Communications

Excerpts from the Washington Post:

 “A Silicon Valley investor and senior administration officials warned the White House to reconsider having President Obama visit a solar start-up company because of its mounting financial problems, saying he might be embarrassed later.

“A number of us are concerned that the president is visiting Solyndra,” California investor and Obama fundraiser Steve Westly wrote to Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett in May 2010. “Many of us believe the company’s cost structure will make it difficult for them to survive long term. ... I just want to help protect the president from anything that could result in negative or unfair press.” …

"Last year, there were others besides Westly who raised alarms about Obama visiting Solyndra, according to the e-mails released Monday.

“Officials at the Office of Management and Budget fretted, too.

“One OMB official wrote to a White House staffer: ‘I am increasingly worried that this visit could prove embarrassing to the Administration in the not too distant future, given 1) what we just heard today from DOE that Solyndra is delaying their IPO at least until the end of the year, and 2) what the auditors said about Solyndra making it through the year absent new financing.’”

Click here to read the full article: http://wapo.st/pZpC8n

Excerpts from the Wall Street Journal:

“White House officials dismissed concerns about Solyndra LLC ahead of President Barack Obama's May 2010 visit to the failed solar-panel maker, despite acknowledging that the company and other clean-energy ventures could go "belly-up" by the 2012 election, according to emails released by Democratic lawmakers …

“Two days before Mr. Obama's tour of Solyndra, Steve Westly, a California venture capitalist, emailed Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, saying the company was risky for Mr. Obama and visiting it could "haunt him in the next 18 months if Solyndra hits the wall, files for bankruptcy, etc."

“Ms. Jarrett emailed Ron Klain, then chief of staff to Vice President Joseph Biden, who acknowledged ‘some risk factors here—but that's true of any innovative company that POTUS [president of the United States] would visit. It looks like it is OK to me, but if you feel otherwise, let me know.’ Mr. Klain then told Ms. Jarrett: ‘The reality is that if POTUS visited 10 such places over the next 10 months, probably a few will be belly-up by election day 2012—but that to me is the reality of saying that we want to help promote cutting edge, new economy industries.’”

Click here to read the full article: http://on.wsj.com/pzcZH2

Excerpts from the New York Times:

“Even before President Obama last year visited Solyndra, the now-bankrupt solar equipment manufacturer, White House officials expressed concern, saying they were worried Solyndra might soon collapse, new e-mails provided to Congressional investigators show

“’I am increasingly worried that this visit could prove embarrassing to the administration in the not too distant future,’ one official at the Office of Management and Budget wrote, according to a memo prepared Monday by House Democrats describing the e-mails provided by the White House and the Department of Energy.

The new documents show that even one of Solyndra’s investors questioned why the federal government was putting up so much money to help the company expand — given the questions about it financial future.

“’One of our solar companies with revenues of less than $100 million (and not yet profitable) received a government loan of $580 million,’ Brad Jones, an executive at Redpoint Ventures, wrote in December 2009 to Lawrence Summers, then an economic advisor to the president, referring to Solyndra. ‘While that is good for us, I can’t imagine it’s a good way for the government to use taxpayer money.’

“The investment, Mr. Jones said, demonstrated broad problems with the government loan program.

Click here to read the full article: http://nyti.ms/oECeSY

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