Beam me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 09/30/2011 1:38:57 PM PDT by abb
With a midnight deadline looming, the Energy Department has approved three more loan guarantees for solar energy totaling about $3.5 billion.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu says the department has completed a $1.5 billion loan guarantee to Arizona-based First Solar Inc. for a 550-megawatt solar farm on federal land in Southern California and $646 million to Exelon Corp. for a 230-megawatt solar plant near Los Angeles.
A third project, worth $1.4 billion, will support installation of about 750 solar rooftop panels in 28 states.
snip
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
The apparatchiks are untouchable and we pay the bill or go to jail.
The deals announced Friday include a $1.5 billion loan guarantee to a team of investors that bought a planned 550-megawatt solar farm on federal land in Southern California from First Solar, as well as $646 million to Illinois-based Exelon Corp. for a 230-megawatt solar plant near Los Angeles. Exelon bought the project from First Solar this week.
A third project, worth $1.2 billion, will help San Jose-based SunPower Corp. build a 250-megawatt solar plant in California, while $1.4 billion will go San Francisco-based Prologis Inc. to support installation of about 750 solar rooftop panels in 28 states.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Starting with Exelon ...
http://www.exeloncorp.com/performance/governance/boardofdirectors/rogers.aspx
Profile
Mr. John W. Rogers, Jr., has been a director of Exelon since October 20, 2000.
Mr. Rogers is the founder, Chairman and CEO of Ariel Investments, LLC, an institutional money management firm with $4.8 billion in assets under management, and serves as trustee of the Ariel Investment Trust. Since 1993, he has served as a director of Aon Corporation (risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage and human capital and management consulting services), where he has served on the finance committee and as chair of the audit committee. Since 2003, he has served as a director of McDonald’s Corporation (global foodservice retailer) where he has served on the compensation and corporate responsibility committees.
Previously, he served as a director of GATX corporation (rail, marine and industrial equipment leasing) (1998-2004), where he served on the audit committee; Bank One Corporation (bank) (1998-2004), where he served on the audit and risk management and public responsibility committees; and Bally Total Fitness (fitness and health clubs) (2003-2006), where he served as the lead independent director and as chair of the compensation committee.
Mr. Rogers’ experience on the boards of a number of major corporations based in Chicago in a variety of industries has made him a leader in the Chicago business community with perspective into Chicago business developments. His role in Chicago’s and the nation’s African-American community brings diversity to the board and emphasis to Exelon’s diversity initiatives and community outreach. His experience in investment management and financial markets and as a director of an insurance brokerage and services company are useful to Exelon, particularly with respect to risk management and the management of Exelon’s extensive nuclear decommissioning and pension and post-retirement benefit trust funds, which are overseen by the risk oversight committee on which he serves. Mr. Rogers’ service on the boards and committees of other companies has given him experience that adds further depth to the Exelon corporate governance committee. He has spoken at and participated in a number of corporate governance conferences. He was named by the Outstanding Directors Exchange as one of six 2010 Outstanding Directors.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2606635/posts
Obama taps Chicago’s John W. Rogers Jr to chair President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability
Chicago Sun-Times ^ | October 13, 2010 | Lynn Sweet
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2606635/posts?page=6#6
John Rogers is divorced from ousted WH social secy Desiree Rogers (one child). He is now remarried.
In 1994, Time featured John Rogers as one of its 50 leaders under 40. On February 23, 2008, Rogers, owner of Ariel Capital Management, and one of Obama’s chief fundraiser, became the first African-American winner of a Woodrow Wilson Award for his service to the Princeton alumni community, the Chicago community, the African American community and the financial community.
(Ex-WH czar, commie Van Jones, just got a one-year joint appointment as a distinguished visiting fellow at Princeton’s Center for African American Studies and Woodrow Wilson School of Public and Int Affairs, where he will teach a seminar on environmental and economic policy).
Rogers is co-chairman of Jesse Jackson’s annual Wall Street Project minority conference (AKA The Annual Shakedown), chairman of the Chicago Urban League, a member of four corporate boards and was a leading campaigner for Princeton basketball legend and United States Senator Bill Bradley’s 2000 United States presidential campaign.
Three of the boards he serves on are Fortune 500 companies: McDonald’s, Aon Corporation, and Exelon Corporation.
(Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, helped create Exelon. when Emanuel was at the investment bank Wasserstein Perella (now Dresdner Kleinwort). In his 2-year career there Emanuel earned $16.2 million, according to congressional disclosures. His biggest deal was the Exelon merger. David Axelrod was Exelon’s PR man.
Emanuel e-mailed Exelon’s John Rowe on the eve of the House vote on global warming legislation and asked that he reach out to some uncommitted Democrats. “We are proud to be the President’s utility,” says Elizabeth Moler, Exelon’s chief lobbyist. “It’s nice for John to be able to go to the White House and they know his name.”
Rogers is a trustee of the University of Chicago. He has served numerous civic, educational and arts organizations as a director or trustee, including the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the Oprah Winfrey Foundation and the Chicago Symphony.
At Princeton, he was a trustee of the University from 1990 to 1994 and more recently has served as a member of the Association of Black Princeton Alumni (ABPA) and the Princeton Varsity Club board of directors, as well as the Alumni Schools Committee. He has been an advocate for greater diversity in upper-level corporate positions.
In the early 1990s, Rogers served as a fundraising leader in Project Vote voter registration efforts led by President Barack Obama (aided by ACORN).
(There was criticism of the financial ties and close cooperation between President Obama’s campaign and ACORN and its sister organizations Citizens Services Inc. and Project Vote. The groups came under fire during the campaign after probes into possible voter fraud in a series of presidential battleground states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Mexico and Nevada. ACORN and its affiliates are currently the target of at least 14 lawsuits related to voter fraud in the 2008 election and a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act complaint filed by former ACORN members.)
Rogers He was part of the inner circle of the Barack Obama presidential campaign.He is a long-time Obama associate who serves as the co-chair of Obama’s Illinois finance committee and who has been a major Democrat fundraiser.
He served along with Bill Daley, Pat Ryan, Penny Pritzker and Julianna Smoot on Barack Obama’s 2009 presidential inauguration committee.
Rogers website makes sure we understand that Rogers’ Ariel Fund is NOT affiliated, associated nor in any way related to Ariel Fund Ltd, the hedge fund controlled by J. Ezra Merkin; Gabriel Capital LP fund; GMAC LLC; Cerberus Capital Management LP......... or any other feeder funds controlled by J. Ezra Merkin that were used by Bernard Madoff in his alleged Ponzi scheme.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2129244/posts
NRG rejects Exelon’s takeover bid (Obama/Axelrod connection)
Chicago Tribune ^ | 11-9-08 | Joshua Boak
Posted on Monday, November 10, 2008 2:54:31 AM by STARWISE
NRG Energy, Inc. rejected Sunday a $6.1 billion takeover bid by Exelon Corp., openly challenging whether the Chicago-based parent company of Commonwealth Edison could successfully manage what would have been the country’s largest power generation company.
Exelon made an unsolicited all-stock offer last month that valued NRG at a 37 percent premium, a figure that dipped to 9.4 percent by the close of the stock market Friday. The offer proved underwhelming to the board of directors at NRG, which unanimously turned down a merger it said “significantly undervalues” the Princeton, NJ-based company.
``Under your proposal, NRG shareholders would own only 17 percent of the combined company while contributing over 30 percent of a combined NRG-Exelon free cash flow in 2008,’’ the company said in a letter sent Sunday to Exelon Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Rowe.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
*snip*
As best we can tell, we see no evidence of even a single senior executive at Exelon with any experience whatsoever working at a true competitive power generation company,” the letter said.
A merger would have given Exelon a leg up in plans to build additional nuclear power plants nationwide.
~~~
Obama’s Exelon ties, Ayers connection
Snippet:
Obama accepted Exelon lobbyist’s cash
In “An asterisk to Obama’s policy on donations”, Dan Morain, of the Los Angeles Times, wrote April 22, 2007:
Exelon spent $500,000 to influence policy in Washington last year. Although Obama took no money from Exelon’s Washington lobbyists, he accepted $1,000 checks from lobbyists John P. Novak and James Monk of Springfield. In Springfield, Novak represents Exelon., and Monk is president of the Illinois Energy Assn., a trade group that represents Commonwealth Edison.
Monk and Novak said they do not lobby in Washington. But their clients care about federal issues, including where to store nuclear waste and what restrictions to place on coal-fired plants.
