cronyism, Michelle “recommended” the center hire David Axelrod’s firm to provide PR in 2006. Indeed, the project employed a bevy of Obama’s Chicago cronies.....

George Kaiser visited the White House 16 times, holding at least one friendly chat with Jarrett. Kaiser insists the loan never came up.

Investigate Valerie Jarrett Over Deepening Role in Solyndra Scandal

The article sites some of Jarrett's other Chicago "projects" that have seen better days
(before her involvment that is)

She seems to be a real "bankrupter"

reply to post by JBA2848


Open Secrets is not the end all end all. They don't list everything. Nice deflection though. Obama is going to have a tough time wiggling out of this one.

But behind the pomp and pageantry, Solyndra was rotting inside, hemorrhaging cash so quickly that within weeks of Mr. Obama’s visit, the company canceled plans to offer shares to the public. Barely a year later, Solyndra has become one of the administration’s most costly fumbles after the company declared bankruptcy, laid off 1,100 workers and was raided by F.B.I. agents seeking evidence of possible fraud.

While no evidence has emerged that political favoritism played a role in what administration officials assert were merit-based decisions, Solyndra drew plenty of high-level attention. Its lobbyists corresponded frequently and met at least three times with an aide to a top White House official, Valerie B. Jarrett, to push for loans, tax breaks and other government assistance.

during the period when Solyndra’s loan guarantee was under review and management by the Energy Department, the company spent nearly $1.8 million on Washington lobbyists, employing six firms with ties to members of Congress and officials of the Obama White House. None of the other three solar panel manufacturers that eventually got federal loan guarantees spent a dime on lobbyists.

You might like this

Bush administration officials had started the review of the Solyndra application in May 2008. They were anxious to approve the deal, because members of Congress were complaining that the loan guarantee program, signed into law in 2005, still had not given out its first award. But in the final weeks of the administration, Energy Department officials put the brakes on any loan commitment to Solyndra, partly out of concern that its costs made the price of manufacturing power capacity significantly higher than its competitors.

The Obama administration, though, was determined to move ahead. “DOE is trying to deliver on the first loan guarantee within 60 days from inauguration,” one March 2009 e-mail from an Office of Management and Budget official said.

The big push

In January 2010, four months after the loan was finalized, Solyndra executives and lobbyists pressed Gregory S. Nelson, an aide to Ms. Jarrett, a senior adviser to Mr. Obama, for a meeting to boast about progress at the plant financed with federal money and to discuss a possible second loan, according to White House e-mails. That meeting occurred on Jan. 15, 2010, records show. White House scheduling officials later began talks that led to Mr. Obama’s visit in May.

Despite the reality of piloting a sinking ship Solyndra and its lobbyists were pitching success to the WH

But Solyndra and its lobbyists continued to provide assurances to the White House and the Energy Department, which still could have stopped the flow of federal money that was being given out for construction of a new factory.

I think there has been deception from Solyndra and the WH in this mess.

www.nytimes.com...

reply to post by xuenchen


Good find!! Jarrett is Obama's closet adviser/ puppeteer. The Chicago connections and style of conducting business are very clear hear. Rahm is already trying to distance himself from this mess which probably means that he was knee deep in it at the time. Nothing happened in the WH without Rahm knowing about during his term with Obama's administration.