| | | |
|
| |
|
Compiled By Gary Starr for the Neville Awards
|
The day after Obama took office this writer said his administration would be the most corrupt in U.S. history. Obama's relationship with General Electric and CEO Jeffery Immelt alone would qualify as one of the biggest examples of pay-to-play crony capitalism in modern times.
You ain't seen nuthin' yet.
The ridiculous fake Greek columns at Obama's victory speech in Chicago have been replaced the twin pillars of scandal that reach into the White House and, hopefully will bring down the Obama Administration, if the 2012 election doesn't do it first. These scandals are the gun running operation known as Operation Fast
and Furious aka GunRunner or Gun Walker, and the the green jobs scam involving the now bankrupt solar panel company Solyndra, which received over $500 million in stimulus money
This is an evolving page...updated as new revelations hit the news. Click the following links to get to the stuff that interests you.
Operation Fast and Furious
Documents: ATF used "Fast and Furious" to make the case for gun regulations
Sharyl Attkisson, CBS News
12/7/2011
Documents obtained by CBS News show that the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) discussed using their covert operation "Fast and Furious" to argue for controversial new rules about gun sales.
In Fast and Furious, ATF secretly encouraged gun dealers to sell to suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels to go after the "big fish." But ATF whistleblowers told CBS News and Congress it was a dangerous practice called "gunwalking," and it put thousands of weapons on the street. Many were used in violent crimes in Mexico. Two were found at the murder scene of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
ATF officials didn't intend to publicly disclose their own role in letting Mexican cartels obtain the weapons, but emails show they discussed using the sales, including sales encouraged by ATF, to justify a new gun regulation called "Demand Letter 3". That would require some U.S. gun shops to report the sale of multiple rifles or "long guns." Demand Letter 3 was so named because it would be the third ATF program demanding gun dealers report tracing information.
On July 14, 2010 after ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. received an update on Fast and Furious, ATF Field Ops Assistant Director Mark Chait emailed Bill Newell, ATF's Phoenix Special Agent in Charge of Fast and Furious:
Lawmakers: Heads should roll over gun-walking
Sharyl Attkisson, CBS News
12/8/2011
(CBS/AP) WASHINGTON - Republican lawmakers told Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday to fire some Justice Department subordinates over the flawed arms-trafficking investigation called Operation Fast and Furious.
At a House Judiciary Committee hearing, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin said impeachment is an option if Holder does not "clean up this mess" quickly.
Sensenbrenner and other Republicans hold the attorney general responsible for the operation, in which federal agents failed to track illicitly purchased weapons that were later recovered in Mexico and the U.S., many of them at crime scenes.
"If you don't get to the bottom of this," there is only one alternative, and "it's called impeachment," said Sensenbrenner, without specifying whom he had in mind.
"Why haven't you terminated the people involved?" asked Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that is investigating the arms-tracking operation. Issa pressed Holder to appear before the congressman's committee and the attorney general said he would consider the request.
Video: US approved large escalation of legal gun sales to Mexico
Hotair.com
12/6/2011
Remember when gun-control activists insisted that loose purchasing regulation of American firearms had led to a massive uptick in arming the drug cartels in Mexico? Advocates demanded action to curtail gun sales in the US, and the Obama administration responded with new efforts at the ATF and Department of Justice — including Operation Fast and Furious. Now it seems that the big spike in arms supply to cartels didn’t come from local gun shops at all, but from the US government approving a rapid increase in direct sales from manufacturers to the Mexican government, whose purchases got diverted to the cartels — a fact known to the Obama administration all along. Sharyl Atkisson continues her excellent investigative reporting for CBS on OF&F with this exposé:
Breaking: Issa receives more damaging Gunwalker emails
Examiner.com
12/8/2011
U.S. Congressman Darrell Issa, R-California, whose committee, the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform, is investigating the Project Gunwalker scandal, stated late today after a hearing that he has received more damaging emails on the scandal within the last 24 hours.
Citizen investigative reporter Mike Vanderboegh is in Washington to attend the hearings of the House Judiciary Committee as it questions Attorney-General Eric Holder on the Fast and Furious fiasco. Vanderboegh reports that Issa dropped the bombshell today but will wait until tomorrow to release the information.
Justice Dept. Caught In Lie About 'Fast And Furious'
Investors Business Daily
12/5/2011
Scandal: The Justice Department has formally withdrawn a letter to Congress denying it sanctioned or allowed guns to be transferred to Mexico because it contained "inaccuracies." That's one way of putting it.
Back in February, Assistant Attorney General Ron Welch, in response to the investigations by Rep. Darrell Issa and Sen. Chuck Grassley of the Fast and Furious gun "walking" program run out of ATF's Phoenix office, wrote a letter stating that the "allegation that ATF 'sanctioned' or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons is false."
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Welch contended, "makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico." Another Friday document dump has confirmed what agent testimony and other information have already shown — this letter, and almost everything in it, was a complete fabrication.
Border Agent's Murder Brings Calls For Investigation
Investors Business Daily
12/1/2011
Scandal: The Justice Department has sealed court records detailing the circumstances of a border patrol agent's murder by a Mexican drug cartel, including the fact U.S. agents were being hunted with U.S.-supplied weapons.
The murder of Border Patrol Agent Bryan Terry by Mexican drug cartels with weapons provided by his own government is a national disgrace.
Attorney General Eric Holder, who professes being out of the loop regarding Operation Fast and Furious, the ATF program that got Terry killed, is doing his best to keep the American people from the truth.
Holder's Justice Department has abruptly sealed court records in the indictment of Manuel Osorio-Arellanes and four other drug smugglers in Terry's murder.
What we know about the indictments is courtesy of the Washington Times, which obtained a copy before they were sealed.
Obama Admin Seals Records of Murdered Border Patrol Agent Implicated in Fast and Furious
Weekly Standard
11/30/2011
And to think that Attorney General Eric Holder is getting testy about congressional calls for his resignation. After all, the Justice Department has nothing to hide, right?:
The Obama Administration has abruptly sealed court records containing alarming details of how Mexican drug smugglers murdered a U.S. Border patrol agent with a gun connected to a failed federal experiment that allowed firearms to be smuggled into Mexico.
This means information will now be kept from the public as well as the media. Could this be a cover-up on the part of the “most transparent” administration in history? After all, the rifle used to kill the federal agent (Brian Terry) last December in Arizona’s Peck Canyon was part of the now infamous Operation Fast and Furious. Conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the disastrous scheme allowed guns to be smuggled into Mexico so they could eventually be traced to drug cartels.
Link via Judicial Watch. The murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent is related to the Justice Department willingly turning over thousands of guns to Mexican criminal gangs, and Obama administration is hiding information about his death from the public. Amazing.
Holder Refuses To Apologize To Murdered Border Agent’s Family; Killed With Fast And Furious Weapon
Brietbart
11/8/2011
Holder: 'Fast and Furious' tactics will not be tolerated
Terry Frieden, CNN Justice Producer
11/8/2011
Washington (CNN) -- Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday that the controversial tactic that allowed illegal guns to be smuggled to Mexico "should never have happened, and it must never happen again."
In testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Holder hit hard at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives practice that has tainted his tenure at the Justice Department and led to some Republican calls for him to resign.
"I want to be clear: Any instance of so-called 'gun walking' is unacceptable," Holder said of weapons smuggling, later adding: "This operation was flawed in its concept, and flawed in its execution."
Holder acknowledged what critics have been saying about the long-term consequences of "gun walking."
