The Obama pay-for-play word of the day: LightSquared.
Pass it on.
Posted on 09/15/2011 10:36:31 AM PDT by bronxville
When it rains, it pours. And there ain’t a big enough umbrella for all President Obama’s cronies and fixers to crowd under these days.
While the Solyndra BGB (big green boondoggle) continues to blow up on Capitol Hill, the White House faces another pay-for-play backlash — this time from his own left flank.
The liberal Daily Beast reports on a broadband project backed by a frequent Obama White House visitor and donor that has Pentagon officials concerned over potential military GPS interference. The Obama FCC took the lead in intervening on the donor, billionaire hedge fund manster Philip Falcone’s, behalf and granting his company called “LightSquared” one of those coveted Obama waivers from existing law. Then Obama officials reportedly pressured a general to alter his testimony about the company’s impact on military satellite transmissions.
In a nutshell:
The four-star Air Force general who oversees U.S. Space Command walked into a highly secured room on Capitol Hill a week ago to give a classified briefing to lawmakers and staff, and dropped a surprise. Pressed by members, Gen. William Shelton said the White House tried to pressure him to change his testimony to make it more favorable to a company tied to a large Democratic donor.
The episode—confirmed by The Daily Beast in interviews with administration officials and the chairman of a congressional oversight committee—is the latest in a string of incidents that have given Republicans sudden fodder for questions about whether the Obama administration is politically interfering in routine government matters that affect donors or fundraisers. Already, the FBI and a House committee are investigating a federal loan guarantee to a now failed solar firm called Solyndra that is tied to a large Obama fundraiser.
Now the Pentagon has been raising concerns about a new wireless project by a satellite broadband company in Virginia called LightSquared, whose majority owner is an investment fund run by Democratic donor Philip Falcone. Gen. Shelton was originally scheduled to testify Aug. 3 to a House committee that the project would interfere with the military’s sensitive Global Positioning Satellite capabilities, which control automated driving directions and missile targeting, among other things.
According to officials familiar with the situation, Shelton’s prepared testimony was leaked in advance to the company. And the White House asked the general to alter the testimony to add two points: that the general supported the White House policy to add more broadband for commercial use; and that the Pentagon would try to resolve the questions around LightSquared with testing in just 90 days. Shelton chafed at the intervention, which seemed to soften the Pentagon’s position and might be viewed as helping the company as it tries to get the project launched, the officials said.
Via Dan Isett, here’s a press release highlighting how Obama FCC chairman Julius Genachowski went to bat for LightSquared.
Genachowski is refusing to attend a House hearing today on how and why the FCC fast-tracked the matter. Most transparent administration ever:
Lawmakers such as Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) have questioned the process that led to what is seen as a fast-tracking of the FCC’s initial approval of LightSquared to operate as a commercial wireless venture, even amid complaints of dangerous GPS interference.
FCC spokeswoman Tammy Sun said on Thursday that the agency intends to send its head of engineering and technology, Julie Knapp, to testify. She said it was a technical hearing, and Knapp was the appropriate agency representative.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has been listed as a witness on the subcommittee’s Web site for days.
Sun said it was a mistake.
“We received an invitation from the subcommittee for the chairman or his designee to testify,” she said.
But subcommittee chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) had met with Genachowski and had made it clear that he wanted the agency head to attend the hearing, according to spokesman Thomas Crosson.
“The FCC told us late yesterday that he would not be attending” Crosson said in an e-mail. “We had expected him to attend, and it was made clear as such.”
Genachowski’s appearance has been anticipated as fresh questions emerge about the agency’s role in LightSquared’s waiver approval last January to use non-satellite phones on their proposed network. The power of those phones would crowd out GPS signals, according to defense, aviation and oceanic federal officials.
A few more tidbits about Falcone:
Last year, a popular financial blog named him one of the worst hedge-fund managers of 2010. And to many of his remaining investors’ great ire, roughly half of the money he has left is invested in a highly controversial, extremely risky private company—meaning he can’t easily sell, and investors can’t get their money back for the time being. The company, which Falcone has named LightSquared, is attempting to build a multi-billion-dollar satellite-based network to supply nationwide 4G wireless broadband service, in competition with AT&T and Verizon Wireless. “It is literally pie-in-the-sky stuff,” a former Harbinger investor says. “Cue the ‘Mission Impossible’ theme,” wrote a trade publication. Others have called it Falcone’s “riskiest trade ever” or “the bet of his life.”
Add in very public defections by employees, a lawsuit from a former partner, Howard Kagan, at Harbinger, and another bitter lawsuit, brought by Nacco, a small-appliance and industrial firm, which lost a takeover battle to Harbinger, and you can see why Falcone is losing his faith in Ganesh.
