Hillary
Clinton’s record is proof she’s unfit to be President
There's no doubt that both
candidates who have any chance of winning this year’s Presidential election
have many shortcomings. Yes, Donald Trump's words from years ago were
crude and indefensible. However, they pale in comparison to the
life-altering words and actions Hillary Clinton has actually said and done over
her lifetime as a career politician.
Hillary defended the rapist of a
twelve year-old girl, got the rapist off with a minimal charge, laughed about
it on tape, and left the girl traumatized for life. Hillary also targeted the
women her husband sexually assaulted over the years, in an attempt to destroy
the victims of her husband's crimes, so that the Clintons' political careers would
not be harmed.
Let's consider just a few of
Hillary’s long list of failures.
1) Hillary promised to create 200,000 jobs in
Upstate NY while serving as a NYS Senator and living the high life in
Westchester County. Upstate jobs actually declined over her time in office
here.
2.) Four American heroes died in
Benghazi while Hillary was Secretary of State, which Hillary’s campaign chair, John Podesta's
leaked emails reveal "was
preventable." Hillary ignored the victims’ repeated pleas for help - both
prior to and during the 13 hour-long attack.
Hillary then repeatedly lied to the deceased Americans’ family members for
weeks until the truth was exposed.
3.) The Middle East situation worsened
terribly under Hillary’s term as Secretary of State (ie: the failed
'red line' in Syria; failed policy in Libya; the ill-planned Iraq
withdrawal which led to the creation of ISIS; and the utter failure to contain
ISIS).
4.) Hillary used her position
as Secretary of State to orchestrate deals with foreign governments,
resulting in huge pay-offs to the Clinton Foundation in return for favors –
most notably, the Uranium One deal, which landed 20% of U.S. uranium in
Russia's hands, as the Clinton Foundation benefitted immensely. See the New York Times report: http://nyti.ms/1PlHNFN.
5.)
Hillary’s behind-closed-doors deals with Billionaire Wall Street 'Green Gangsters' (ie: Elon Musk, Tom Steyer, etc.) enable these ‘green’
consumer frauds to exist, while enriching Hillary’s crony pals at taxpayers',
ratepayers' and the environment's expense.
6.) Hillary’s time as Secretary
of State under Obama also resulted in:
a.) Failure to improve
schools and inner-city living conditions;
b.) Increased
poverty, people on welfare and food stamps;
c.) Decreased
average household income and participation in the workforce, etc.
7.) Email-Gate: 33,000+ emails were
deleted from Hillary's illegal server, while her computers and blackberries
were destroyed with 'Bleach Bit' and hammers - after having
been subpoenaed to hand them over. Richard Nixon was impeached for a lot less.
8.) In Hillary’s paid speeches to
Brazilian Banks, Hillary revealed she wants "open trade" (calling TPP
"the Gold Standard") and “open borders.” (This should
terrify every patriotic American citizen!)
9.) Hillary admits it's
impossible to properly vet Syrian refugees, but she wants to increase the
refugees they’re allowing into the U.S. by 550%. U.S. taxpayers will be
on the hook for the massive bill – adding to the unsustainable $20 Trillion dollar national debt -
which has nearly doubled under Obama's reign.
10.) Hillary does not want Voter ID,
yet there’s proof that voter fraud is rampant everywhere. (See the New York City
Democratic Commissioner admit to it here: https://youtu.be/jUDTcxIqqM0)
11.) Leaked Podesta emails
reveal that Hillary and her campaign staff mocked Catholics and Evangelicals.
(Can you imagine the outrage if Republicans had mocked Islam in this manner?)
The Podesta emails also reveal they dissed Blacks, Hispanics, and Bernie
supporters. Here's just a few of their revealed statements: Hillary
"Hates everyday Americans," "Ignorant voters are the key to
the win," and "Hillary wants unaware and compliant citizenry."
12.) Hillary claims she is “for
children and families,” yet she supports abortion on demand through the 9th month. If
you’ve never seen what this heinous act looks like, see this diagram: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6vnOaq7nWU.
If Hillary does not care about
protecting innocent babies' lives, what makes you think she will give one hoot
about you or your family?
13.) Hillary Clinton has made clear
that she will appoint progressive Supreme Court justices who, like her, have no
regard at all for human life, religious liberty, nor the 2nd Amendment.
What this election boils down to is
Trump’s vision for National Sovereignty, secure borders and an 'Americans
first' mentality, versus Hillary’s push for globalism
(aka: One World Order) with “open borders.”
Frankly, I am far more offended by
pictures of dead, aborted babies, and Ambassador Stevens' lifeless, tortured
body in Benghazi, than anything that Donald Trump 'said' many years ago as a
private citizen.
Hillary Clinton’s lengthy list of
utter failures, and her callous, immoral disregard for human life is exactly
why Hillary Clinton should NEVER be President of the United States!
Mary Kay Barton
'The Buffalo Billion fraud and bribery scheme': corruption and pay-to-play, a symbol of everything they’re doing
When New York’s Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo gushed over SolarCity’s new solar panel factory in Buffalo, New York, the audience, likely, didn’t grasp the recently-revealed meaning of his words: “It is such a metaphor—a symbol of everything we’re doing.”
The 1.2 million square foot building, being built by the state of New York on the site of a former steel plant, is looking more and more like another political promise of help for one of the poorest cities in the state that ends up enriching cronies without ever achieving any potential for the people.
Yes, it is a symbol of everything they’re doing.
