naturegirl
Gold Member
How can this even be legal?? Am I the only one that has a problem with this??
Lots more here: Venture capitalists play key role in Obama’s Energy Department - The Washington Post
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Sanjay Wagle was a venture capitalist and Barack Obama fundraiser in 2008, rallying support through a group he headed known as Clean Tech for Obama.
Shortly after Obamas election, he left his California firm to join the Energy Department, just as the administration embarked on a massive program to stimulate the economy with federal investments in clean-technology firms.
Following an enduring Washington tradition, Wagle shifted from the private sector, where his firm hoped to profit from federal investments, to an insiders seat in the administrations $80 billion clean-energy investment program.
He was one of several players in venture capital, which was providing financial backing to start-up clean-tech companies, who moved into the Energy Department at a time when the agency was seeking outside expertise in the field. At the same time, their industry had a huge stake in decisions about which companies would receive government loans, grants and support.
During the next three years, the department provided $2.4 billion in public funding to clean-energy companies in which Wagles former firm, Vantage Point Venture Partners, had invested, a Washington Post analysis found. Overall, the Post found that $3.9 billion in federal grants and financing flowed to 21 companies backed by firms with connections to five Obama administration staffers and advisers.
Obamas program to invest federal funds in start-up companies and the failure of some of those companies is becoming a rallying cry for opponents in the presidential race. Mitt Romney has promised to focus on Obamas record as a venture capitalist. And in ads and speeches, conservative groups and the Republican candidates are zeroing in on the administrations decision to extend $535 million to the now-shuttered solar firm Solyndra and billions of dollars more to clean-tech start-ups backed by the presidents political allies.
Lots more here: Venture capitalists play key role in Obama’s Energy Department - The Washington Post