The Accountability Charade
The Accountability Charade
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2011
You can’t spell “accountability” without “A,” “C” and “T.” But in Washington, government officials routinely get away with “taking personal responsibility” by mouthing empty words devoid of action. Heads nod in collective agreement that mistakes were made. But heads never roll. The Obama administration has raised this accountability charade to an art form.
At a House Energy Committee hearing on the half-billion-dollar bankrupt Solyndra loan-guarantee disaster, Energy Secretary Steven Chu made a grand pretense of falling on his sword. The neon-green solar energy zealot told lawmakers in prepared testimony that the “final decisions on Solyndra were mine, and I made them with the best interest of the taxpayer in mind.” But again and again, Chu admitted, those decisions were made with serial cluelessness about the political jockeying, dire financial warnings, legal red flags and conflicts of interest that “everybody (else) and their dog” knew about (as GOP Rep. Joe Barton of Texas politely pointed out).
While former Democratic chief inquisitor Henry Waxman praised Chu’s “reputation for integrity” as “unimpeachable,” Chu came across as more Mr. Magoo than Mr. Clean.
Chu said he was “unaware” of the Department of Energy’s own staff predictions two years ago that Solyndra would face a serious cash-flow crisis today.
Chu said he was “unaware” of administration pressure on Solyndra to suppress layoff announcements until after the November 2010 midterm elections. “I don’t know. I just learned about that,” he shirked.
In fact, he used the phrase “I am aware of it now” at least a half-dozen times. If there were a Nobel Prize for Unknowing, Chu would be two-time shoo-in. GOP House Energy Committee Chairman Cliff Stearns summed up:
“We talked about the August 2009 email predicting Solyndra would be out of cash in September 2011. You knew about that, but you didn’t seem to know about that.
The PricewaterhouseCoopers concerns about Solyndra, you didn’t seem real concerned or weren’t aware of it.
The White House emailing your chief of staff regarding their concerns with the PricewaterhouseCoopers report, you didn’t seem to know too much about your chief of staff’s awareness of that.
The request to hold off announcement of the DOE loan, and request by your agency to Solyndra to hold off on announcing layoffs till after the midterm election, you don’t have any recollection of this. So what I am saying is that through all of this you seem to have an unawareness.”
In short, Chu took full responsibility for everything he wasn’t aware of … until it was too late.
Sound familiar? It was the leitmotif played in last week’s Fast and Furious hearings with Attorney General Eric Holder.
Despite a raft of briefing memos with his name on them, Holder claimed he never received or read them. Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse ran interference, sanctimoniously explaining for all the non-career government attorneys in the audience — including the family of murdered Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry — that nooooooo one in the top echelons of the federal lawyers’ bureaucracy actually reads memos addressed to them. It’s merely a “convention” for junior staff to feel better and more important about themselves.
Taking his boss’s lead, former Holder Chief of Staff Kevin Ohlson — who is seeking a federal judicial slot — explained away his failure to do anything about the festering Fast and Furious gunwalking scandal. He had “been informed that routine courtesy copies of weekly reports were forwarded to me that referred to the operation by name, but that did not provide any operational details and did not refer to gun walking or anything similar.”
Although his name was on the documents, Ohlson just didn’t bother to read them because they weren’t marked important or sensitive. Imagine an ordinary small businessman or taxpayer trying that one out on the IRS.
Situational unawareness in the private marketplace or on the battlefield will cost you your livelihood or your life. In the Age of Obama, however, such willful ignorance is a job prerequisite. The less you know the better.
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Related reading…
On the lost Solyndra funding and the illegal maneuver to put Solyndra investors ahead of taxpayers:
The Energy Department approved in February a refinancing that put taxpayer debt behind $75 million in new funding from private investors in a last-ditch effort to rescue Solyndra. Republicans said the agreement violated a 2005 energy law prohibiting subordination of public money.
Representative Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, asked who would be paid first as money is recouped from the sale of Solyndra’s assets.
“Does the taxpayer have first dibs?” Scalise said.
“After restructuring? No,” Chu responded.
Chu said the restructuring gave Solyndra a “fighting chance to survive.”
“It was a difficult decision, and we were always, always focused on that path that could get as much taxpayer recovery as possible,” he said.