And that was all before federal authorities—the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department—started looking into a $113 million loan that Falcone took from his funds in the fall of 2009 to pay his taxes. His investors didn’t find out about it until the spring of 2010, and at that point they couldn’t get their money out of his funds.
According to Reuters, there are also ongoing investigations by the S.E.C. into possible short selling and market manipulation abuses by Harbinger. “He [Falcone] has a reputation for being stubborn, volatile, and aggressive, and now the word on the Street is that, well, maybe you can’t trust him, either,” says one hedge-fund investor. “He lives by his own set of rules,” says another. “Dangerous, hockey player, high-life guy.” A fund manager sums him up this way: “A roll-the-dice, put-everything-on-red kind of guy.”
Falcone may be caught in what an observer says is a “death spiral” for a hedge-fund manager, because as soon as investors can get their money, they will take it and run. Goldman Sachs reportedly plans to pull its $120 million from Falcone’s fund. “These businesses, all they are is client trust. The money can vanish overnight,” says a former Falcone investor. “Once you ding a guy’s reputation, and there’s the perception that he broke that trust, it is virtually impossible to get it back.”
The Obama pay-for-play word of the day: LightSquared.
Pass it on.
“Via Dan Isett, here’s a press release highlighting how Obama FCC chairman Julius Genachowski went to bat for LightSquared.
Genachowski is refusing to attend a House hearing today on how and why the FCC fast-tracked the matter. Most transparent administration ever:
Lawmakers such as Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) have questioned the process that led to what is seen as a fast-tracking of the FCC’s initial approval of LightSquared to operate as a commercial wireless venture, even amid complaints of dangerous GPS interference.”
Julius Genachowski. Yes! Hopefully they’ll also get his ex-boss Diller.
And as a special no-extra-charge benefit - their transmissions mess up aviation GPS receivers. Not to worry. I’m sure those nasty old corporate jets won’t REALLY crash into each other or the ground when their GPS sets randomly blank out. /s/
AOPA is trying to educate Congress on the matter. I’m not sure where the commercial air carriers are on the subject.
A Chicago politician corrupt? Next thing you know they’ll be demonizing Satan.
I sense that there are about to be a lot of “-gates”.... I think we just need to call them all - “Obama-gate”
Holy cow. Solyndra > LightSquared > who’s next?
These are most likely just the tip of the iceberg. Still, leaning on a General to lie in order to facilitate interfering with military GPS on behalf of a donor is insane.
Not just aviation - EVERY GPS receiver.
Farmers reap their crops using GPS.
Engineers map our building projects using GPS.
Cropdusters spray fields using GPS (OK - aviation).
Auto navigation use GPS.
Ocean-going shipping navigate using GPS.
The point is, every precision GPS receiver will likely be affected.
Well that's simple. His FY12 budget loses $115M for every day he fails to appear. That gives him 3 days to show up before the FCC ceases to exist.
(in best Jeopardy answer voice) Who is Tesla?
When are we going to start hearing the word "bribary" being used?
When are we going to start hearing that the Obama administration was seeking fundraising cash in exchange for government contracts, with clear evidence of quid pro quo?
These stories are starting to show a pattern of behavior from the Obama White House that's making me rethink Obama's involvement in the Blago Senate seat scandal.
-PJ
Loral Corp. redux. Trading national security for profits.
And kickbacks, of course. How else can barry and the queen of bitches retire as billionaires?
Gangster government in operation, as it has been since Obama was sworn in. It’s very disturbing that a general would cave in to the pressure.
USAF General Shelton, U.S. Space Command, testified that (a) LightSquared broadcasts will affect US aircraft, and (b) he has been pressured by the White House to change his testimony.
” Holy cow. Solyndra > LightSquared > who’s next? “
Ethanol > Curly Tail Lightbulbs > Wind Turbines > etc;..
It's not clear from the article that the general did cave in.
How about a National “Right to Work” Law.. (Act)..?.
About ANY federal project.. or federally funded project?..
The stink of the Unions is everywhere.. the Unions are rotting.. decomposing..
They are toxic... the corruption is politically disease ridden..
The Unions have become criminal.. and seditious.. maybe traitorous..
...great point - if an administration is willing to do something this corrupt, reckless, treacherous and stupid, I think the sky's the limit as to what other crimes they have committed.
Not only insane, but an impeachable offense, IMO.
If he did, he didn't stay 'caved' very long.
My memory of my Air Force days is that the officer corps was pretty much of a 'go along to get ahead' outfit, so it wouldn't surprise me too much if he did cave, or even volunteered to change his testimony to please the White House.
My inner cynic inclines me to believe that if he's speaking out now, it's because he can see the handwriting on the wall for the Obama administration and doesn't want to be caught in the crash.
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