ATF Fast and Furious update: Congress seeks Defense Department records
Sharyl Attkisson -- CBS News
10/14/2011
Updated 10/20/2011 with a statement from Joint Task Force North
Was a Defense Department organization aware of Operation Fast and Furious? A new letter from Congressional investigators obtained by CBS News asks the provocative question.
The letter from Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) is addressed to the Commander of Joint Task Force North in Fort Bliss, Texas.
It asks for all records pertaining to "Fast and Furious," the ATF case in which agents let thousands of guns "walk" into the hands of suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels. The idea was to try to take down a major cartel. Instead, weapons turned up at violent crimes all over Mexico and at the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry last December.
Issa: Holder's defense on Fast and Furious ‘has reached a new low'
Jordy Yager -- The Hill
10/10/2011
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) issued a scathing reply to Attorney General Eric Holder over his role in the authorization of a botched gun-tracking operation and the Justice Department’s cooperation with a congressional investigation.
As chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Issa said the DOJ has tried to detract his panel’s investigation into "Operation Fast and Furious" since it began, offering “a roving set of ever-changing explanations to justify its involvement in this reckless and deadly program.”
In a letter sent to Holder on Sunday and publically released on Monday, Issa lists several instances in which the DOJ either denied the existence of the gun “walking” tactics used in Fast and Furious — the process of allowing for the sale or delivery of firearms into the hands of suspected criminals — or dragged its feet in turning over documents the committee had subpoenaed.
House Committee to Subpoena Holder in 'Fast and Furious' Probe
Fox News
10/9/2011
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is planning to subpoena Attorney General Eric Holder this week to determine who in the Justice Department knew about "Operation Fast and Furious" -- the plan to let thousands of guns sold in the U.S. get into Mexican drug cartel hands -- and when they knew it.
The subpoena targeting Holder aims to get at the heart of the authorization for the program, and when the people in charge decided the program was a problem.
"When did they know it wasn't the right way to do it and why (did) they keep doing it?" asked committee chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.
Issa, who is also a member of the House Judiciary Committee where Holder testified in May that he'd only learned of the program a few weeks earlier, told "Fox News Sunday" that "people in the top" of the Justice Department knew about the operation, were "well-briefed about it, and seemed to be the command and control and funding for this program."
Fast and Furious weapons were found in Mexico cartel enforcer's home
Richard A. Serrano -- The LA Times
10/8/2011
Reporting from Washington— High-powered assault weapons illegally purchased under the ATF's Fast and Furious program in Phoenix ended up in a home belonging to the purported top Sinaloa cartel enforcer in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, whose organization was terrorizing that city with the worst violence in the Mexican drug wars.
In all, 100 assault weapons acquired under Fast and Furious were transported 350 miles from Phoenix to El Paso, making that West Texas city a central hub for gun traffickers. Forty of the weapons made it across the border and into the arsenal of Jose Antonio Torres Marrufo, a feared cartel leader in Ciudad Juarez, according to federal court records and trace documents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The smugglers' tactics — quickly moving the weapons far from ATF agents in southern Arizona, where it had been assumed they would circulate — vividly demonstrate that what had been viewed as a local problem was much larger. Six other Fast and Furious guns destined for El Paso were recovered in Columbus, N.M.
CBS News Reporter Says White House Screamed, Swore at Her Over Fast and Furious
Mark Hemingway -- The Weekly Standard
10/4/2011
The Fast and Furious scandal, in which the Justice Department knowingly gave Mexican criminal gangs thousands of guns, just keeps escalating. The latest development centers around whether or not Attorney General Eric Holder lied to Congress about having knowledge of the controversial gun trafficking operation. Recently released documents say Holder was briefed about the operation long before he told the Judiciary Committee he was first aware of what was going on. (Holder now claims he misunderstood the question was being asked.)
What's more, CBS News investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson -- who's been covering the scandal from the beginning -- says in an interview on the Laura Ingraham Show today that the White House and Justice Department have taken to screaming at her for reporting on the story. You can listen to the full interview below, but here are the key excerpts from Attkisson:
In between the yelling that I received from Justice Department yesterday, the spokeswoman--who would not put anything in writing, I was asking for her explanation so there would be clarity and no confusion later over what had been said, she wouldn't put anything in writing--so we talked on the phone and she said things such as the question Holder answered was different than the one he asked. But he phrased it, he said very explicitly, 'I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.'
ATF Fast and Furious: New documents show Attorney General Eric Holder was briefed in July 2010
Sharyl Attkisson -- CBS News
10/4/2011
New documents obtained by CBS News show Attorney General Eric Holder was sent briefings on the controversial Fast and Furious operation as far back as July 2010. That directly contradicts his statement to Congress.
On May 3, 2011, Holder told a Judiciary Committee hearing, "I'm not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks."
Yet internal Justice Department documents show that at least ten months before that hearing, Holder began receiving frequent memos discussing Fast and Furious.
New Fast and Furious docs released by White House
Sharyl Attkisson -- CBS News
09/30/2011
Late Friday, the White House turned over new documents in the Congressional investigation into the ATF "Fast and Furious" gunwalking scandal.
The documents show extensive communications between then-ATF Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix office Bill Newell - who led Fast and Furious - and then-White House National Security Staffer Kevin O'Reilly. Emails indicate the two also spoke on the phone. Such detailed, direct communications between a local ATF manager in Phoenix and a White House national security staffer has raised interest among Congressional investigators looking into Fast and Furious. Newell has said he and O'Reilly are long time friends.
ATF agents say that in Fast and Furious, their agency allowed thousands of assault rifles and other weapons to be sold to suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels. At least two of the guns turned up at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry last December.
Congressman Issa discards mainstream media for bloggers
Anthony Martin, Examiner
09/19/2011
This morning bloggers who have written extensively on the 'Project Gunwalker' scandal--also known as 'Operation Fast and Furious'--had an email waiting for them from U.S. Congressman Darrell Issa, R-California, inviting them to participate in a conference call on the investigation into the scandal. In issuing the invitation, Issa went around the mainstream media, discarding them in fact, in order to go directly to the ones who have faithfully investigated and reported the facts concerning this case.
Issa's decision marks a watershed event, signaling that the era of big media domination of the news is over.
Although Issa did not say so directly, the news conference with bloggers is symbolic of deep frustration. The mainstream media's handling of the scandal has been less than thorough to say the least. Most have ignored it outright. The rest have treated the story as a minor occurrence during which 'a sting operation went awry due to the misguided actions of rogue ATF agents.'
End of story.
However, that is clearly not the story. The story is about an attack on the rights of American citizens by a rogue Administration that deliberately skewed the statistics on U.S. guns in Mexico so that it could justify itself in calling for draconian new gun control laws and gun bans. And then when honest and conscientious ATF agents blew the whistle on the scheme, the Administration took great effort to cover it up.
Secret recordings raise new questions in ATF 'Gunwalker' operation
Sheryl Atkinson -- CBS News
09/19/2011
WASHINGTON - CBS News has obtained secretly recorded conversations that raise questions as to whether some evidence is being withheld in the murder of a Border Patrol agent.
The tapes were recorded approximately mid-March 2011 by the primary gun dealer cooperating with ATF in its "Fast and Furious" operation: Andre Howard, owner of Lone Wolf Trading Company in Glendale, Arizona. He's talking with the lead case ATF case agent Hope MacAllister.
The tapes have been turned over to Congressional investigators and the Inspector General.
As CBS News first reported last February, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allegedly allowed thousands of weapons to "walk" onto the streets without interdiction into the hands of suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels in its operation "Fast and Furious."
