The Obama administration regularly congratulates itself for being the
“most transparent administration ever.” The “most transparently
political administration” would be more like it.
President Barack
Obama, since taking officer, has showered his donors and allies with
billions in federal dollars. A steady stream of grants and loans flows
from the administration to Obama’s political cronies. And taxpayers foot
the bill.
Energy investor Steve Westly is one such fundraiser who
benefited royally. He bundled more than a half-million dollars for
Obama’s 2008 campaign. Westly later won an appointment to the energy
secretary’s advisory board. He chaired a board subcommittee on energy
efficient building materials.
Conveniently, Westly’s investment firm invested heavily in firms that specialized in such products. Overall, Westly’s firms
received more than $500 million from the Obama administration. That’s an awful lot of conflicts of interest for just one man.
Westly is not the only Obama fundraiser to be rewarded with plum
appointments, insider access and taxpayer dollars. A 2011 investigation
found that nearly 200 of Obama’s biggest political donors received jobs,
advisory posts or federal contracts. The Washington Post reported
earlier this year, “$3.9 billion in federal grants and financing flowed
to 21 companies backed by firms with connections to five Obama
administration staffers and advisers.”
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