*snip*
In the 2008 election cycle alone, we turn to OpenSecrets.org, which on August 29, 2008, found 216 entries for Exelon totalling $185,761 for Sen. Obama. A second search that included both Obama’s name and that of his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain, found 261 entries for Exelon totalling $228,361.
Quick math shows that only 45 Exelon entries are for McCain for a total of $42,600.
Obama’s Exelon contributions outnumber those of McCain by more than five times.
*snip*
The bundlers, the contributors
We have at least two Exelon bundlers for Obama.
Public Citizen’s White House for Sale website provides general information about the identities of and amounts raised:
* Frank Clark, confirmed most recently as a federal lobbyist in 2000, has raised at least $200,001.00. Additionally, as a Mega-Donor, Clark has contributed an additional $28,500.00 to political action committees supporting Obama.
* John W. Rogers Jr. has raised at least $500,001.00.
In fact, Del Jones wrote August 20, 2008, at USA Today of John Rogers:
John Rogers,.... is an Obama bundler of significance, one of only 36 people who have raised more than $500,000, according to Obama’s website. ....................
~~~
((NOTE: Com Ed is owned by Exelon Corp.))
Obama’s Lobbyist Connection
When Illinois utility Commonwealth Edison wanted state lawmakers to back a hefty rate hike two years ago, it took a creative lobbying approach, concocting a new outfit that seemed devoted to the public interest: Consumers Organized for Reliable Electricity, or CORE.
CORE ran TV ads warning of a “California-style energy crisis” if the rate increase wasn’t approved—but without disclosing the commercials were funded by Commonwealth Edison.
The ad campaign provoked a brief uproar when its ties to the utility, which is owned by Exelon Corp., became known.
“It’s corporate money trying to hoodwink the public,” the state’s Democratic Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn said.
What got scant notice then—but may soon get more scrutiny—is that CORE was the brainchild of ASK Public Strategies, a consulting firm whose senior partner is David Axelrod, now chief strategist for Barack Obama.
*snip*
Neither Axelrod nor his partners at ASK ever registered as lobbyists for Commonwealth Edison—and under Illinois’s loose disclosure laws, they were not required to. “I’ve never lobbied anybody in my life,” Axelrod tells NEWSWEEK. “I’ve never talked to any public official on behalf of a corporate client.” (He also says “no one ever denied” that Edison was the “principal funder” of his firm’s ad campaign.)
But the activities of ASK (located in the same office as Axelrod’s political firm) illustrate the difficulties in defining exactly who a lobbyist is.
~~~
Sidebar ~~ another Axelrod dalliance:
###
U. of C. shunning poor patients?
Sen. Barack Obama’s wife and three close advisers have been involved with a program at the University of Chicago Medical Center that steers patients who don’t have private insurance — primarily poor, black people — to other health care facilities.
*snip*
Obama’s top political strategist, David Axelrod, co-owns the firm, ASK Public Strategies, that was hired by the hospital last year to sell the program — called the Urban Health Initiative — to the community as a better alternative for poor patients. Obama’s wife and Valerie Jarrett, an Obama friend and adviser who chairs the medical center’s board, backed the Axelrod firm’s hiring, hospital officials said.
~~~
The beat goes on. Only the faces are changed. Axelrod lobbied, as opposed to BO’s anti-lobbyist campaign staff statements, and has been a surrogate for MO and BO’s interests. Now, BO wants Valerie Jarrett to be his IL senatorial replacement.
Regarding the nuclear/energy issues, I bet public records are available showing whom in Snowbama/Pelosi/Reid et al’s clan are investing into various energy companies.
1 posted on Monday, November 10, 2008 2:54:32 AM by STARWISE
Boehner and the much of the GOP are very weak men who could not fight their way out of a paper bag. They are pathetic men who deserve nothing but our contempt. I pray that Tea Party people can replace most in the GOP
This is outright theft on a massive scale. The evil left knows the GOP are sissies. They laugh at us.
It makes one's blood boil to witness the destruction of our Republic right out in the open. 2012 is our last chance to peacefully save our Republic.
If our Founders were alive they would advocate a Second American Revolution to overthrow the evil socialist left and the restoration of our Republic to it's Constitutional roots.