Congress expands Fast and Furious probe to White House
Richard A. Serrano -- LA Times
09/09/2011
Congressional investigators reviewing the failed gun-tracking program Operation Fast and Furious have formally asked the Obama administration to turn over copies of "all records" involving three key White House national security officials and the program, other ATF gun cases in Phoenix, and all communications between the White House and the ATF field office in Arizona.
The letter signed Friday by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, was sent to National Security Advisor Thomas E. Donilon, a top aide to President Obama.
It marks a significant step in the committee's investigation into the failed gun-tracking operation, as the committee begins to broaden its investigation from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and targets White House and Department of Justice officials.
This material, Issa and Grassley said, "will enable us to determine the extent of the involvement of White House staff in Operation Fast and Furious."
White House officials, along with those at the Justice Department, said they have been cooperating in the widening probe, begun earlier this year when several ATF whistleblowers alerted Congress that Fast and Furious weapons were found at the scene of the slaying of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
A White House official said that "no one at the White House knew about the investigative tactics being used in the operation, let alone any decision to let guns walk."
Evidence Suggests Cover-Up in ATF Scandal, as More Guns Appear at Crime Scenes
Fox News
09/02/2011
Just hours after the death of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, federal officials tried to cover up evidence that the gun that killed Terry was one the government intentionally helped sell to the Mexican cartels in a weapons trafficking program known as Operation Fast and Furious.
The revelation comes just days after a huge shake-up of government officials who oversaw the failed anti-gun trafficking program and Congress renewed its demand for more answers.
Also late Thursday, Sen. Charles Grassley's office revealed that 31 more Fast and Furious guns have been found at 12 violent crime scenes in Mexico.
Heritage Foundation Morning Bell: The Fast and Furious Scandal Continues
The Heritage Foundation
08/31/2011
A U.S. government gun-trafficking investigation gone horribly wrong has resulted in the death of a U.S. Border Patrol officer, some 2,000 firearms in the hands of criminals, and the dismissal of a 24-year veteran law enforcement official. This is the story of Fast and Furious, and yesterday the latest chapter unfolded when two top officials associated with the operation were removed from their positions, while a third individual resigned.
The story begins in the fall of 2009, when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) office in Phoenix, Arizona, began selling weapons to small-time gun buyers in the hopes of tracing them to major weapons traffickers along the southwestern border and into Mexico. Their efforts failed, the number of arms unaccounted for numbers around 1,500 as of late July, and about two-thirds of those guns ended up in Mexico, according to congressional testimony.
Tragically, the botched operation has had serious consequences. On the night of December 15, 2010, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was shot and killed during an effort to catch several bandits targeting illegal immigrants in Arizona near the border. When law enforcement rushed to the scene, they discovered two of the killers' assault rifles that were among those sold as part of Operation Fast and Furious. Additionally, 57 Fast and Furious weapons have been connected to at least an additional 11 violent crimes in the U.S.
In December 2010, ATF agent Vince Cefalu spoke out about the operation before the first reports on the story appeared in February. FoxNews.com reports that Cefalu said at the time, "Simply put, we knowingly let hundreds of guns and dozens of identified bad guys go across the border." Other agents later came forward, congressional hearings have been held, and President Barack Obama called the operation "a serious mistake." Cefalu, though, was forced to resign.
Yesterday, more Fast and Furious–related personnel changes came about when the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Kenneth Melson, the acting head of the ATF who presided over the operation, is being replaced and transferred to the Office of Legal Policy where he will serve as a senior advisor on forensic science. Heritage's Lachlan Markay reports that "Melson bucked his superiors at DOJ in July by revealing details about the operation to congressional investigators in a closed door meeting with Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), who have been investigating the operation in their respective roles."
Also on Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney for Arizona, Dennis Burke, announced his resignation. The Hill reports that "Burke oversaw the legal aspects of the Fast and Furious operation, providing advice to agents involved." And The Arizona Republic reports that the lead prosecutor for Operation Fast and Furious cases in Burke's office was also reassigned Tuesday. Issa, who has led the congressional investigation into the case, said that even with yesterday's news, he will continue looking for answers:
While the reckless disregard for safety that took place in Operation Fast and Furious certainly merits changes within the Department of Justice, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee will continue its investigation to ensure that blame isn’t offloaded on just a few individuals for a matter that involved much higher levels of the Justice Department.
Meanwhile, the White House has said little about Fast and Furious. In June, President Obama said in a press conference: "My Attorney General has made clear that he wouldn’t have ordered gun running into Mexico. . . That would not be an appropriate step by the ATF." He then deflected further questions by citing an "ongoing investigation." And press secretary Jay Carney previously said that the President "did not know about or authorize this operation." But as Heritage's Rory Cooper wrote, "If that’s the case, how could neither he nor Attorney General Eric Holder not know about an operation that everyone else at the Department of Justice seemed to be actively involved in, including the Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Attorney and head of the ATF?"
And if the White House has been silent, so has the media. It has been 57 days since the press has questioned the White House on the matter, when ABC's Jake Tapper peppered press secretary Jay Carney on the issue, asking why the public knows so little about the story, what the Administration is doing to get to the bottom of it, whether the acting head of ATF would go to Capitol Hill to testify on the subject, whether it is something the White House is worried about, and if the President upset about it. Carney's reply: He referred Tapper to the Department of Justice and remarked, "I think you could assume that the President takes this very seriously."
The President should take it seriously. And so should the American people. The ATF sold guns to criminals in Mexico, a life has been taken, and crimes have been committed with the weapons that were trafficked by the federal government. And yet, shockingly, questions remain under the Administration that called itself "the most transparent in history." It's time for more answers.
US "Operation Castaway": Did ATF Sell Guns to Honduran Gangs Too?
The Blaze
07/11/2011
The "Project Gunrunner" case is now pointing towards possible ATF sales of weapons bound for Honduras, including a reported 1,000 guns to members of the ruthless MS-13 gang. The program is called "Operation Castaway," and in reports it sounds remarkably similar to "Operation Fast and Furious."
Last week, the Blaze reported on the controversy surrounding "Operation Fast and Furious," an offshoot of the Project Gunrunner program. The Attorney General is under scrutiny after allegations that the ATF knowingly allowed straw buyers in the US to purchase weapons bound for Mexican drug cartels and "let them walk," meaning they dropped surveillance on the buyers and lost track of the weapons.There are also accusations that as part of the Project Gunrunner program, ATF agents told gun store owners to sell to suspected criminals, against the owners' objections, and that there was a top down ATF policy that accepted the weapons would cross international boundaries.
ATF official: I told the White House about Fast & Furious
Ed Morrissey at Hot Air
07/27/2011
What did Barack Obama know about Operation Fast and Furious, and when did he know it? Rep. Darrell Issa's committee uncovered an explosive nugget of information from the subpoena of ATF e-mail, which went public in yesterday's hearings. The ATF manager of the Phoenix office notified a White House official of Operation Fast and Furious as an update on the overall Project Gunrunner effort, connecting the controversial operation directly to the White House for the first time:
At a lengthy hearing on ATF's controversial gunwalking operation today, a key ATF manager told Congress he discussed the case with a White House National Security staffer as early as September 2010. The communications were between ATF Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix office, Bill Newell, and White House National Security Director for North America Kevin O'Reilly. Newell said the two are longtime friends. The content of what Newell shared with O'Reilly is unclear and wasn't fully explored at the hearing. …
Worse Than Gunwalker? State Dept. Allegedly Sold Guns to Zetas
Pajamas Media
07/22/2011
Phil Jordan, a former CIA operative and one-time leader of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's El Paso Intelligence Center, claims that the Obama administration is running guns to the violent Zetas cartel through the direct commercial sale of military grade weapons:
Jordan, who served as director of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's El Paso Intelligence Center in 1995, said the Zetas have shipped large amounts of weapons purchased in the Dallas area through El Paso.
