Posted on 09/19/2011 7:56:19 PM PDT by Bigtigermike
The Los Angeles Times opened up a new front in the Solyndra scandal on Friday (and there are too many fronts to count at this point), reporting that Steve Spinner, another prominent Obama donor, served as a top official in the Energy Department program that made the half-billion dollar loan to the now bankrupt solar panel maker. In Spinner's defense, he did recuse himself from the decision to grant the loan—because his wife works at a law firm that represented Solyndra.
Still, as the Times notes, these conflicts of interest did not prevent Spinner from spinning for Solyndra—without any disclosure of his own ties to the company or the loan program—once he left the administration for a post at the Center for American Progress, which of course does not disclose its own donors and may well include the Obama bundler who benefited most from this scandal, George Kaiser. Kaiser's strategy for securing the sweetheart deal (which allows him to get his money back before taxpayers even see a dime of the swindled funds) even included support for one of Michelle Obama's favorite charities
Spinner also used his platform at the Center for American Progress to promote other, well-connected companies that were lining up for money from the Department of Energy. Among them, First Solar, Inc., which has already spent more than half a million on lobbying so far this year, and whose officers have made hundreds of thousands in political contributions to Democrats. Oh, and one of First Solar's board members, mega-lobbyist Jose Villareal, also serves on the board of Center for American Progress. You think maybe Spinner should have disclosed this connection before pimping for First Solar on the CAP website? Additionally, Villareal also served on the board of Walmart, one of the few publically known donors to CAP
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
I can’t wait for Ron Suskinds book “Confidence Men” to hit the shelves tomorrow.
Recall that Suskind's books on the Bush administration were shot through with misrepresentations, questionable claims and outright lies.
He's not a trustworthy author.
The Pulitzer Prize is journalism's answer to the Nobel Peace Prize -- it's a political award, from Progressives to Progressives.
Remember Walter Duranty...
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