Dem Stimulus Scandal Continues: Solyndra Doled Out Big Bonuses Before Collapsing On the Taxpayers’ Dime

November 3, 2011

FYI, a similar version of this release below went out to the following districts: Jason Altmire (PA-04), John Barrow (GA-12), Sanford Bishop (GA-02), Tim Bishop (NY-01), Leonard Boswell (IA-03), Bruce Braley (IA-01), Lois Capps (CA-24), Russ Carnahan (MO-03), Kathy Castor (FL-11), Ben Chandler (KY-06), David Cicilline (RI-01), Gerry Connolly (VA-11), Jim Cooper (TN-05), Jim Costa (CA-21), Henry Cuellar (TX-28), John Garamendi (CA-03), Raul Grijalva (AZ-07), Brian Higgins (NY-27), Jim Himes (CT-04), Ruben Hinojosa (TX-15), Tim Holden (PA-17), Rush Holt (NJ-12), Steve Israel (NY-02), Bill Keating (MA-10), Ron Kind (WI-03), Larry Kissell (NC-08), Rick Larsen (WA-02), David Loebsack (IA-02), Jim Matheson (UT-02), Carolyn McCarthy (NY-04), Mike McIntyre (NC-07), Jerry McNerney (CA-09), Michael Michaud (ME-02), Brad Miller (NC-13), Bill Owens (NY-23), Frank Pallone (NJ-06), Ed Perlmutter (CO-07), Gary Peters (MI-09), Chellie Pingree (ME-01), David Price (NC-04), Nick Rahall (WV-03), Loretta Sanchez (CA-46), Kurt Schrader (OR-05), Adam Smith (WA-09), Betty Sutton (OH-13), John Tierney (MA-06), Paul Tonko (NY-21), Niki Tsongas (MA-05), Pete Visclosky (IN-01), Tim Walz (MN-01), John Yarmuth (KY-03)

McIntyre’s Stimulus Scandal Continues: Solyndra Doled Out Big Bonuses Before Collapsing On the Taxpayers’ Dime
North Carolina Democrat’s Failed Stimulus Provided $535 Million in Loan Guarantees to the Democrat-Connected Failing Company

Washington — New revelations about Solyndra’s shoddy business practices continue to reveal themselves after the company left taxpayers with the responsibility for $535 million in guaranteed loans from Mike McIntyre’s failed stimulus. While its impending collapse was about to put taxpayers on the line for hundreds of millions of dollars, Solyndra gave its executives thousands in bonuses and golden parachutes. Between these examples of blatant waste and the fact that the unemployment rate in America today is higher than in February 2009, it is clear that McIntyre’s stimulus scheme was a failure.

“The legacy of Mike McIntyre’s failed stimulus continues, even after the politically-connected Solyndra firm cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars with its collapse,” said NRCC Communications Director Paul Lindsay. “With such egregious examples of waste and an unemployment rate that has actually risen, middle-class families in North Carolina will surely wonder why anyone would want to repeat these mistakes with another stimulus package paid for with job-killing tax hikes.”

Investigators sifting through the rubble of the Solyndra bankruptcy, which taxpayers are now responsible for, have uncovered large bonuses paid to company executives as the company hemorrhaged cash:

“Senior executives at Solyndra collected hefty bonuses — ranging from $37,000 to $60,000 apiece — as the Fremont company bled cash and careened toward bankruptcy this summer…“Chris Gronet, the company’s founder and original CEO, had a base salary of $400,000. When he was replaced by Harrison, his severance package totaled $456,000. The bankruptcy documents show that Gronet never received the money.

“Solyndra was awarded a $535 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy in 2009, and the company’s implosion has raised numerous questions about the company’s financial health. The Department of Energy agreed to restructure Solyndra’s debt in early 2011, and had observer status on Solyndra’s board of directors.”

(Dana Hull, “Solyndra executives collected hefty bonuses in months before Fremont company filed for bankruptcy,” San Jose Mercury News, 11/2/11)

Even federal watchdogs are now saying that the stimulus was not grounded in economic reality:

“The Department of Energy’s Inspector General said Wednesday that the 2009 stimulus program for green energy was so at odds with the realities on the ground that it was akin to ‘attaching a lawn mower to a fire hydrant…’“Friedman said the stimulus programs for clean energy turned out to be ‘more challenging than many had originally envisioned.’ While stimulus funds were to go to ‘shovel ready’ projects with the idea of creating jobs quickly, ‘in reality, few actual ‘shovel ready’ projects existed,’ Friedman said.”

(Carolyn Lochhead, “Energy stimulus program a mess, official says,” San Francisco Chronicle, 11/2/11)

Mike McIntyre’s stimulus plan can only be described as a failure which did not deliver on its $800 billion price tag for current and future generations of American taxpayers. McIntyre’s constituents in North Carolina would clearly like to avoid a repeat of the Democrats’ failed policies given what they know now.

Dem Stimulus Scandal Continues: Solyndra Doled Out Big Bonuses Before Collapsing On the Taxpayers’ Dime http://ow.ly/7hM3i #madeinwdc

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John Barrow for Congress