Robert "Tosh" Plumlee, a former CIA contract pilot, told the Times he supported Jordan's allegations, adding that the Zetas have reportedly bought property in the Columbus, N.M., border region to stash weapons and other contraband.
"From the intel, it appears that a company was set up in Mexico to purchase weapons through the U.S. Direct Commercial Sales Program, and that the company may have had a direct link to the Zetas."
"Operation Fast & Furious" -- What Did Obama Know and When Did he Know It?
Investors Business Daily
07/28/2011
Scandal: A former ATF special agent tells Congress a National Security Council staffer was informed about Operation Fast and Furious before guns allowed into Mexico wound up at the murder scene of a U.S. agent.
The latest evidence that both the White House and attorney general knew and approved of Project Gunrunner and its deadly offshoot, Operation Fast and Furious, came this week in the testimony of William Newell, ATF special agent in charge of the Phoenix office, before Rep. Darrell Issa's House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
That the "stench of cover-up," as Fox News analyst Brit Hume described the administration's handling of the matter, may reach even into the Oval Office itself was evidenced by Newell's testimony that he communicated with Kevin O'Reilly, a staffer on President Obama's National Security Council, about Operation Fast and Furious in September 2010.
Fast And Furious Scandal: A Watergate For Obama?
Investors Business Daily
07/13/2011
Border: A 2-year-old video shows a high Justice official saying "the president has directed us," including the attorney general, to speed up Project Gunrunner and the offshoot that got a border agent killed.
This tape has no 18-minute gap, and while it does not feature the president himself, the March 24, 2009, video may rival the tape that turned a "third-rate burglary" into a presidential resignation. No one died at Watergate. Agent Brian Terry lost his life in the administration's obsessive pursuit of gun control.
In addition to Agent Terry, Immigration Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata was also killed in a separate incident by a weapon allowed to "walk" into Mexico from the U.S. as part of the administration's third-rate alleged attempt to track and catch gun traffickers.
The video shows Deputy Attorney General David Ogden, who would resign nine months later after less than a year's service, telling reporters at a Department of Justice briefing of major policy initiatives to fight the Mexican drug cartels.
Holder Lied: DOJ News Release Shows Obama Admin Approved ATF Mexico Weapons Smuggling
Tim King Salem-News.com
07/9/2011
(SALEM, Ore.) - (This is an update and overview: Report on Eric Holder & U.S. Weapons Smuggling Program to Mexico Making Rounds) New information indicates that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's actions are squarely behind the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) operation known as "Fast and Furious", which orchestrated the delivery of almost 2,000 weapons to Mexican drug cartels[1].
Holder openly proclaimed his connection to the operation in April 2009 during a publicized speech in Mexico, then told a Congressional Committee in May 2011, "I probably heard of Fast and Furious the first time in the last few weeks."[2]
The ATF weapons smuggling ring involved the arrest of several government officials with the city of Columbus, New Mexico including the mayor and police chief, but that is all[3].
They were apparently known from the beginning and the weapons deals with 'straw buyers' were videotaped. Smuggled U.S. weapons from this operation, described as mostly semi automatic versions of military weapons like the AK-47, were found to be used in the shooting deaths of two U.S. federal agents.
A Chronology of Examiner.com Articles of A Journalist's Guides to Project Gunwalker
Examiner.com
This is a collection of updates from the Examiner.com and Sipsey Street Irregulars beginning Dec. 28, 2010 and ending July 8, 2011. It includes contributions from regional Gun Rights Examiners.
- Click here for the Part One chronology from Dec. 28, 2010 through March 8, 2011.
- Click here for Part Two, beginning on March 9, 2011 and ending on April 15, 2011.
- Click here for Part Three, beginning on April 17, 2011 and ending on June 19, 2011.
- Click here for Part Four, beginning on June 20, 2011 and ending on July 8, 2011.
Solyndra
Steven Chu Should Lose His Job Over The Solyndra Scandal
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Nov 17, 2011
Corruption: The Secretary of Energy takes responsibility for and defends the granting of a half-billion-dollar-loan guarantee to an imploding solar panel maker. But that's not where the campaign donor buck stopped.
In testimony Thursday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Steven Chu, caught in a tangled web of administration deceit regarding a $535 million guaranteed loan to Solyndra, tried but failed to continue the administration line that the affair was just a good-faith bet that went bad.
"As the Secretary of Energy, the final decisions on Solyndra were mine, and I made them with the best interest of the taxpayer in mind," Chu claimed in his opening statement. "I want to be clear: Over the course of Solyndra's loan guarantee, I did not make any decision based on political considerations."
If political considerations were not involved, then explain the Oct. 30, 2010, email in which advisers to Solyndra's primary investor, Argonaut Equity, said the Energy Department had strongly urged the company to put off an announcement of looming layoffs until Nov. 3, the day after the midterm elections in which President Obama's failed stimulus was a hot issue.
Energy Sec'y Chu Defends Loan To Now-Failed Solyndra
SEAN HIGGINS -- INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Nov 17, 2011
In his first public comments on the Solyndra scandal, Energy Secretary Steven Chu conceded no errors or mistakes in judgment regarding the $535 million federal loan guarantee given to the now-bankrupt solar company. He declined to apologize to taxpayers.
Chu shrugged off the loss, telling a House Energy and Com merce subcommittee that he was "disappointed in the outcome of this particular loan" even as he admitted that taxpayers were likely to get "not very much" of the funds back. And he wouldn't rule out that other green energy loan guarantees may be in trouble.
The Nobel-prize winning physicist did state, "The final decisions on Solyndra were mine." But when Energy Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., asked who should apologize to taxpayers, Chu declined to answer directly, calling the situation "extremely unfortunate."
A Gold Rush of Subsidies in Clean Energy Search
ERIC LIPTON and CLIFFORD KRAUSS -- New York Times.com
Nov 11, 2011
Halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, on a former cattle ranch and gypsum mine, NRG Energy is building an engineering marvel: a compound of nearly a million solar panels that will produce enough electricity to power about 100,000 homes.
The project is also a marvel in another, less obvious way: Taxpayers and ratepayers are providing subsidies worth almost as much as the entire $1.6 billion cost of the project. Similar subsidy packages have been given to 15 other solar- and wind-power electric plants since 2009.
The government support — which includes loan guarantees, cash grants and contracts that require electric customers to pay higher rates — largely eliminated the risk to the private investors and almost guaranteed them large profits for years to come. The beneficiaries include financial firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, conglomerates like General Electric, utilities like Exelon and NRG — even Google.
White House Email: 'Coming Storm' Over Solyndra 'And Other Inside DOE Deals'
MATTHEW MOSK -- ABC News.com
Nov 11, 2011
New internal White House emails reveal that a scathing critique of Energy Secretary Steven Chu by a former Obama political advisor was widely circulated at the highest levels of the administration.
The Feb. 25, 2011 email that sparked the deliberations landed on West Wing desks just as the solar energy firm Solyndra was starting to show outward signs of financial trouble. It was sent by Dan Carol, a former Obama campaign staffer and clean energy advocate who was described by Obama's then-Chief of Staff Pete Rouse as someone whose views "reflect the President's general philosophy on energy policy."
