Will Bustos Learn from the Democrats Solyndra Stimulus Disaster?

Illinois Democrat’s Washington Allies Remain Desperately Committed to their Fatally Flawed National Energy Policy

WASHINGTON --- Cheri Bustos' Washington Democrat allies promised jobs and energy independence when they passed their massive $800 billion stimulus, but it became increasingly clear that gambling with taxpayer dollars was going to cause more harm than good. Despite the obvious lessons learned from the unprecedented spending spree, would Bustos also cling to these failed stimulus spending policies like her prospective Democrat leaders after they gave Americans the Solyndra bankruptcy scandal and record-high energy prices?

“Cheri Bustos can now see exactly how her Washington Democrat leaders’ stimulus spending spree led to failures like the Solyndra bankruptcy instead of economic recovery and energy independence,” said NRCC Communications Director Paul Lindsay. “With this in mind, will Bustos join her Democrat allies’ efforts to continue the same energy policies that gave Americans the $535 million Solyndra bankruptcy, record-high energy prices and broken promises?”

A former FBI agent hired to investigate the Solyndra bankruptcy concluded the Obama Administration was well aware of the risk when they decided to gamble with millions in taxpayer-funded stimulus loans:

“The Department of Energy was fully aware of the risks in backing Solyndra Inc., a start-up company that pocketed a half-billion dollar DOE loan but never turned a penny in profit before shutting its doors, concludes a former FBI agent hired to examine the company’s books…

“In fact, records show, the Energy Department supported the Solyndra financing in the early days of the Obama administration in the face of criticism from officials within several wings of government — the Office of Management and Budget, the U.S. Treasury and DOE. ‘This deal is NOT ready for prime time,’ one OMB employee wrote March 10, 2009, government emails show. Ten days later, energy officials announced Solyndra was in line to be the first company to secure a green energy loan guarantee.” (Ronnie Greene, “Department of Energy knew of Solyndra risks, former FBI agent finds,” iWatch News, 3/29/12)

And Democrats remained committed to their stimulus energy flops after they managed to achieve little except burning through taxpayer money:

“Week after week, Romer would march in with an estimate of the jobs all the investments in clean energy would produce; week after week, Obama would send her back to check the numbers. ‘I don't get it,’ he'd say. ‘We make these large-scale investments in infrastructure. What do you mean there are no jobs?’ But the numbers rarely budged.” (Jordan Weissmann, “There Are Way Fewer Green Jobs Than You Think,” The Atlantic, 3/26/12)

Shields: Tales Of A Politician Who Will Say Anything To Distract Illinois Taxpayers From Her Job-Destroying Policies; IL-17 Race of the Day

I read this article today and loved every sentence.

From TownHall.com

Democrat Cheri Bustos could write a book on how to distract voters from her disturbing job-destroying record. Anointed by the Chicago political machine as the Democrat candidate in Illinois’ 17th District, Bustos started her campaign by following their playbook by attacking pizzeria owner and union member Bobby Schilling right out of the gate. In an effort to shed light on her aversion to the truth, the NRCC has launched a Web site dedicated to exposing the real Cheri Bustos – www.cheritales.com. The site chronicles Bustos’ record in a series of chapters highlighting her support of big-government policies that have made our economy worse.

The contrast among the candidates in this race could not be more clear. With Bobby Schilling – what you see is what you get. With Cheri Bustos – all you hear are generic talking points designed to hide her support for wasteful spending, drastic cuts to Medicare and job-destroying taxes hikes.

Cheri likes to say, “I will reduce the debt the right way, by cutting wasteful spending.” But Illinois families know that’s nothing more than a tall tale. Take one look at her record in East Moline and you will see why she doesn’t want to talk about the $40,000 taxpayer-funded welcome sign she supported or the $550,000 that was improperly spent leaving Illinois taxpayers footing the bill. According to East Moline’s finance director, this $550,000 was used to fund improper tax rebates, the director said the mistake will “affect next year's budget big time.”

Cheri likes to say, “We need to focus not just on lowering the unemployment rate, but ensuring the jobs created provide livable wages and good benefits.” But under Cheri’s watch the unemployment rate in East Moline grew from 4.3% to 7.4%, and she left the city with an anticipated $1 million budget deficit.

Cheri likes to say, “To ensure Medicare’s long-term financial stability, we should implement common sense reforms to lower costs.” But Bustos wants to keep the government takeover of healthcare in place that already raided $500 billion from Medicare and has increased costs.

Schilling’s experience of running a business and employing Illinoisans stands in stark contrast with Bustos. In Congress, Schilling has fought to cut spending, reduce burdensome regulations and get government out of the way. Utilizing his real-world experience, Schilling has been able to bring together Democrats and Republicans to promote new manufacturing jobs at the Rock Island Arsenal.

In another sign that the DCCC political gerrymandering efforts in Illinois will backfire, Schilling’s base actually increased with 12,000 more Republican primary voters than the old IL-17. Furthermore, the district has a history of electing Republicans, with Mark Kirk and Bill Brady winning this district with 53% of the vote in 2010.

Voters in this new district, which covers northwestern Illinois, sent a small businessman to Congress for a reason in 2010 and won’t be fooled by politician Cheri Bustos who would be a hardworking taxpayer’s worst nightmare.