Posted on 09/30/2011 9:36:15 AM PDT by rzman21
John Rossomando Follow John on Twitter
The Solyndra scandal along with subsequent revelations that politically connected yet financially troubled solar manufacturers may have traded political influence in return for billions worth of loan guarantees makes the need to ban pay-to-play in federal contracting loom larger than ever.
When I first looked into Solyndra last winter, I thought it was peculiar that the president, the vice president and the secretary of energy decided to show up at a random solar company to showcase a particular loan guarantee.
That immediately smelled of a political rat to me. But lone behold there stood Oklahoma billionaire George Kaiser who raised $53,000 for President Obama in 2008 and who is a major investor in Solyndra through his Argonaut Private Equity Firm.
And now a look at the makeup of some of some of the other more recent green jobs loan guarantees in the solar industry.
The Department of Energy rushes out a $737 million loan guarantee to Santa Monica-based SolarReserve with hours ticking away before the green jobs program expires. Yet what do we find when we take a closer look at this company?
A certain Steve Miller who represents Kaiser’s company on its board of directors as well as Solyndra; a representative of Pacific Capital Management where former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s brother-in-law, Ronald Pelosi, holds a position of leadership; two representatives of the U.S. Renewable Energy Group that has ties to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid; and heavy-hitting Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta, brother of Obama ally John Podesta, who lobbied for SolarReserve to the tune of $100,000.
And then there’s First Solar, the recipient in $2.1 billion in loan guarantees despite the collapse of its stock price since February. Its chairman and founder Michael Ahearn, a major Democratic donor, dumped $69 million in stock in August. What does he know that the Obama administration is looking the other way at?
And the investment website The Motley Fool reported Wednesday that First Solar faces a potentially bleak future as its technology increasingly is becoming eclipsed by its competitors, as I found in yesterday’s Daily Caller piece. (http://dailycaller.com/2011/09/29/more-solar-companies-led-by-democratic-donors-received-federal-loan-guarantees/#ixzz1ZPGflGmX)
How can it be that companies with terrible financials can be allowed anywhere near billions worth of taxpayer loan guarantees in absence of political favors?
Dave Weigel writes over at Slate: “It's early in this scandal. Will loan guarantees be a political problem for a few months, as Republicans find a Democratic donor within six degrees of every program?* Or will they become the next earmarks — once the way that Washington send money back to congressional districts, now politically toxic?”
He’s right, companies should compete on the merits of their proposals and their financial viability alone and not because their competitive advantage is political largesse.
The federal government needs to do what the states have done and criminalize pay-to-play politics to ensure that Democratic and Republican donors are not able to personally benefit from their connections. It also would help to deter politicians from corrupting the system.
Control over the contracting process should be placed under the auspices of the inspectors general of each agency to ensure federal contracting is free from political largesse.
A whole pile of people need to be punished for this outrage . . . oh, I forgot, this is the new America.
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