Sadly, they are no Warriors for Liberty in Congress or on the horizon.
The Energy Department and Chu didn’t authorise anything , they were ordered to get the money out before the deadline, by the Muslim in the White House.
pure insanity
More money down a rat hole.
And yet we Americans MUST pay our taxes or face the WRATH of the IRS!!!
When are we going to put a stop to this fraud and tyranny????
They’re stealing as fast as possible now; like a collapsing 3rd world junta. And the GOP stands there inert in their fecklessness, watching the nation’s treasure vanish.
If American voters return any of these anti-Free-American politicians to office after the next election, I will be very, very saddened...Uncle Sam.
2008 - Left Picture - from left) Chief Nuclear Officer Chris Crane explains control room operations to Exelon Director of Special Projects Rita Stols, Senator Obama staff members Mike Signator and David Katz, U.S. Senator Barack Obama
This pic is from the http://www.aaenvironment.com website.. THE AFRICAN AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTALIST ASSOCIATION, which I didn't even realize when I posted that pic in '08. They have a CHICAGO chapter, with some lofty plans, via Chicago's mayor, Rahmbo, of course..
From THIS 2009 post and thread (WORTH RE-READING).
and
IT NEVER ENDS!! THEY NEVER STOP!! WE MUST END IT!!!
Graft?
June 13, 2011
Crony Capitalism and Obama’s Anti-Coal Crusade
By Ed Lasky
###
Barack Obama has long sought to bankrupt the coal industry. But, Cook County politician that he is and always will be, the relevant question is: who benefits from his plans wreck a major portion of our economy while also boosting electricity prices across America?
A clue: he and his pals from Chicago have incestuous ties to the one company whose prospects will be boosted by Obama’s policies.
While Barack Obama has broken many promises he made along the campaign trail to the Oval Office, one promise seems close to whatever heart he may have: to bankrupt the coal industry.
He told the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle on January 17, 2008 of his plans:
Rest:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/06/crony_capitalism_and_obamas_anti-coal_crusade.html
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2008-01-25/business/0801250129_1_exelon-president-obama-barack
Obama’s Exelon ties merit close look
January 25, 2008|By JAY HANCOCK
Pay no attention to whether Sen. Barack Obama’s ties to Exelon Corp. might make him sympathetic to storing nuclear waste in Nevada. That argument, aired before that state’s Democratic caucuses last week, is a sideshow.
(snip)
But the Exelon-Obama link is especially strong. Exelon employees and others close to the company have given almost $195,000 to Obama, according to the latest records. Exelon is surpassed among corporate Obama donors by only Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Lehman Brothers and a couple of other companies, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
One of Obama’s biggest fundraising “bundlers,” packaging money from multiple individuals, is Frank M. Clark, chairman of Commonwealth Edison, the big Illinois utility owned by Exelon. Exelon director John W. Rogers Jr., chief of mutual fund company Ariel Capital Management, also has given thousands to Obama.
There are other reasons to ask if an Obama administration might be too sympathetic to big electricity.
Last year Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, frequently described as Obama’s mentor, single-handedly killed a bill that would have extended price caps for customers of Commonwealth Edison and other utilities.
When he was Bill Clinton’s energy secretary, Obama campaign co-chair Federico Pena vigorously promoted electricity deregulation, promised it would save consumers money and - according to a 2002 story in The Washington Times - personally urged Enron crook Kenneth Lay to lobby the president on the matter.
Exelon’s chief lobbyist, Elizabeth A. Moler, was Pena’s deputy at the Energy Department.
As a new member of the Illinois Senate in 1997, Obama voted for an electricity-deregulation bill that his staff says was supported by consumer groups and was far less than what power providers wanted. Nevertheless, just as in Maryland, deregulation set the stage for price increases beyond what can be explained by higher costs for generation fuels such as coal and natural gas.
(snip)
The Marxist in the White House wants to bankrupt the USA and create another emergency to gain more power and influence over the economy.
Picking winners and losers. It’s the Marxist way.
Five BILLION that WILL NOT go toward balancing the budget.
Going to be damn hard to “Save” one-hundred BILLION to balance our national debt when the spending keeps escalating like this.
This is a significant chunk of the debt limit increase we just got!
This administration HAS to be stopped, the insane spending HAS to be stopped.
Bk.
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