Solyndra: Energy Dept. pushed firm to keep layoffs quiet until after midterms

[Rheo]

Washington Post:

The Obama administration urged officers of the struggling solar company Solyndra to postpone announcing planned layoffs until after the November 2010 midterm elections, newly released e-mails show.

Solyndra, the now-shuttered California company, had been a poster child of President Obama’s initiative to invest in clean energies and received the administration’s first energy loan of $535 million. But a year ago, in October 2010, the solar panel manufacturer was quickly running out of money and had warned the Energy Department it would need emergency cash to avoid having to shut down.

The new e-mails about the layoff announcement were released Tuesday morning as part of a House Energy and Commerce committee memo, provided in advance of Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s scheduled testimony before the investigative committee Thursday.

Solyndra’s chief executive warned the Energy Department on Oct. 25, 2010, that he intended to announce worker layoffs Oct. 28. He said he was spurred by numerous calls from reporters and potential investors about rumors the firm was in financial trouble and was planning to lay off workers and close one of its two plants.

But in an Oct. 30, 2010, e-mail, advisers to Solyndra’s primary investor, Argonaut Equity, explain that the Energy Department had strongly urged the company to put off the layoff announcement until Nov. 3. The midterm elections were held Nov. 2, and led to Republicans taking control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

“DOE continues to be cooperative and have indicated that they will fund the November draw on our loan (app. $40 million) but have not committed to December yet,” a Solyndra investor adviser wrote Oct. 30. “They did push very hard for us to hold our announcement of the consolidation to employees and vendors to Nov. 3rd – oddly they didn’t give a reason for that date.”

On Oct. 25, 2010, Solyndra chief executive Brian Harrison e-mailed the energy department’s loan staff to explain that Solyndra “has received some press inquiries about rumors of problems (one of them with quite accurate information) and we have received in bound calls from potential investors. Both of these data points indicate the story is starting to leak outside Solyndra.”

Harrison went on to state that he would “like to go forward with the internal communication [to employees regarding layoffs] on Thursday, October 28.”

Harrison’s e-mail was forwarded to program director, Jonathan Silver, who then alerted White House climate change czar Carol Browner and Vice President Biden’s point person on stimulus, Ron Klain. Browner asked for more information about the announcement, and Chu’s chief of staff explained he had left a voicemail message on her cellphone.

On Nov. 3, 2010, Solyndra announced it would lay off 40 workers and 150 contractors and shut down its Fab 1 factory. The department agreed to continue giving Solyndra installments of its federal loan despite the company’s failure to meet key terms of the loan, and in February restructured its loan to give investors a chance to recover $75 million in new money they put into the company before taxpayers would be repaid.

Silver resigned from the agency last month.

[clearvision]

So DOE blackmailed them by not committing to December loan draw while "asking" them to wait on layoff announcements. Just think how many other times this is occurring with all the "stimulus" funds.

[Casino67]

I bet Pelosi is livid about all of this corruption going on in her swamp.

[RandyM]

I bet Pelosi is livid about all of this corruption going on in her swamp.

 

 

Livid that she didn't get a bigger cut of the action.

[Argyle58]

I bet Pelosi is livid about all of this corruption going on in her swamp.

 

 

Livid that she didn't get a bigger cut of the action.

 

Somehow I doubt that she got involved with that particular IPO.

[NCTexan]

I bet Pelosi is livid about all of this corruption going on in her swamp.

OMG!

 

Look what emerged when Pelosi drained the swamp!

 

[Pepper]

Let me just repost this for posterity and Google caches

 

 

Hey you, you sanctimonious liberal voters, who entered the voting booth "yeah we're white and we're probably stupid but we feel good about voting for a clueless and dangerous community black activist for obama in 2008 to ease our collective white guilt."

 

Solyndra’s chief executive warned the OBAMA Energy Department on Oct. 25, 2010, that he intended to announce worker layoffs Oct. 28. He said he was spurred by numerous calls from reporters and potential investors about rumors the firm was in financial trouble and was planning to lay off workers and close one of its two plants.

 

But in an Oct. 30, 2010, e-mail, advisers to Solyndra’s primary investor, Argonaut Equity, explain that the OBAMA Energy Department had strongly urged the company to put off the layoff announcement until Nov. 3. The midterm elections were held Nov. 2, and led to Republicans taking control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

[SrWoodchuck]

Could we have picked up Connecticut, West Virginia & Nevada with the bad prog news? I think the MSM woud've held it back for a week, if Obama blew in their ear.

[Valin]

Townhall: Solyndra: Did Secretary Chu Lie Under Oath?

Guy Benson

11/18/11

 

As you already know, President Obama's Energy Secretary testified before a House subcommittee about his role in the Solyndra scandal. The Washington Post's factcheckers wonder if he told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth:

 

(Snip)

 

[clearvision]

Nobody likes this administration lately.

[Valin]

Nobody likes this administration lately.

 

 

That's only because they don't truly grasp the wonderfulness of The One....that and they are all racist war mongering neo-Nazi skinhead neo-cons....that hate fuzzy bunnys

[Valin]

OH OH another misunderstanding....

Hot Air: Beacon Power follows Solyndra into bankruptcy

Ed Morrissey

11/18/11

 

At the end of last month, I wrote about Beacon Power, a green-tech company that received over a hundred million dollars in taxpayer-backed credit but who teetered on the edge of bankruptcy. Yesterday, Beacon tipped over, filing for protection from its creditors — and potentially taking $43 million in taxpayer dollars with it:

 

Beacon Power, a Massachusetts-based company that won praise from renewable power activists and loan guarantees from the federal government, has filed for bankruptcy, potentially leaving taxpayers on the hook for $43 million.

 

The company, which promised to build storage devices for intermittent power produced by wind and solar power facilities, was never able to attract investors. Coming on the heels of the Solyndra bankruptcy and ensuing scandal, the Beacon Power bankruptcy has a growing number of people calling for an end to federal loan guarantees for risky alternative energy start-ups.

(Snip)