Democrat Fairness Decoder Ring: Political Payback = Fair. Job Creation = Unfair.

January 26, 2012

President Obama and Washington Democrats’ Idea of “Fairness” Seems to Be Political Payback for Left-Wing Interest Groups While Workers, Families and All Taxpayers Lose

President Obama used his State of the Union address to wax on about “fairness” but his administration’s policies over the last three years have been anything but fair to American families suffering under the weight of the Democrats’ job-destroying policies. Was it fair when President Obama decided to sabotage 20,000 shovel-ready Keystone jobs as political payback for his Washington interest group friends?
The Democrats’ job-destroying political payback for their Washington friends appears to be the rule rather than the exception. Democrats apparently also think it’s “fair” that their radical base gets the job-destroying regulations it wants while American workers and families lose their livelihoods.
Democrats still defend their decision to award taxpayer dollars from the failed stimulus to politically-connected companies like Solyndra, only to have Solyndra squander those dollars on Disney-singing robots on the way to bankruptcy. That apparently is the Democrats’ idea of “fairness.”

President Obama used his State of the Union address to wax on about “fairness” but his administration’s policies over the last three years have been anything but fair to American families suffering under the weight of the Democrats’ job-destroying policies. Was it fair when President Obama decided to sabotage 20,000 shovel-ready Keystone jobs as political payback for his Washington interest group friends?:

REP. JAN SCHAKOWSKY (D-IL) DEFENDS HER PARTY ON DESTROYING KEYSTONE JOBS: “TWENTY THOUSANDS JOB IS REALLY NOT THAT MANY JOBS”: (“Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) Joins Don & Roma,” WLS 890 AM, 1/25/2012)

GUESS SCHAKOWSKY’S HUSBAND’S TWO FELONIES AREN’T THAT BIG OF A DEAL EITHER: (Staff, “Congresswoman’s Husband Pleads Guilty to Two Felonies,” Associated Press, 8/31/2005)

OBAMA JUST BLOCKED 20,000 “SHOVEL-READY” KEYSTONE JOBS: (Editorial, “Keystone Cop-Out,” The Wall Street Journal, 11/11/2011)

LONG-TERM KEYSTONE JOBS IMPACT: UP TO 130,000 JOBS: (Editorial, “Keystone Pipeline is the Wrong Call,” The Houston Chronicle, 11/11/2011)

KEYSTONE JOBS MAY GO TO CHINA AFTER OBAMA DECISION: “President Barack Obama’s decision yesterday to reject a permit for TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL oil pipeline may prompt Canada to turn to China for oil exports.” (Theophilis Arigitis and Jeremy Loon, “Obama Keystone Denial Prompts Canada to Focus on China,”Bloomberg, 1/19/2012)

GREEN GROUPS THREATENED TO ABANDON OBAMA IF HE APPROVED KEYSTONE: “Environmental groups have been protesting the pipeline that would run from Alberta oil sands to Texas refineries, and there have been rumblings that greens would abandon Obama next fall if he approved it.” (Dan Berman and Darren Goode, “Obama Punts Keystone XL Pipeline,” Politico, 11/10/2011)

USA TODAY: OBAMA DECISION “THE MOST CRAVEN SORT OF ELECTION-YEAR POLITICS,” POLITICAL PAYBACK FOR ENVIRONMENTALIST INTEREST GROUPS:(“Obama’s Pipeline Decision Delays Energy Security,” USA Today, 1/18/2012)

The Democrats’ job-destroying political payback for their Washington friends appears to be the rule rather than the exception. Democrats apparently also think it’s “fair” that their radical base gets the job-destroying regulations it wants while American workers and families lose their livelihoods:

