Solyndra’s ‘Green Jobs’ Included Employment for D.C. Lobbyists — Including Former Democrat Aides

Posted on | September 22, 2011 | 19 Comments

Executives at bankrupt solar energy company Solyndra went on a lavish spending spree after they got a $535 million federal “stimulus” loan. This Washington Post story is curiously vague about certain details:

Company executives ramped up their Washington lobbying efforts, hiring a former Senate aide to work with the White House and the Energy Department. . . .
[P]ublic records show that since 2008, Solyndra has spent more than $1 million on lobbying inside the Beltway.
Lobbying expenditures of $160,000 a year in 2008 and 2009 accelerated as Solyndra’s financial and political troubles mounted. By 2010, such spending had grown to $550,000. So far this year, Solyndra has reported spending $220,000, but that number will grow as more reports filter in.

The phrase “former Senate aide” caught my eye. For which senator had this lobbyist formerly worked? Tim Carney at the Washington Examiner has the answer:

Solyndra’s other well-connected lobbyists include green-lobbyist extraordinaire and former Appropriations staffer Steve McBee and John Kerry aide Gregg Rothschild.

Carney further reports that Solyndra’s lobbyists included Andy Quinn, former chief of staff for top Democrat Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland.

So it turns out the “green jobs” meant well-paid employment for lots of well-connected D.C. lobbyists. Good thing Nancy Pelosi drained the swamp and got rid of the Culture of Corruption, huh?

UPDATE: Just in case you’ve forgotten:

“The true engine of economic growth will always be companies like Solyndra . . . The future is here. We’re poised to transform the ways we power our homes and our cars and our businesses. And we’re poised to lead our competitors in the development of new technologies and products and businesses. And we are poised to generate countless new jobs, good-paying middle-class jobs, right here in the United States of America.”
— President Barack Obama, May 26, 2010

UPDATE II: Welcome, Instapundit readers!

Category: Barack Obama, Corruption, Democrats, Environmentalism, Scandal

Comments

19 Responses to “Solyndra’s ‘Green Jobs’ Included Employment for D.C. Lobbyists — Including Former Democrat Aides”

ThePaganTemple
September 22nd, 2011 @ 1:11 pm

RICO-It’s not just for the Mafia.
Joe
September 22nd, 2011 @ 1:26 pm

The Chicago Way.
Instapundit » Blog Archive » THE WRONG KIND OF GREEN: Solyndra employees speak out about mismanagement and sloppy spending. “…
September 22nd, 2011 @ 10:45 am

[…] Solyndra’s ‘Green Jobs’ Included Employment for D.C. Lobbyists — Including Former Democrat A… Can you say “culture of […]
Hope and Change! « Newsbeat1
September 22nd, 2011 @ 11:15 am

[…] Solyndra- Green jobs […]
Daily Pundit » The Triumph of Crony Capitalism: One Hand of the Tyrant Washes the Other
September 22nd, 2011 @ 11:21 am

[…] Solyndra’s ‘Green Jobs’ Included Employment for D.C. Lobbyists — Including Former Democrat A… So it turns out the “green jobs” meant well-paid employment for lots of well-connected D.C. lobbyists. Good thing Nancy Pelosi drained the swamp and got rid of the Culture of Corruption, huh? […]
JeffS
September 22nd, 2011 @ 3:33 pm

Sounds like a government contractor with cost plus contract.
DaveO
September 22nd, 2011 @ 4:44 pm

When the dust finally settles, SCOAMF’s regime may be seen as the most corrupt in history.

With that much corruption, there’ll be an aweful temptation to steal the election and control the levers of justice.
Vlad the Impala
September 22nd, 2011 @ 5:17 pm

I’m sure that the former aides are just waiting for the pro-forma request to return the money, and will quickly… will quickly return… their mo-mon-money…

OK, I can’t stop laughing as I type this. Nobody will return anything, much less publicly identify themselves.
Bob Belvedere
September 22nd, 2011 @ 5:27 pm

Bingo!
Steve in TN
September 22nd, 2011 @ 5:33 pm

At least #Solyndra hasn’t killed anyone (yet). #Gunwalker has.
Anonymous
September 22nd, 2011 @ 5:57 pm

And we’ll not get to the bottom of Gunwalker or Solyndrawalker without tossing out this thug administration.
DANEgerus
September 22nd, 2011 @ 7:15 pm

SCOAMF steals money from future generations so there is no limit to the corruption.
Adjoran
September 22nd, 2011 @ 7:18 pm

Solyndra employees are now spilling the beans on the sudden profligate spending once the federal loan money began to flow. One item – quite fundamental in developing, manufacturing, and marketing solar panels, of course – was a luxury conference room with thick glass walls which, at the touch of a button, clouded to a smoky gray to conceal the room from prying eyes. Cool, huh? They probably even had the big pop-up TV screen like Obama thought the Oval Office would have . . .

They are saying so much high-tech cool stuff was being purchased that much of it still remains in the packaging – to be resold at pennies on the dollar in the bankruptcy process.
Sandy Daze
September 22nd, 2011 @ 9:49 pm

Voldermort is a TRAITOR.
Anonymous
September 23rd, 2011 @ 3:56 am

SCOAMFOTUS’ Solar Panel
Gives his cronies “scrotum flannel”

Now no itch troubles his pamper’d peers
And they do not laugh at his jug-ears

But they do laugh at our expense
and we still have no border fence.

We do not like you, you can quote us
Next year, you’re gone, dear SCOAMFOTUS
Anonymous
September 23rd, 2011 @ 3:56 am

SCOAMFOTUS’ Solar Panel
Gives his cronies “scrotum flannel”

Now no itch troubles his pamper’d peers
And they do not laugh at his jug-ears

But they do laugh at our expense
and we still have no border fence.

We do not like you, you can quote us
Next year, you’re gone, dear SCOAMFOTUS
Anonymous
September 23rd, 2011 @ 1:40 pm

This is about the only means the democrat party has left to perpetuate itself. They are looking eerily more and more like the Federalists every day.
DYSPEPSIA GENERATION » Blog Archive » Solyndra’s ‘Green Jobs’ Included Employment for D.C. Lobbyists — Including Former Democrat Aides
September 25th, 2011 @ 8:16 am

[…] The Other McCain lays out some inconvenient truth. Solyndra’s other well-connected lobbyists include green-lobbyist extraordinaire and former Appropriations staffer Steve McBee and John Kerry aide Gregg Rothschild. […]
Solyndra « Internet Scofflaw
September 29th, 2011 @ 2:33 pm

[…] they received the government’s “investment”, they lavishly wasted money. They spent over a million on lobbying, hiring lobbyists connected to John Kerry (D-MA) and Steny Hoyer (D-MD). And, in fact, they […]