Carol's four-page proposal to restructure the Energy Department included the blunt recommendation that Chu be fired, and that his leadership team also be replaced, calling it time for "serious changes, even if they are uncomfortable to make."
Emails show Obama donor discussed Solyndra with WH
Philip Klein Senior Editorial Writer -- Washington Examiner
Nov 9, 2011
Newly obtained emails released by House investigators suggest that George Kaiser, a billionaire Obama donor and chief investor in bankrupt solar panel manufacturer Solyndra, discussed the company with White House officials, directly contradicting earlier accounts.
In a letter to the White House, House Energy and Commerce committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich, and oversight panel chair Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., disclosed the emails including one from March 5, 2010 between Kaiser and Steve Mitchell, Kaiser’s venture capital firm Argonaut.
"BTW, a couple of weeks ago, when Ken and I were visiting with a group of Administration folks in DC who are in charge of the stimulus process (White House, not DOE) and Solyndra came up, every one of them responded simultaneously about their thorough knowledge of the Solyndra story, suggesting it was one of their prime poster children."
WH rejects subpoena request for Solyndra docs
Philip Klein Senior Editorial Writer -- Washington Examiner
Nov 4, 2011
President Obama's attorney sent a letter to Congressional investigators on Friday, saying the White House would not cooperate with a subpoena requesting documents related to its doling out a $535 million loan guarantee to now bankrupt solar panel manufacturer Solyndra.
"I can only conclude that your decision to issue a subpoena, authorized by a party-line vote, was driven more by partisan politics than a legitimate effort to conduct a responsible investigation," Obama's counsel, Kathryn Ruemmler, wrote in a letter to the top Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce committee. (Read Ruemmler's full letter here).
Committee chairman Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich, blasted the White House response:
“We have been reasonable every step of the way in this investigation, and it is a shame that the Obama Administration and House Democrats continue to put up partisan roadblocks to hide the truth from taxpayers. Solyndra was a jobs program gone bad, and we must learn the lessons of Solyndra as we work to turn our economy around and put folks back to work. Our judicious and methodical work over the last eight months has garnered tens of thousands of pages of documents from DOE and OMB that have proven we are on the right track. Now, we need to know the White House’s role in the Solyndra debacle in order to learn the full truth about why taxpayers now find themselves a half billion dollars in the hole. The White House could have avoided the need for subpoena authorizations if they had simply chosen to cooperate. That would have been the route we preferred, and frankly, it would have been better for the White House to get the information out now, rather than continue to drag this out. Our request for documents is reasonable - we are not demanding the President’s blackberry messages as we are respectful of Executive Privilege. What is the West Wing trying to hide? We owe it to American taxpayers to find out.”
Solyndra Without the Tears
Wall St. Journal
Nov 3, 2011
Another day, another White House-backed clean energy favorite hits skid row. Here's a thought experiment: Would the Obama Administration's record be better or worse if it tried to pick losers instead of winners?
On Sunday Beacon Power Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection, less than a year after the Tyngsboro, Massachusetts-based company received an Energy Department loan guarantee of some $43 million. Taxpayers everywhere can be thankful that sum is much less than the $535 million that vaporized when Solyndra entered Chapter 11, but curb your enthusiasm: DOE is trying to spin this one as a qualified success.
Beacon Power secured the guarantee to help build a $75 million facility in Stephentown, New York, which leverages the company's flywheel energy storage technology that helps manage electricity supply as demand rises and falls, like a shock absorber. Such "smart grids" are a green preoccupation to accommodate more intermittent wind and solar generation that are less stable and reliable sources than, say, natural gas or coal.
For the soft bigotry of low expectations file, Energy Department spokesman Dan Leistikow wrote in a statement Monday that the Beacon plant is "up and running" and "generating revenue." That does separate it from the many failing, money-losing ventures that his bosses also supported. But Beacon's revenue stream may increase mainly due to recent federal rules that mandate that utilities (and therefore consumers) pay well above market prices for the "frequency regulation services" that Beacon provides.
Once these de facto subsidies are on line, Mr. Leistikow continued, it should relieve some of the "enormous financial strain" that economics in the absence of industrial planning exacted. But if the company doesn't rebound, not to worry. Mr. Leistikow noted that Beacon has assets that can be liquidated, as well as cash reserves, and the U.S. government is the only senior secured creditor. Another government success.
Solyndra loan deal: Warnings about legality came from within Obama administration
Carol D. Leonnig and and Joe Stephens -- Washington Post
10/7/2011
Energy Department officials were warned that their plan to help a failing solar company by restructuring its $535 million federal loan could violate the law and should be cleared with the Justice Department, according to newly obtained e-mails from within the Obama administration.
The e-mails show that Energy Department officials moved ahead anyway with a new deal that would repay company investors before taxpayers if the company defaulted. The e-mails, which were reviewed by The Washington Post, show for the first time concerns within the administration about the legality of the Energy Department’s extraordinary efforts to help Solyndra, the California solar company that went bankrupt Aug. 31.
The FBI raided Solyndra last month, shortly after it closed its doors.
The records provided Friday by a government source also show that an Energy Department stimulus adviser, Steve Spinner, pushed for Solyndra’s loan despite having recused himself because his wife’s law firm did work for the company. Spinner, who left the agency in September 2010, did not respond to requests for comment Friday.
E-mails show Energy Department was moving toward second loan for Solyndra
Carol D. Leonnig and and Joe Stephens -- Washington Post
10/5/2011
Newly released e-mails show the Obama administration’s Energy Department was poised to give Solyndra a second taxpayer loan of $469 million last year, even as the company’s financial situation grew increasingly dire.
The department was still considering providing the second loan guarantee to the solar-panel manufacturer in April and May 2010, at a time when Solyndra’s auditors were already warning that the company was in danger of collapsing.
Details of the plan are revealed in e-mails released this week by Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is investigating the original loan. On Wednesday, the probe intensified as committee Republicans requested that the White House provide all documents, dating back to President Obama’s inauguration, that would show communications between staff members and other officials regarding Solyndra’s original $535 million federal loan guarantee.
Republican leaders said that documents obtained in recent weeks show that Obama’s “closest confidantes” monitored the loan, and that his campaign donors offered advice on the company.
Law firms representing Solyndra executives are major Democratic donors
Matthew Boyle - The Daily Caller
09/20/2011
The law firms representing two prominent Solyndra executives are major Democratic Party donors, The Daily Caller has learned.
Reuters first reported that the bankrupt company’s CEO, Brian Harrison, and CFO, W.G. Stover, plan to refuse to talk openly to congressional investigators about how their company squandered $535 million in taxpayer money. They will invoke their Fifth Amendment right not to self-incriminate themselves at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Friday.
The law firms representing the executives are Orrick, Harrington and Sutcliffe, and Keker and Van Nest. Both are major contributors to Democrats and both have handsomely helped President Barack Obama’s political efforts, according to information retrieved from Center for Responsive Politics databanks.
Employees at Orrick, Harrington and Sutcliffe, which is representing Harrison, have donated more than $1.3 million to federal campaigns, political parties and Political Action Committees since 1990. More than 95 percent of those donations went to Democrats, including $184,000 to Obama.
What Solyndra Fiasco? The Department of Energy keeps shoveling out taxpayer money
Wall St. Journal
09/29/2011
If you thought the $535 million Solyndra scandal had chastened the fearless venture capitalists of the Obama Administration, think again. The Department of Energy shovelled out $1.1 billion in new loan guarantees to solar projects in Nevada and Arizona Wednesday, and more deals are pending before the $18 billion program funded by the 2009 stimulus expires Friday.