4,257 NEW REGULATIONS IN THE WORKS, MORE THAN 200 WILL COST OVER $100 MILLION ANNUALLY—15% MORE REGULATIONS THAN IN 2010.“Appropriate and responsible regulations play an important policymaking role. Yet the Obama administration has turned rule-making into an assault on American businesses and the jobs they create. Right now, 4,257 new regulations are in the works, 219 of which will cost over $100 million annually — 15 percent more than last year.” (Editorial, “How Obama’s Rules Hold Back Chicago Business,” The Chicago Sun-Times, 8/30/2011)

OBAMA GAVE “EMBATTLED” EPA A HUG WHILE GIVING WORKERS THE COLD SHOULDER: “On a day when Republican presidential candidates stumped for votes in New Hampshire, President Obama paid a visit Tuesday afternoon to the employees of the embattled Environmental Protection Agency, which has been the target of GOP disdain.” (David Nakamura, “Obama Gives Embattled EPA a Pep Talk,” The Washington Post, 1/10/2012)

HOW IS EPA “EMBATTLED” WHEN OBAMA LETS EPA BUREAUCRATS HAVE THE REGULATIONS THEY WANT, DESTROYING 183,000 JOBS A YEAR, 1.65 MILLION JOBS DESTROYED THROUGH 2020?: (“EPA Finalizes New Rule That Will Hurt American Economy,” American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, 12/21/2011)

OBAMA’S NLRB DOES ANOTHER FAVOR FOR BIG LABOR: NEW RULE ON UNION ELECTIONS RAMMED THROUGH DESPITE PROTESTS FROM JOB-CREATORS: “The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced Wednesday that it has adopted portions of its contentious union election rule.” (Kevin Bogardus, “NLRB Finalizes Union Election Rule,” The Hill, 12/21/2011)

LIKE CLOCKWORK: DEMOCRATS’ ENVIRONMENTALIST FUNDRAISING ORGANIZATION BASE REJOICES OVER EPA’S JOB-DESTROYING DECISION:“Environmentalists rallied so hard for the Obama administration on Wednesday,you’d think power plants were shooting cotton candy from their smokestacks.”(Erica Martinson, “EPA Power Plant Rule Has Greens Pro-Obama,” Politico, 12/22/2011)

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF BILL DALEY, BROUGHT ON TO MEND FENCES WITH JOB CREATORS, RECENTLY ANNOUNCED HIS RESIGNATION: (Christi Parsons, “William Daley to Step Down as Obama’s Chief of Staff,” Los Angeles Times, 1/9/2012)

ENVIROS REJOICE, “SAY ‘GOOD RIDDANCE’ TO DALEY”: (Darren Samuelsohn, “Greens Say ‘Good Riddance’ to Daley,” Politico, 1/9/2012)

Democrats still defend their decision to award taxpayer dollars from the failed stimulus to politically-connected companies like Solyndra, only to have Solyndra squander those dollars on Disney-singing robots on the way to bankruptcy. That apparently is the Democrats’ idea of “fairness”:

IS IT “FAIR” TO WASTE TAXPAYER DOLLARS THIS WAY?:

SOLYNDRA CAUGHT RED-HANDED “DESTROYING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF PARTS” DESPITE OWING TAXPAYERS NEARLY HALF A BILLION DOLLARS: “After filing for bankruptcy last year, Fremont solar company Solyndra still owes American taxpayers half a billion dollars. But CBS 5 caught them destroying millions of dollars worth of parts.”

“At Solyndra’s sprawling complex in Fremont, workers in white jumpsuits were unwrapping brand new glass tubes used in solar panels last week. They are the latest, most cutting-edge solar technology, and they are being thrown into dumpsters.” (“Bankrupt Solyndra Caught Destroying New Parts,” CBS San Francisco, 1/19/2012)

NOW-BANKRUPT SOLYNDRA NOW TRYING TO DISH HALF A MILLION DOLLARS IN BONUSES: “Now seems an unlikely time for handing out bonuses at bankrupt Solyndra LLC, but that’s the plan of company attorneys intending to dole out up to a half-million dollars to persuade key employees to stay put.