Chu said his department’s general counsel determined that the law banned subordinating taxpayer debt only for an initial loan guarantee, not for a refinancing. Scalise predicted the Solyndra subordination will be found illegal.
From GOP Rep. Cliff Stearns:
“The American people have the right to know how the Obama Administration risked and lost $535 million in taxpayer funds,” said Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. “This hearing shows that Secretary Chu failed to require appropriate oversight over the loan guarantee process, is unaware of the financial condition of the other loan guarantee recipients after two of the first three have filed for bankruptcy, did not seek legal input from the Department of Justice before subordinating taxpayers to two hedge funds, and is unable to identify who at DOE asked Solyndra to withhold announcing impending layoffs until after the November 2, 2010 elections. The appointment of Herb Allison to review all of the loan guarantees indicates that the President has lost faith in Secretary Chu. I agree with the point of Dan Carol, an Obama campaign senior advisor, who called on the White House to replace Chu earlier this year in an email. Chu has failed the test, and in my personal opinion I agree with Mr. Carol that he should be replaced by the President.”
Stearns referred to an August 2009 email by a DOE staff member stating that Solyndra’s financial model showed it running out of cash in September 2011, just when the firm filed for bankruptcy. Chu responded, “I wasn’t aware of this particular email at the time.”
Regarding the failure of Solyndra and Beacon Power, Stearns asked Chu, “When you have two of the first three loans out of the 1705 program go bankrupt, the question for you is how many loan guarantees that you are involved with and covering and monitoring are going to fail, in your opinion?” Chu was unable to provide an answer. He also was unable to even cite loan guarantees that were at high risk.
Although the Obama Administration claims that politics played no role in Solyndra, advisors for Argonaut, Solyndra’s largest investor, discussed with DOE impending layoffs at Solyndra. The email states that DOE “did push very hard for us to hold our announcement of the consolidation to employees and vendors to Nov 3rd – oddly they didn’t give a reason for that date.” The mid-term elections were held the previous day. Chu could not say who at DOE made that request.
Stearns added that the investigation continues, “The White House has continued to stonewall this investigation at every turn, forcing this Committee to issue a subpoena to obtain basic investigative documents. And yet, the White House has still only produced a few selective documents form the West Wing of the White House to the Committee, some of which were heavily redacted, despite the White House Counsel’s office having admitted that this is a legitimate investigation.”
A Chu fact-check from…WaPo on his jobs claims and solar prices:
We always warn readers to be wary of claims about the number of jobs created by some government, congressional or corporate initiative. These are almost always suspect and based on dubious assumptions. (Chu, we should note, carefully used the word “employ” instead of “create.”)
As it happens, Carol D. Leonnig and Steven Mufson of The Washington Post examined the job-claim figure two months ago and found it wanting. “The program — designed to jump-start the nation’s clean technology industry by giving energy companies access to low-cost, government-backed loans — has directly created 3,545 new, permanent jobs after giving out almost half the allocated amount, according to Energy Department tallies,” they reported on The Post’s front page.
The Energy Department disputed that analysis as “incomplete and inaccurate,” as evidenced by the fact that Chu repeated the claim in sworn testimony before Congress. But if you dig deeper into the 60,000 number, you find that more than half of it comes from a single program — 33,000 jobs at Ford that were supposedly converted to green technology because of a $5.9 billion loan. The Energy Department translated those as “saved” jobs, even though the number amounts to nearly half of Ford’s total workforce.
It’s one of the oldest tricks in the Washington spin book: Lump a bunch of tiny projects with one big project, and then claim all of them — 38 in this case — created a bunch of jobs.
… Chu’s other quote — concerning the unexpected collapse in solar prices — is also open to question. Chu rightly noted that there were some analysts — “outliers,” as he put it — who might have predicted a huge plunge in the solar module market. But he contended that most did not predict prices would drop below $2.
At the same time, however, the shakiness in the market was readily apparent at the time DOE pressed the White House budget office to sign off on the Solyndra loan. Note the Aug. 31, 2009 e-mail below, from an Office of Management and Budget official to a DOE official, asking that an announcement of the loan be postponed.
The e-mail includes links to articles with headlines like “As Prices Slump, Solar Industry Suffers.”
