How much does the CEO of Solyndra make? I bet it is a bundle, along with a tidy benefits package. But, the left wouldn’t notice this version of evil capitalism at work because it slithers along under the guise of “enviromentalism”! Those green-job proponents need scrutinize the salaries of management at these companies just like they do the evil banks.
Chris Gronet, CEO of Solyndra. Gronet has a base salary of $400,000.
Here’s the background. In late 2009, Solyndra, a manufacturer of solar rooftop components, was the recipient of the first loan guarantee issued by the Department of Energy pursuant to the “Section 1705 program” created by the 2009 stimulus. Only months after receiving the $535 million loan guarantee, Solyndra pulled back on a planned public offering after a PricewaterhouseCooper’s audit found that the company’s finances “raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.” In November 2010, the company announced that it would shutter a plant and lay off 170 employees. Last week, Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison made the rounds on Capitol Hill to perform damage control. I suspect that whatever rosy financial numbers he presented were influenced heavily by the billions of dollars in renewable energy subsidies that are still trickling out of the Department of Energy. (So much for the stimulus mantra, “temporary, targeted, and timely,” right?). As such, I wouldn’t trust any data put forth by any renewable energy company until after the stimulus money is (finally) spent.
In addition to Solyndra’s financial troubles, the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee was piqued by the possibility that the solar company’s loan guarantee had been influenced by politics. As has been reported by ABC News and iWatch News, Solyndra’s primary financial backer was a “bundler” (i.e., big-time fundraiser) for then-Senator Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign. Also suspicious is the timing of Solyndra’s loan guarantee. It was closed 10 months before the next such loan guarantee; in the ten months thereafter, 10 loan guarantee were closed. It certainly seems as if the Solyndra loan guarantee was rushed out the door. The Subcommittee would like to know why.
In January, the Subcommittee opened its investigation. On March 14, it requested documentation on the loan guarantee from the Office of Management and Budget, which has an oversight role with regard to the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, but OMB has refused to produce the documents. The subcommittee convened a hearing June 24 to hear directly from OMB Deputy Director Jeffrey Zients, but he refused to show up to testify.
The OMB’s obfuscation forced the Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee’s hand. According to Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns, “Voting to authorize this subpoena is a necessary step in carrying out this Committee’s constitutional obligations. We simply cannot allow executive branch agencies to pick and choose what they will produce, or whether they will produce it at all. We are the stewards of the taxpayers’ money, and we need to ensure that the billions of dollars appropriated for the DOE Loan Guarantee Program are properly invested.” Hear, hear!
http://www.globalwarming.org/2011/07/25/federal-showdown-over-solyndra-comes-to-a-head/