We'll go out on a limb and say the rush raises questions about how carefully these outlays are being vetted, especially in light of solar-panel-maker Solyndra's August bankruptcy. The FBI, Treasury Department and Congress are all investigating who approved the politically connected California company's loan guarantee and why. The case is an embarrassment for the White House, which touted Solyndra as a model for its green jobs agenda.
Yet the Department of Energy seems oddly removed from the uproar. In a statement yesterday, Secretary Steven Chu said: "If we want to be a player in the global clean energy race, we must continue to invest in innovative technologies that enable commercial-scale deployment of clean, renewable power like solar." Translation: China is throwing taxpayer money into solar, so Americans should, too.
That comparison isn't straightforward; without a free media, it's impossible to know how many Solyndras Beijing is creating, much less how many are making any money. We doubt most Americans want its government to get in the business of competing dollar-for-subsidy-dollar with the politically directed credit decisions of the Chinese Communist Party. If solar energy collection technology has a chance to be a commercial winner, someone will invest in it. If no one does, there may be a very good reason.
One of those reasons may be this: The Energy Information Administration estimates that new natural gas-fired plants will create electricity at a cost of $63.10 per megawatt hour, compared to the Administration's "green" favorites, offshore wind and solar thermal plants—like the one in Nevada funded yesterday—which cost $243.20 and $311.80.
Even if you believe in the "green job" mantra, here's some more math: Yesterday's $737 million loan guarantee to Tonopah Solar Energy will create "600 construction (union) jobs and 45 permanent jobs," according to the company. The $337 million loan guarantee to Sempra Energy "will fund up to 300 construction (union) jobs." That's $1.1 billion for 45 permanent jobs.
By comparison, the proposed Keystone XL pipeline to carry crude oil from Western Canada to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast would create some 13,000 union jobs and around 118,000 "spin-off" jobs—if the U.S. State Department ever gets around to approving it. And taxpayers wouldn't have to risk a dime.
It's always possible that some of the Energy Department's latest investments will turn out to be winners, but if they do then the profits will go to the private shareholders. If they fail like Solyndra, then taxpayers will get stuck with the bill. Come to think of it, that really isn't all that different from China's political business model, a free press and democratic Congress aside.
GOP's Solyndra probe threatens to ensnare Energy Secretary Chu
Andrew Restuccia for The Hill
09/29/2011
The controversy over a $535 million loan guarantee to the now-bankrupt California solar firm Solyndra is threatening to dim the star of Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a physicist and Nobel Prize winner who has rarely been thrust into the political spotlight.
Republican lawmakers have set their sites on Chu, who for three years has managed to avoid being dragged into a litany of political battles waged by Republicans and the White House on energy and environmental issues.
The GOP has for weeks lobbed a slew of allegations at the administration, arguing officials rushed a final decision on the loan guarantee and missed a series of red flags that hinted at the company’s financial troubles. Solyndra declared bankruptcy two years after receiving the Energy Department loan, resulting in layoffs for 1,100 workers.
Obama's Solyndra scandal reeks of the Chicago Way
John Kass for the Chicago Tribune
09/18/2011
The Solyndra scandal cost at least a half-billion public dollars. It is plaguing President Barack Obama. And it's being billed as a Washington story.
But back in Obama's political hometown, those of us familiar with the Chicago Way can see something else in Solyndra — something that the Washington crowd calls "optics." In fact, it's not just a Washington saga — it has all the elements of a Chicago City Hall story, except with more zeros.
Joe Biden The FBI is investigating what happened with Solyndra, a solar panel company that got a $535 million government-backed loan with the help of the Obama White House over the objections of federal budget analysts.
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden got a nice photo op. They got to make speeches about being "green." But then Solyndra went bankrupt. Americans lost jobs. Taxpayers got stuck with the bill. And members of Congress are now in high dudgeon and making speeches.
Obama fundraiser linked to loan program that aided Solyndra
Chicago Tribune
09/16/2011
Reporting from Washington and Los Angeles— The White House faced mounting political complications as a second top fundraiser for President Obama was linked to a federal loan guarantee program that backed a now-bankrupt Silicon Valley solar energy company, and as two California lawmakers called for investigations of a state tax break granted to the firm.
Steve Spinner, who helped monitor the Energy Department's issuance of $25 billion in government loan guarantees to renewable energy projects, was one of Obama's top fundraisers in 2008 and is raising money for the president's 2012 reelection campaign.
Spinner did not have any role in the selection of applicants for the loan program and, in fact, was recused from the decision to grant a $535-million loan guarantee to Solyndra Inc. because his wife's law firm represented the company, administration officials said Friday.
SOLYNDRA among 5 stimulus firms to go under
Patriot Update
09/16/2011
Solyndra, the solar panel company whose highly publicized failure and consequent investigation by federal authorities has flashed across headlines recently, isn’t the only business to go belly up after benefiting from a piece of the $800 billion economic stimulus package passed in 2009.
At least four other companies have received stimulus funding only to later file for bankruptcy, and two of those were working on alternative energy.
Evergreen Solar Inc., indirectly received $5.3 million through a state grant to open a $450 million facility in 2007 that employed roughly 800 people. SpectraWatt, based in Hopewell Junction, N.Y., is also a solar cell company that was spun out of Intel in 2008. In June 2009, SpectraWatt received a $500,000 grant from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory as part of the stimulus package. Mountain Plaza and Olsen’s Crop Service/Olsen’s Mills Acquisition Co. have also failed despite 2 million and 10 million respectively to increase employment and add equipment and machinery.
“Solar panels have been subsidized by the federal government. States’ governments are also subsidizing or giving taxpayers write-off on their tax return. And yet, these solar panels cannot make it in the competitive world without all these subsidies. And even with them, China is flooding the market with this cheap labor and the solar panels just don’t make sense,” House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns R-Fla., told Fox News.
Issa to launch probe of Obama actions on Solyndra, LightSquared
Justin Sink -- The Hill
09/20/2011
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Tuesday that his committee plans to investigate government loan programs to private corporations in light of allegations of improper dealings between the White House and failed energy company Solyndra and wireless start-up LightSquared.
"I want to see when the president and his cronies are picking winners and losers… it wasn't because there were large contributions given to them," the chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee said Tuesday morning on C-SPAN.
Issa said the committee was looking at whether it was improper for members of Congress or White House staff to select companies eligible for subsidized government loans when those companies could give campaign donations. Loan programs have been a popular tool to provide funding for popular industries — like tech, green energy, and American auto companies — at more favorable terms than could be secured privately.
Obama admin reworked Solyndra loan to favor donor
MATTHEW DALY -- AP
09/16/2011
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration restructured a half-billion dollar federal loan to a troubled solar energy company in such a way that private investors — including a fundraiser for President Barack Obama — moved ahead of taxpayers for repayment in case of a default, government records show.
Administration officials defended the loan restructuring, saying that without an infusion of cash earlier this year, solar panel maker Solyndra Inc. would likely have faced immediate bankruptcy, putting more than 1,000 people out of work.
Even with the federal help, Solyndra filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this month and laid off its 1,100 employees.
The Fremont, Calif.-based company was the first renewable-energy company to receive a loan guarantee under a stimulus-law program to encourage green energy and was frequently touted by the Obama administration as a model. Obama visited the company's Silicon Valley headquarters last year, and Vice President Joe Biden spoke by satellite at its groundbreaking.
Since then, the implosion of the company and revelations that the administration hurried Office of Management and Budget officials to finish their review of the loan in time for the September 2009 groundbreaking has become an embarrassment for Obama as he sells his new job-creation program around the country.