…While Chu said that Wall Street analysts generally were not predicting such a steep price drop, it is clear from the articles mentioned in the e-mail that they were warning that prices would fall further. The Fact Checker once covered Wall Street, and analysts promoting stocks are almost always bullish. When analysts start getting skittish, it’s time to get wary. In fact, one of the articles cited in the e-mail reported that a major investment firm had downgraded the solar energy sector from “positive” to “neutral.”
On Wall Street, that usually translates as “sell.”
“Nothing in the e-mail you cited or the stories it mentions predicted the prices would fall as far as they did,” DOE spokesman LaVera said.
***
Fast and Furious backlash grows: 51 congressmen to Eric Holder: You must resign immediately
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So what is Chu doing today? Why, he’s visiting GE’s solar plant 2 blocks from my house in Arvada, CO. The plant GE acquired when it bought out PrimeStar Solar. GE, who didn’t pay one red cent in taxes on $14 billion in profits.
A few miles away in Golden, we are so lucky to have NCAR so that Mark Udall can continue to push wind and solar on the American people.
Soon we will also have GE’s new ‘largest solar plant in the US’ down the highway in Aurora.
We also recently got the pleasure of the Federal Center’s new solar farm, a few miles south, right off of a major thoroughfair. It’s so scenic, right up there with NCAR’s experimental bird-killing machines a few miles north.
But God forbid that the Feds allow development of the Western Slope’s shale, a reservoir of oil and gas that rivals Saudi Arabia’s.
I watched the playback of Chu’s and when he said, “I didn’t do anything regarding Solyndra for political reasons.” I knew then and there, since Obama is the very one who gave him this appointment, that it was all about the politics. These people know nothing of ethics and honor.
By the way, how’s Holder doing down in the Caribbean on a week long holiday at taxpayer expense while people back here in the US are calling for his resignation?
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HI YAYMM–#85. I think the poll data you saw that says only 9 percent of the voters who put Comrade Obama into office in 2008 will vote for someone else in 2012 is accurate. I hope the poll is correct–9 percent is enough send Him into early retirement. Barring a third party conservative candidate handing President Obama a Bill Clinton style Ross Perot enabled victory.
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Most of those who voted for The Good Comrade did so because He really is a direct benefit to them. They are the 48 percent who profit mightily from the socialist system. Those who pay no real income taxes but get the (no!) Earned Income Credit on their “taxes”. Those on welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, SSI, Title 8 subsidized housing, etc. Illegal aliens wanting amnesty. They have nothing to lose by having taxes raised bigtime on those who do work and pay. They pay nothing and have no “skin in the game”.
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Only the 9 percent with something to lose and nothing to gain from 4 more years of President Obama are going to vote for the republican candidate. The other 91 percent are going to vote for their guy–The One–again. Like the Kingfish–corrupt Huey Long said long ago, “Don’t tax you. Don’t tax me. Let’s tax that guy over there behind the tree!” I think he really was a democrat.
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John Bibb
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It’s not so much the percentage that change their minds that is key, it’s the enthusiasm gap. He got a lot of votes from people who didn’t normally vote, esp minorities, who may not show up the next time around. I think that could cause a much bigger turnaround.
Since Chu has assumed the Sgt. Shultz position (“I know nothing”), his claim that the analysis was “incomplete and inaccurate” must be deemed itself incomplete and innacurate. For a guy with a Ph.D., Chu doesn’t appear to be intelligent. Oh, yeah, he was awarded a Nobel in Physics. Are those now the equivalent of Nobel Peace Prizes? Any doofus can be awarded one?
Isn’t this directly the opposite of what happens in Japan when there is a failure somewhere in an organization, be it private or public sector? After the earthquake and resulting tsunami, at least one executive of the company that ran the nuclear power plants resigned because of the disaster that took place. That we should have people in positions of authority who feel shame and resign when systems in their control fail. Are you listening Mr. Chu and Mr. Holder? Going up the ladder, how about you, Mr. Obama? The country will not fall apart if you are no longer at the helm.
Question 1: “Why did you take the job if you did not know what you were doing?”
Question 2: “If you did not know what you were doing in that position, who (at the top) fed you instructions on what to do?”
As the unions laugh all the way to the bank.
Michelle Malkin said:
You can’t spell “accountability” without “A,” “C” and “T.” But in Washington, government officials routinely get away with “taking personal responsibility” by mouthing empty words devoid of action. Heads nod in collective agreement that mistakes were made. But heads never roll. The Obama administration has raised this accountability charade to an art form.
