"A Daily Caller investigation has found that in addition to the failed company Solyndra, at least four other solar panel manufacturing companies receiving in excess of $500 million in loan guarantees from the Obama administration employ executives or board members who have donated large sums of money to Democratic campaigns.
And as questions swirl around possible connections between political donations and these preferential financing arrangements, the Obama White House suddenly began deflecting The Daily Caller’s questions on Wednesday to the Democratic National Committee."
“It is becoming more clear with each revelation that warning signs were ignored in the Solyndra case,” Texas Congressman Barton (R). “Yet in the next 48 hours — because of a deadline that can still be changed — the Department of Energy is going to hand out another $5 billion in loans.”
Companies like First Solar, SolarReserve, SunPower Corporation and Abengoa SA have already, collectively, received billions in loans through Obama administration stimulus programs to build solar power plants in the southwestern United States.
Yet each, with the exception of the privately held SolarReserve, has seen its stock price hammered at the same time it was lobbying the Obama administration and Congress for billions in loan guarantees."
The report provides the dirty details of the financial transactions and support between those who benefit from the loans and those in the current administration who control who gets the advantage of building their business with taxpayer money.
Why would the White House defer questions on the tactical actions under by their current policy to the Democratic National Committee??? Perhaps they don't want these questions being brought up during the daily briefing, which could force Obama's friends in the media to start asking questions the White House doesn't want to answer. Awkward questions that could follow Obama through the election process.
Could it be that the White House doesn't want to deal with question on why First Solar founder and Chairman Michael Ahearn, who donated $123,650 to Democrat election campaigns and whose company just received $2.1 BILLION in taxpayer money, cashed in $68.9 Million of company stock ? If the founder and Chairman is betting against his company by dumping nearly $70 Million of stock, why are taxpayers being asked to provide life support to another green energy company that can not otherwise compete in the market? I'm guessing the White House is attempting to push this investigation as far away from them as possible, knowing that their friends in the mainstream media will not pick up this story until the public forces them to.
More from The Washington Post:
"The U.S. Department of Energy learned in December that Solyndra was violating its federal loan deal, but the agency changed the loan terms to allow the solar company to continue receiving taxpayer funds, federal officials confirmed Wednesday.
Executives at Solyndra, which had been awarded a $535 million government-backed loan to spur its solar-panel production, confided to the Energy Department late last fall that the Fremont, Calif., company was running out of money and at risk of liquidating.
Congressional investigators have questioned why the Obama administration agreed to help the company in late 2010 when it was warned that the firm was at risk of collapse. Internal e-mails show federal reviewers initially estimated they could save the taxpayers as much as $168 million by letting the company go under in December 2010, rather than resuscitating it and allowing it to draw down more federal money.
Energy Department spokesman Damien LaVera confirmed Wednesday that the agency knew Solyndra had violated the loan terms but agreed to change the requirement to help Solyndra. The agency originally required that Solyndra make six installments of $5 million each, starting in December, to create a $30 million cash cushion for problems."
The Weekly Standard is not just following this story, they are running this headline:"Crony Capitalism: $737 Million Green Jobs Loan Given to Nancy Pelosi's Brother-In-Law"
Click the headline to jump to the link to their story.
And now it turns out the IRS was modifying tax policies that would specifically benefit Solyndra:
"WASHINGTON, D.C. – Just weeks before Solyndra received approval for a $535 million taxpayer-funded loan, the Fremont, Calif.-based solar panel manufacturing company received a favorable ruling from the Internal Revenue Service, giving its customers a significant tax break.
The U.S. tax code has long allowed buyers of solar panels to deduct a portion of the installation cost from their taxes. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, that credit was boosted from 10 percent to 30 percent through 2016.
But in August 2009, the IRS also determined that companies buying Solyndra products would qualify for another 30 percent tax credit – as long as they were installed on roofs painted white to reflect the sun. At the time, only Solyndra was selling products that would work on so-called "cool roofs."
It's time to shine some sunlight on the Obama administration's investments in green energy.
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