Free Republic

Bill Clinton’s foundation set up a fundraising arm in Sweden that collected $26 million in donations at the same time that country was lobbying Hillary Rodham Clinton’s State Department to forgo sanctions that threatened its thriving business with Iran, according to interviews and documents obtained by The Washington Times. The Swedish entity, called the William J. Clinton Foundation Insamlingsstiftelse, was never disclosed to or cleared by State Department ethics officials, even though one of its largest sources of donations was a Swedish government-sanctioned lottery. As the money flowed to the foundation from Sweden, Mrs. Clinton’s team in Washington declined to...

Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia and former owner of an electric car company now under federal investigation, once paid a visit with three other advisers to the same White House “green energy” official who helped secure more than $500 million in guaranteed loans for Solyndra, the now-bankrupt solar panel manufacturer backed by a prominent Barack Obama fundraiser. White House visitor records reviewed by Watchdog.org indicate that McAuliffe met with Greg Nelson, the former associate director for energy, environment and technology, at the White House on October 13, 2010. While the substance of the meeting is unknown,...

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) announced yesterday that his committee plans to investigate government loan programs to private corporations out of a concern that politicians might exert undue influence to help those who donated to their campaigns. But Issa had sought government loans in the past for similar clean-energy products in his home state. Letters show Issa lobbying Energy Secretary Steven Chu to grant loans to a Aptera Motors, a California-based hybrid car company; a San Diego-area biofuels consortium; and Quallion, a lithium-ion battery manufacturer in Los Angeles. In one letter, Issa writes:

WASHINGTON - Top current advisers to Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign last year lobbied for a European plane maker that beat Boeing to a $35 billion Air Force tanker contract, taking sides in a bidding fight that McCain has tried to referee for more than five years. Two of the advisers gave up their lobbying work when they joined McCain's campaign. A third, former Texas Rep. Tom Loeffler, lobbied for the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. while serving as McCain's national finance chairman. EADS is the parent company of Airbus, which teamed up with U.S.-based Northrop Grumman Corp. to...

Conn. Gov. Vetoes School Junk Food Bill 2 hours, 30 minutes ago HARTFORD, Conn. - The governor vetoed a bill Tuesday that would have banned most soft drinks and junk food from Connecticut schools. Soft drink companies had lobbied fiercely against the bill, and schools expressed concerns about losing revenue from sales. Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell said the effort to impose state standards on school districts for nutrition and physical education "undermines the control and responsibility of parents with school-aged children." The bill would have banned sodas and snacks deemed unhealthy by the state Department of Education from school...