Perfect, Michelle
(Everyone should read Throw Them ALL Out.:-)
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=47518
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On November 18th, 2011 at 10:02 am, cabrerski said:
In the Navy and Coast Guard, an officer strives to command. As the Captain of a ship, this officer is placed in a prestigious and powerful position but also assumes the responsibility of every facet the operation.
While subordinate to higher command, both military and civilian, the Captain is held to a higher personal degree of obligation.
If his ship runs aground, it is the Captain’s fault and stands to be relieved. Even if he was asleep at the time. It was the Captain’s duty to ensure his people were trained so they avoided the incident.
In Washington, everyone wants the authority but not the accountibility. It appears that they higher you go up the ladder, the more lawyers you get to obfusgate the issues at hand. The politicians and their ilk always blame employees of their mistakes, errors and/or crimes.
What drives the military mind to accept the responsiblity of command along side the glory can be summed up in one word: HONOR.
If honor was measured in 10-pound increments, you could not find an ounce anywhere in DC.
Well said, painfully true, cabrerski
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A lot of the non Military posters here also think clearly about authority and responsibility. I nominate HAPPY_SCRAPPER and GREEN_EYED_LADY for honorary membership in the Military way of thinking club.
Will Chu do a perp walk for misappropriation of federal funds?
Nope!
If the US is stupid enough to re-elect OBlowMe in 2012, bin Laden will be the final winner.
If lib ideas are so great, then why do you need a thesaurus, a dictionary, a DSM and a bunch of psychiatrists to understand what these freaks are talking about?
Chu is taking responsibility for Solyndra like Janet Reno took responsibility for Waco. What good is having a Nobel Prize winner with a PhD in physics running the DOE if he can’t do his homework?
Chu was playing with taxpayer money and doubled down on a bad hand when he subordinated the taxpayer’s loan. Reckless. Feckless.
In Heinlein’s book, Starship Troopers, he recounts the story of a midshipman who was court-martialed and cashiered during the War of 1812 as captain of the U.S.S. Chesapeake, because he left his post w/o being relieved in order to drag the captain below, and while he was gone, 3 ranks of officers above him were killed.
I apparently missed this first time around! Thank you very much for that nice compliment!!
Well, we all know how much a nobel prize is worth these days. Just look at who receives that “prize”. For example, Assar Arrafat, oh, and Barack Obama, who had barely started his first term and hadn’t accomplish a dang thing. He still hasn’t. They also named dozens of schools and streets after him. How’s that working out?
I think there are a lot of regrets out there. And I think a lot of street names will be changed one day.
As for nobel? Worthless and meaningless.
I really find these blame games silly. So the US government made a bad bet on a corporation.? In the long run we won’t pay for it because the US like Greece is going to default on the debt. At this point the USA is the Titanic after it has hit an iceberg and smart Americans are getting a seat on a life boat rather then waiting to go down with the ship to die in icy waters.
The Wests economic system is rotten to the core and like the former Soviet Union we too shall collapse and have to rebuild our economies.
For too long the DC elites have been gambling and losing our money. The only difference now is that the failures are being exposed along with the personal corruption of the elected officials and their appointees. DC has become a festering pile of slime, oozing out in all directions.
They’re all fooking criminals, everyone from the top down. Gangster Government rides again.
A bad bet? This isn’t like dropping a couple grand in Vegas, this is the deliberate systematic destruction of the American economy by brazen theft and corruption at the highest levels of government. You bet your ass that the perpetrators need to be identified and held accountable (as if that were possible now). This Titanic didn’t just wander into an iceberg, it was knowingly steered into it.
Call me a cynic, but I’m starting to believe all of it was deliberate.
They KNEW this company was going to go under. They gave them this huge pot of taxpayer money, then restructured the loan to ensure Dem Donor Investors would get (tax) money when the company folded. It’s an elaborate scheme to shift millions of taxpayer dollars to the Dems’ re-election coffers. Follow the money!
Chu, the Solyndra execs, and the ‘private investors’ all need to go to jail.
On November 21st, 2011 at 9:40 am, Dexter Alarius said:
Not to mention MF Global as well!!