“Nearly two dozen Solyndra employees could receive bonuses ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 each under a proposal filed by Solyndra’s attorneys in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.” (Jim McElhatton, “Bankrupt Solyndra seeking to pay bonuses,” The Washington Times, 1/11/12)

FLASHBACK: “SOLYNDRA FACTORY HAD DISNEY-SINGING ROBOTS, SPAS”:“Former employees told the San Francisco Chronicle that the $733 million, 300,000-square-foot factory built in 2009 had spa-like showers, robots that whistled Disney tunes and glass-walled conference rooms. ‘The new building is like the Taj Mahal,’ John Pierce, a facilities manager at Solyndra, told the paper.”(Sajid Farooq, “Solyndra Factory Had Disney-Singing Robots, Spas,” NBC Bay Area, 9/29/2011)

IS IT “FAIR” THAT SOLYNDRA’S POLITICAL CONNECTIONS WERE LEVERAGED TO SECURE SPECIAL TREATMENT FOR THE COMPANY?:

OBAMA’S “GREEN” PROGRAM “INFUSED WITH POLITICS AT EVERY LEVEL”:“Meant to create jobs and cut reliance on foreign oil, Obama’s green-technology program was infused with politics at every level, The Washington Post found in an analysis of thousands of memos, company records and internal e-mails. Political considerations were raised repeatedly by company investors, Energy Department bureaucrats and White House officials.

“The records, some previously unreported, show that when warned that financial disaster might lie ahead, the administration remained steadfast in its support for Solyndra.” (Joe Stephens and Carol D. Leonnig, “Solyndra: Politics Infused Obama Energy Programs,” The Washington Post, 12/25/2011)

OBAMA’S DOE “ALL BUT” TOLD SOLYNDRA THAT THEY WOULD BE FIRST IN LINE FOR A SECOND STIMULUS LOAN: (E-mail from Steve Mitchell to George Kaiser, U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, 3/5/2010, p. 3)

TOP OBAMA BUNDLER GEORGE KAISER “WEIGHED ASKING WHITE HOUSE TO SAVE SOLYNDRA” AS IT WAS FAILING: “A key investor in the failed solar power company Solyndra, who was also a political donor to Barack Obama, strategized with his top executives about whether and how they should use their contacts inside the White House to help their failing business venture, according to emails surfaced by Congressional investigators Wednesday.” (Matthew Mosk, “Emails: Obama Donor Weighed Asking White House to Save Solyndra,” ABC News, 11/9/2011)

SOLYNDRA OFFICIALS WHO GAVE TO OBAMA HAD EASY WHITE HOUSE ACCESS:“The administration, which excluded lobbyists from policymaking positions, gave easy access to venture capitalists with stakes in some of the companies backed by the administration, the records show. Many of those investors had given to Obama’s 2008 campaign. Some took jobs in the administration and helped manage the clean-energy program.” (Joe Stephens and Carol D. Leonnig, “Solyndra: Politics Infused Obama Energy Programs,” The Washington Post, 12/25/2011)

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, FOLKS: KAISER WAS SOLYNDRA’S BIGGEST INVESTOR AND PLOTTED TO GET WHITE HOUSE HELP TO GET SECOND STIMULUS LOAN AND GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS: “Solyndra’s biggest investor was a fund linked to the family foundation of George Kaiser, a Tulsa billionaire and bundler for Obama’s presidential campaign.

“Kaiser was involved in e-mail correspondence with his business colleagues about an upcoming White House meeting to get the administration’s help in selling its panels, and in seeking a second energy department loan, which if awarded would have been in addition to a $535 million loan the company received in 2009.” (Joe Stephens, “Solyndra E-mails Show Obama Fundraiser Discussed Lobbying White House,” The Washington Post, 11/9/2011)

“SOLYNDRA’S LAWYERS MAJOR OBAMA, DEMOCRATIC DONORS”: (Matthew Boyle, “Solyndra’s Lawyers Major Obama, Democratic Donors,” The Daily Caller, 9/30/2011)