At least ten members of President Barack Obamas 2008 campaign finance committee, plus more than a dozen of his campaign bundlers, benefited from sweetheart loans through the Department of Energy (DOE) that collectively dwarfed those given to Solyndra and Fisker. Around 80% of all the money loaned out by the Department of Energy's 1705 Loan Guarantee Program, over 16 BILLION dollars went to companies run by, or owned by, Obama cronies.
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Instead of appointing a team of scientists or engineers to direct the DOEs loan program office, Schweizer contends, the Obama administration placed some of the presidents biggest fundraisers in control. For example, Steve Spinner, who served on the Obama campaigns National Finance Committee and was himself a top bundler, was tapped as the chief strategic operations officer for the DOEs loan programs. Spinner was joined at DOE by another Obama fundraiser, Sanjay Wagle, and by Democrat donor Jonathan Silver, who would serve as executive director of the program.
With the scientists and engineers effectively out of the way, and the Presidents top backers at the levers of the DOEs loan program, the Obama administration was able to funnel billions of taxpayer dollars back to green energy companies associated with the Presidents political and financial patrons.
For members of Obamas national finance committee, the returns on investing in Obamas 2008 campaign were incredibly lucrative, according to Schweizer. For every dollar committee members raised, they received $24,783 in return in the form of DOE sweetheart loans, on average.
...The Government Accountability Office red-flagged this apparentand historicpattern of crony capitalism in its March 2011 report, which found that the DOEs loan and grant programs had doled out federal monies through a process that appeared arbitrary, lacked proper documentation, and that had treated applicants inconsistently in the application review process, favoring some applicants and disadvantaging others.