Solyndra Scandal Ends Green Jobs Myth
The Heritage Foundation Morning Bell
09/16/2011
President Barack Obama's solution for America's unemployment woes has been a stubborn campaign to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on economic "stimulus"--much of it on so-called "green jobs." Report after report has shown the approach to be a total failure. And now, a new scandal involving Solyndra, a bankrupt solar panel company in California, should be the final nail in the coffin for the government’s meddling in the free market.
"[W]e can see the positive impacts [of the stimulus] right here at Solyndra," Obama claimed when he spoke at the company's newly unveiled factory in May of last year. He was correct that the results of his stimulus would be on display at that factory. But he was wrong that those results would be positive. Little more than a year later, the company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and plans to lay off more than 1,000 employees.
The Solyndra factory where Obama spoke was built after the company received a $535 million loan guarantee from the Energy Department as part of the stimulus's green jobs push. "Through the Recovery Act, this company received a loan to expand its operations," Obama noted. "This new factory is the result of those loans."
But "everyone knew that the plant wouldn’t work," according to a former Solyndra employee. So why was the President so sure of the plant’s success when he spoke there? What's more, the company was built on "a model that says, well, I can build something for six dollars and sell it for three dollars," according to an industry analyst. That would normally be a red flag for investors. So why did the President claim that "the true engine of economic growth will always be companies like Solyndra"?
The answer to both of those questions: The government's decisions are driven by politics and ideology and are divorced from economic reality. Want proof? Take a look at a January 31 e-mail between Office of Management and Budget staff regarding "Solyndra optics" -- that is, how the issue looks in the public's eyes. "If Solyndra defaults down the road, the optics will arguably be worse later than they would be today," they wrote, adding:
In addition, the timing will likely coincide with the 2012 campaign season heating up, whereas a default today could be put in the context of (and perhaps even get some credit for) fiscal discipline / good government because the Administration would be limiting further taxpayer exposure letting bad projects go, and could make public steps it is taking to learn lessons and improve / limit future lending.
In other words, in January the Administration was essentially letting the 2012 campaign dictate decisions on the federal government's financial involvement with Solyndra. They were not responding to normal profit-and-loss signals, as they should. Had Energy Department bureaucrats been investing their own money, they might have been more careful. But it was others' money -- taxpayers' money -- at stake. Self-interested investors, who naturally weed out bad investments, were wholly absent. The result: Taxpayers are likely to lose up to $535 million, while the people who made the decision to throw money at Solyndra have, so far, been completely insulated from reprisal.
Much attention has been paid to accusations of cronyism in the Energy Department, given that a major Solyndra investor is also a big Obama donor. But the fundamental lesson of the Solyndra scandal is not that money buys political favors. That now goes without saying. The real takeaway is that government intervention in the economy is a fool’s errand, as Heritage’s Nicolas Loris notes:
Solyndra exemplifies the government’s abysmal track record of picking winners and losers in the marketplace, and the solar company is not the only example of energy stimulus struggles. With a number of targeted energy tax credits set to expire at the end of this year or next, industry groups are lobbying hard for extensions. Especially given the U.S. fiscal situation, this is a time to end all energy subsidies—not to extend wasteful, market-distorting policies. When the government decides to favor a technology with subsidies, it’s a good bet that subsidy 'winner' is a loser in the marketplace.
Indeed, at least four other companies to receive money from Obama's stimulus package have gone bankrupt, Fox News reports.
Even where companies do create jobs, they do so at such exorbitant cost that the effort cannot reasonably be considered a success. To date, The Washington Post reports, the Energy Department loan guarantee program from which Solyndra benefitted has created one new permanent job for every $5.5 million spent. Lend that kind of money to a private business in an industry that doesn’t rely on taxpayer support, and it will put hundreds if not thousands to work.
Government subsidies are invitations for political favoritism, of course. But more importantly, as engines of job creation, they simply don't work (just ask Spain). Sure, the Administration's "green jobs" program has led to allegations of corruption. But it has also failed even in its foremost task of creating jobs for an economy with a chronic unemployment problem. Columnist Jim Pethokoukis writes, "Solyndra is the logical endpoint of Obamanomics." Unfortunately, the American people are paying the price for getting us there.
The Solar Orphan -- Solyndra suddenly has no political parents.
The Wall Street Journal
09/15/2011
Watching the denials of paternity yesterday in Congress, you'd think that failed solar company Solyndra was a political orphan instead of a former Administration darling and favorite of the President and Vice President.
Since the FBI raided the company's Freemont, California headquarters last week, Congress has ramped up its own investigation into how the company got a $535 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy in 2009. At a House Energy and Commerce hearing, lawmakers questioned Administration officials on whether the Solyndra approval had been rushed out the door as the Energy Department's first loan guarantee, despite remaining questions on its viability and emails that showed reservations among budget officials.
Committee Democrats and two Administration officials tried to pin the tail on the Bush Administration by noting that the Solyndra loan consideration began before President Obama took office. There's no doubt the late-Bush Presidency slid into big government senescence.
However in the Solyndra case, the Bush Administration's review board declined in January 2009 to act on the loan proposal, calling it "premature" and asking for more information. Two months later, in March, the Obama Administration's board signed off. Energy Department Loans Program Office Executive Director Jonathan Silver told the committee that "additional due diligence" was conducted in the short interim.
Canny old Henry Waxman changed the subject from taxpayers to Solyndra executives, claiming they misled federal officials even as the company teetered on bankruptcy. When the rosy scenarios touted by Mr. Obama and Joe Biden failed to materialize, he asked, was that because of unexpectedly tough competition from China, "or is the reason sloppy or inadequate vetting, or worse yet, corporate malfeasance?" Not included among his multiple-choice options was the possibility that the rushed loan and enthusiasm for it was the product of political favoritism toward Solyndra investor and Mr. Obama's campaign donor George Kaiser.
We get the game of dodgeball here, but the Administration still seems to think such loans are a splendid idea. No big deal was the message from White House deputy budget director Jeffrey Zients, who said the Energy Department backed many loans besides Solyndra's and that "We have reason to be optimistic that the portfolio as a whole will perform." Hey, when you're picking political winners and losers, taxpayers sometimes have to take a $500 million loss for the team.
Solyndra the 'tip of the iceberg'?
UPI.com
09/15/2011
WASHINGTON, Sept(UPI) -- The White House deflected criticism that it put pressure on officials to get major stimulus funding through for bankrupt solar panel maker Solyndra.
The FBI and officials from the U.S. Department of Energy last week raided Solyndra's offices in San Francisco. The raid was apparently in connection with $535 million in loan guarantees from the U.S. Energy Department, though the FBI didn't offer details about the raid.
Republican critics of U.S. President Barack Obama claim e-mail messages from 2009 suggest his administration used political pressure to get the loan through to showcase his commitment to a green economy, something Obama trumpeted in his State of the Union address in January.
White House spokesman Jay Carney, in statements to reports, said accelerating the process for Solyndra was part of an effort "to get an answer to make a scheduling decision."
Federal green energy loan guarantees could go to 15 more companies
Associated Press
09/15/2011
The Obama administration is moving to finalize as many as 15 loan guarantees for renewable energy companies before the stimulus program ends on Sept. 30, and Republicans are questioning whether that could lead to more failures like Solyndra Inc., a company that filed for bankruptcy and may leave taxpayers on the hook for a half-billion-dollar loan.
The loan guarantees essentially make it easier for the companies to get financing as the government guarantees repayment in the event of default. In Solyndra's case, the loan came from the government itself, but private banks often provide the financing.
