Hillary Clinton will attend a fundraiser Friday with the main financier of Solyndra, the solar firm whose high-profile failure in 2011 embodied much of the Right’s criticism of the green energy industry.
George Kaiser, a major Democratic donor who bundled for President Obama’s campaign, is set to host an event for Clinton Friday afternoon at his Tulsa, Okla. home. His firm, Argonaut Private Equity, was the largest shareholder in Solyndra when the Department of Energy rushed to write the solar corporation a $535 million loan guarantee without first vetting the company, according to the Center for Public Integrity.
It was the first of what would become a long series of grants and loan guarantees for green energy companies that over-promised and under-delivered in the Obama administration’s initial push to promote clean energy.
Clinton has promised to expand access to solar power rapidly if she becomes president, upping the number of grants and tax breaks given to green energy companies in order to fulfill her vision of installing 500 million solar panels across the U.S. before the end of her first term.
But the case of Solyndra, her latest campaign supporter’s failed investment, underscores the danger of using taxpayer money to prop up an industry that is not yet commercially viable.
The Energy Department inspector general said in August that the solar company had presented “inaccurate and misleading” information to the government and that its employees had “misrepresented known facts” in order to net hundreds of millions of dollars from the agency. What’s more, the watchdog found Energy Department staff had not done their “due diligence” in verifying the company’s claims.
Solyndra used much of the stimulus money it received to build an ambitious manufacturing plant that was quickly shuttered when the cost of producing its promised solar panels proved too high to sustain. The company’s subsequent bankruptcy filing cost more than 1,000 jobs and sparked an FBI investigation into whether its executives had lied in order to win the coveted Energy Department loan.
Critics slammed the Solyndra deal as a textbook example of cronyism given the numerous connections between the company and the Obama administration.
But it was far from the only clean energy firm to leave taxpayers on the hook for its implosion. Dozens of others tanked after receiving stimulus dollars, raising questions about the future of government-funded green energy.
Clinton had praised Solyndra for its innovation just months before it went under, and she continues to support programs that back similar solar companies.
Kaiser, who will host the Democratic frontrunner at his home Friday, reportedly worried about the appearance of an Obama bundler like himself netting so much money from the government for a company in which he owned a majority stake.
His ties to party stalwarts are extensive. For example, he has given at least $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation and bundled more than $33,000 for Obama’s 2008 campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
