Oh man; someone at the AP screwed up and let the cat out of the bag and the White House ain’t gonna be happy.
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.
Uh oh. This isn’t good. It gets worse…
An Associated Press review of regulatory filings shows that Solyndra was hemorrhaging hundreds of millions of dollars for years before the Obama administration signed off on the original $535 million loan guarantee in September 2009. The company eventually got $528 million.
Given the company’s shaky financial condition, Republican lawmakers say the decision to restructure the loan raises questions about whether the administration protected political supporters at taxpayers’ expense.
“You should have protected the taxpayers and made some forceful actions here after this analysis,” Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., told a top Energy Department official this week. “Because you should have seen the problems. And you should have said, ‘Taxpayers need to be protected and this has got to stop.’ “
Remember the Bush administration scuttled this loan. They were warned that Solyndra was a bad risk and they took that warning seriously. Obama, on the other hand, wanted to reward a campaign contributor. WITH YOUR MONEY.
Under terms of the February loan restructuring, two private investors — Argonaut Ventures I LLC and Madrone Partners LP — stand to be repaid before the U.S. government if the solar company is liquidated. The two firms gave the company a total of $69 million in emergency loans. The loans are the only portion of their investments that have repayment priority above the U.S. government.
Argonaut is an investment vehicle of the George Kaiser Family Foundation of Tulsa, Okla. The foundation is headed by billionaire George Kaiser, a major Obama campaign contributor and a frequent visitor to the White House. Kaiser raised between $50,000 and $100,000 for Obama’s 2008 campaign, federal election records show. Kaiser has made at least 16 visits to the president’s aides since 2009, according to White House visitor logs.
That’s a whole lot of money for a campaign contributor. In fact, if you consider the investment of $150,000, the $69m in returns is a great investment. Anyone want to pool some money and invest in this fund? I sure would.
The decision by Energy Secretary Steven Chu was not an easy one, Silver told the House Energy and Commerce Committee, but appeared to be the right action at the time.
“Without DOE’s agreement to restructure Solyndra’s loan, the company likely would have faced bankruptcy much earlier — in December 2010″ or soon after, Silver said. “Restructuring gave them a fighting chance to compete and succeed, and kept approximately 1,000 workers from losing their jobs.”
Republicans were not impressed.
“If their model was weak to begin with, and then the market gets worse, doesn’t that mean that maybe we should have just not thrown good money after bad?” asked Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va. “Because now we’re in a worse position in the bankruptcy courts to get our money back.”
Pft. Get our money back.
From whom? It’s over. We lost. Again. Just like GM.
They lost YOUR MONEY and they lined the pockets of a wealthy campaign contributor / bundler.
Feel better?