A spokesman for the Energy Department said the department won't take any shortcuts during the approval process.
"We will only close the deals that are ready to close on Sept. 30," said spokesman Damien LaVera.
Solyndra employee: “Everyone knew the plant wouldn’t work”
The Right Scoop
09/14/2011
While we were focused on the debate last Wednesday night, Mark Levin got a call from someone who worked at the Solyndra plant, who gave some revealing details about this Solyndra scandal.
This is one of the more interesting things the caller said:
While we were out there, while we were building it – cause it is a half a billion dollar plant – everyone already knew that China had developed a more inexpensive way to manufacture these solar panels. Everyone knew that the plant wouldn’t work. But they still did it. They still built it.
She then emphasized that she isn’t even that high on the totem pole and she knew this stuff. So there’s no doubt in her mind that Obama and the White House knew that it wasn’t feasible.
Solyndra loan: White House pressed on review of solar company now under investigation
By Joe Stephens and Carol D. Leonnig -- Washington Post
09/13/2011
The Obama White House tried to rush federal reviewers for a decision on a nearly half-billion-dollar loan to the solar-panel manufacturer Solyndra so Vice President Biden could announce the approval at a September 2009 groundbreaking for the company’s factory, newly obtained e-mails show.
The Silicon Valley company, a centerpiece in President Obama’s initiative to develop clean energy technologies, had been tentatively approved for the loan by the Energy Department but was awaiting a final financial review by the Office of Management and Budget.
The August 2009 e-mails, released exclusively to The Washington Post, show White House officials repeatedly asking OMB reviewers when they would be able to decide on the federal loan and noting a looming press event at which they planned to announce the deal. In response, OMB officials expressed concern that they were being rushed to approve the company’s project without adequate time to assess the risk to taxpayers, according to information provided by Republican congressional investigators.
Obama Aides Pushed For Solyndra Decision
By Jim Snyder for Bloomberg
09/14/2011
President Barack Obama’s aides pressured White House budget officials to complete a review of a $535 million U.S. loan guarantee to Solyndra LLC, a solar-panel maker that has filed for bankruptcy protection, according to a House committee report based on e-mails and other documents.
Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee released the findings of a seven-month investigation into U.S. support for Fremont, California-based Solyndra before a scheduled hearing today with two witnesses from the administration. The Department of Energy and the Office of Management and Budget “did not take adequate steps to protect taxpayer dollars,” according to the report.
Solyndra, promoted by the Obama administration as a successful example of the use of stimulus money to spur development of a clean-energy industry, filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 6, and two days later its offices were raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Documents collected during the Republicans’ investigation “raise troubling questions” about whether the staff at the Office of Management and Budget “was rushed to complete its review of the Solyndra loan guarantee by Sept. 4, 2009, in time for a groundbreaking event organized at Solyndra’s facilities organized by the White House,” according to the report. White House officials wanted Vice President Joe Biden and Energy Secretary Steven Chu to participate in the event.
‘Not Ready’
The Office of Management and Budget’s average review time for loan-guarantee projects after Sept. 1, 2009, was 28 days, and the review of Solyndra’s proposal, from the Energy Department’s first presentation to OMB, was nine days, according to the committee’s report.
Earlier in the approval process for Solyndra, in an e-mail on March 10, 2009, an official at OMB official wrote a colleague, “This deal is NOT ready for prime time.”
Feds Raid Homes of Solyndra CEO, Execs
By RONNIE GREENE and MATTHEW MOSK iWATCH NEWS and ABC NEWS
09/09/2011
Federal agents have expanded their examination of the now-bankrupt California solar power company Solyndra, visiting the homes of the company's CEO and two of its executives, examining computer files and documents, iWatch News and ABC News have learned.
Agents visited the homes of CEO Brian Harrison and company founder Chris Gronet and a former executive, according to a source who agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity because of the legal sensitivity of the situation.
Gronet, reached at his home Friday morning, did not dispute that his home was visited by federal agents a day earlier.
"I'm sorry," Gronet said, "you probably understand full well that I cannot comment." The third executive could not be immediately reached.
Solyndra spokesman David Miller confirmed agents visited Harrison's home on the same day the FBI and Energy Department Inspector General seized boxes of records from the company's headquarters.
FBI raids solar panel company hailed by Obama
By Jim McElhatton and Jerry Seper -- Washington Times
09/08/2011
FBI agents on Thursday executed search warrants at the California headquarters of Solyndra LLC, which was awarded more than $500 million in federal stimulus loans in 2009 to make solar panels in what the Obama administration called part of an aggressive effort to put more Americans to work and end U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
But the firm filed a bankruptcy petition Tuesday in Delaware, shedding more than 900 full-time employees and leaving just a “core group” of 113 employees, according to bankruptcy records.
FBI spokesman Peter D. Lee said multiple search warrants were served at the company’s Fremont headquarters in what he called a joint investigation by the FBI and the Energy Department’s office of inspector general. But he said he could not provide any details about the ongoing probe.
Obama's Pet Billionaire at Solyndra Make Take White House Down
Finance.townhall.com
09/09/2011
A high profile, politically well-connected California solar energy company that had won a $535 million loan guarantee from the Obama Administration declared bankruptcy earlier this month and closed its doors sending 1100 workers to the unemployment line. The demise of Solyndra has already sparked an FBI investigation, congressional hearings, and raised numerous questions of political cronyism and corruption connected to the highest levels of the Obama Administration.
While the White House and Congressional Democrats feign surprise at the collapse of what was described as "the most hyped startup in the crowded Solar Energy field," it appears Obama Administration representatives were either easily duped or willingly blind to the facts. ABC News reports that Department of Energy officials have been regularly attending Solyndra board meetings for months as the company "careened towards bankruptcy" after blowing through the more than half a billion taxpayer dollars.
Solar Flare-out--Another green government favorite goes belly up...
Wall St. Journal
09/01/2011
Another day, another stimulus burnout. On Wednesday, solar panel maker and White House favorite Solyndra announced plans to suspend business and file for bankruptcy. Its demise is a reminder of the perils of politically directed investment.
This wasn't supposed to be the storyline. In March 2009, Solyndra was the first company to get an Energy Department loan guarantee, worth $535 million. Vice President Joe Biden spoke via closed circuit TV at the groundbreaking of the company's Fremont, California plant, and President Obama touted the thousands of jobs the stimulus money would create. Such investments were all the better, Mr. Obama said at a visit to the plant last spring, because "The true engine of economic growth will always be companies like Solyndra." You know, "green jobs."
Lots of venture capital companies bought into the hype, investing in green technology to piggyback their own capital on federal favoritism. Solyndra's relationship with the White House came under special scrutiny because of Solyndra backer and Tulsa billionaire George Kaiser's history as an Obama fundraiser. In a letter to Energy Secretary Steven Chu in February, the House Energy and Commerce Committee raised concerns about the loan, noting that the company had suffered "financial setbacks," and asking for information about "whether Solyndra was the right candidate" for the loan guarantee.
The Department of Energy marched on anyway, and yesterday it said it has "always recognized that not every one of the innovative companies supported by our loans and loan guarantees would succeed." Well, sure, businesses fail, but most failures don't saddle taxpayers with as much as $535 million in potential losses.
Solyndra's story is more evidence that trendy, politically directed investments don't make for efficient allocation of capital. Beyond the immediate losses, they mean the money wasn't available for market-directed investment with a better chance to succeed. This is how you get a 1% recovery.
|
|
|
Reading List
|
|
