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Troubled battery maker won private meeting and phone call with Obama, a trade mission slot and $250 million in stimulus money before it went bankrupt.
Even as advanced battery maker A123 Systems struggled for financial viability, it played the Washington insider game, where political money and access go hand in hand.
The Massachusetts firm dished out nearly $1 million to hire a powerhouse lobbying firm with close ties to President Barack Obama between 2007 and 2009, and two of its top executives made personal donations to several high-profile Democrats in Congress as it won federal funding for its efforts to build the next generation of lithium batteries for electric vehicles.
And its president and CEO, David Vieau, an early financial backer of President Barack Obama, scored five invitations to the White House in 2009 and 2010, including a meeting he attended with the president, White House logs show. And when the company opened a new Michigan plant, Obama made a high-profile call to congratulate.
The company offered a compelling storyline for an administration eager to create jobs and spur alternative energy: it would employ hundreds of new workers at two plants in the politically critical state of Michigan that was hoping to revive its lagging auto industry.
The efforts paid off.
The company managed to get several lawmakers in both parties to support its request for federal funding, securing almost $6 million during the end of the Bush administration and then a $250 million grant from the American Recovery and Reconstruction Act after Obama took office.
A123's stimulus grant accounted for 12.5 percent of the stimulus' $2 billion fund to support the manufacturing of advanced electrical vehicle components, making it one of the biggest beneficiaries among 29 companies that split the momney.
And the firm scored a spot on a 2011 Obama administration's trade mission to India, a country hungry for alternative energy technologies. The trip put A123 in elite company as just one of only about 300 American companies to get invited on a trade mission during Obama's first term in office.
The company drew praise from both sides of the aisle, including from Samuel Bodman, Bush's Energy secretary, and from Obama himself who called the firm's new Michigan plant when it opened Sept. 13, 2010 and even boasted how he had met with Vieau personally at the White House.
"You guys are making us proud," the president said. "The work youre doing will help power the American economy for years to come."...
Read More:
As it struggled, A123 showered Democrats with donations, hired pricey lobbyist | WashingtonGuardian
DRUDGE REPORT 2012®
Even as advanced battery maker A123 Systems struggled for financial viability, it played the Washington insider game, where political money and access go hand in hand.
The Massachusetts firm dished out nearly $1 million to hire a powerhouse lobbying firm with close ties to President Barack Obama between 2007 and 2009, and two of its top executives made personal donations to several high-profile Democrats in Congress as it won federal funding for its efforts to build the next generation of lithium batteries for electric vehicles.
And its president and CEO, David Vieau, an early financial backer of President Barack Obama, scored five invitations to the White House in 2009 and 2010, including a meeting he attended with the president, White House logs show. And when the company opened a new Michigan plant, Obama made a high-profile call to congratulate.
The company offered a compelling storyline for an administration eager to create jobs and spur alternative energy: it would employ hundreds of new workers at two plants in the politically critical state of Michigan that was hoping to revive its lagging auto industry.
The efforts paid off.
The company managed to get several lawmakers in both parties to support its request for federal funding, securing almost $6 million during the end of the Bush administration and then a $250 million grant from the American Recovery and Reconstruction Act after Obama took office.
A123's stimulus grant accounted for 12.5 percent of the stimulus' $2 billion fund to support the manufacturing of advanced electrical vehicle components, making it one of the biggest beneficiaries among 29 companies that split the momney.
And the firm scored a spot on a 2011 Obama administration's trade mission to India, a country hungry for alternative energy technologies. The trip put A123 in elite company as just one of only about 300 American companies to get invited on a trade mission during Obama's first term in office.
The company drew praise from both sides of the aisle, including from Samuel Bodman, Bush's Energy secretary, and from Obama himself who called the firm's new Michigan plant when it opened Sept. 13, 2010 and even boasted how he had met with Vieau personally at the White House.
"You guys are making us proud," the president said. "The work youre doing will help power the American economy for years to come."...
Read More:
As it struggled, A123 showered Democrats with donations, hired pricey lobbyist | WashingtonGuardian
DRUDGE REPORT 2012®