Previously, during her first senatorial bid, Hillary Clinton also promised jobs to the economically depressed region of the state of New York—200,000 to be exact. Citing a report from the Washington Post, CBSNews states: “Jobs data show that job growth stagnated in Upstate New York during her eight years in office, the report said, and manufacturing jobs dropped by nearly a quarter.” The Post’s extensive story reveals that jobs never materialized—despite “initial glowing headlines.” It claims: “Clinton’s self-styled role as economic promoter” actually “involved loyal campaign contributors who also supported the Clinton Foundation.” Through federal grants and legislation, she helped steer money to programs, companies, and initiatives that benefitted the donors but failed to reverse the economic decline of the region.
Now, new corruption charges reveal the same pay-to-play model linked to Cuomo’s upstate “Buffalo Billion” economic revitalization plan—and the promised jobs, also, look they will never materialize.
Back on January 5, 2012, Cuomo announced a $1 billion five-year economic development pledge for Buffalo. It was to be the governor’s banner economic initiative with the SolarCity factory as the cornerstone and a pledge of 1,460 direct factory jobs. Other companies, including IBM and a Japanese clean-energy company were also lined up.
With the state-of-the-art solar panel factory ready for equipment to be installed, the wisdom of the entire program is being scrutinized—and is coming up short.
First, on September 22, two of Cuomo’s closest aides—along with several others—were charged in corruption and fraud cases involving state contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Addressing the press at his Manhattan office, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara asserted: “that ‘pervasive corruption and fraud’ infested one of the governor’s signature economic development programs. Companies got rich, and the public got bamboozled,” reports The Observer. Bharara described the bid-rigging and bribery arrangement: “Behind the scenes they were cynically rigging the whole process so that the contracts would go to handpicked ‘friends of the administration’—‘friends’ being a euphemism for large donors. Through rigged bids, state contracts worth billions of dollars in public development monies, meant to revitalize and renew upstate New York, were instead just another way to corruptly award cronies who were willing to pay to play.”
The 79-page criminal complaint notes that campaign contributions to Cuomo poured in from people connected to the bribe-paying companies as soon as those businesses began pursuing state projects.
One of the companies that received the lucrative contracts was LPCiminelli—run by “Cuomo mega-donor” Louis Ciminelli. He allegedly offered bribes to Cuomo confidante Todd Howe—who has admitted to pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars from developers to rig bids on multimillion-dollar state contracts linked to Buffalo Billion projects.
Ciminelli received the $750 million contract to build the SolarCity plant. The Buffalo News cites Bharara as saying: “the state’s bidding process for the factory being built for SolarCity at RiverBend in South Buffalo turned into a ‘criminal’ enterprise that favored LPCiminelli, where company executives were given inside information about how the deal was to be awarded.”
Part of Cuomo’s deal with SolarCity—in which the state owns the building and equipment with SolarCity leasing it under a 10-year deal—requires the company to meet a timetable of job-creation quotas or pay hefty penalties. Even before the building was complete, however, the company slashed its job commitment from 1460 to 500. According to the Investigative Post, SolarCity claims it will still employ the original number, but due to automation, the majority of them will not be at the Buffalo plant. With the state’s $750 million investment, that works out to $1.5 million per manufacturing job. In a press release, Cuomo promised 1460 “direct manufacturing jobs at the new facility.”
Even the 500 jobs will only materialize if the plant actually starts production—currently slated for June 2017. SolarCity’s future is, as Crain’s New York Business puts it: “uncertain.”
Amid the company’s myriad problems are the facts that it has never been profitable, nor does it have manufacturing experience.
In February 2014, SolarCity’s stock price peaked at about $85 a share. Today, a share is less than $20. Microaxis gives it a probability of bankruptcy score of 48 percent. Crains reports that it posted a $251 million loss in Q1 2016 and a loss of $230 million in Q2. To “stop the bleeding,” Elon Musk (a donor to both the Obama and Clinton campaigns and the Clinton Foundation), who owns more than 20 percent of the company, announced that Tesla (of which he also owns more than 20 Percent) would purchase SolarCity—this after as many as 15 other potential buyers and investors looked at the company and decided to pass. SolarCity even considered selling the solar panel manufacturing business.
Both SolarCity and Tesla are, according to the Buffalo News, facing a “cash bind”—this despite receiving billions in federal and state grants and tax credits as I’ve previously addressed. Tesla is described as “cash-eating electric vehicle and battery making businesses.” For SolarCity, its model—which finances its solar panel installations, in order to make a profit on a lease that can be as long as 30 years, while it collects the lucrative government incentives worth billions (a practice for which Solar City is currently under Congressional investigation)—requires constantly raising new money from investors. Once the Tesla deal was announced, SolarCity’s lenders started to pull back.
The Buffalo News reports: “Stock in SolarCity…now trades for $4 a share less, or 19 percent less, than what Tesla is offering—a gap indicating that investors are uncertain the deal will be completed.” Additionally, the deal is being challenged by four separate lawsuits—which could delay the deal. Addressing the merger, one analyst said: “We see a lot more that can go wrong than can go right.”
Then there is the manufacturing angle. Originally, the Buffalo plant was going to manufacture high-efficacy solar panel modules developed by Silevo—a company SolarCity bought in 2014. Crain’s reports that it will instead produce complete solar roofs. Something it says “Dow Chemical recently abandoned after five years because it could not find a way to make a profit on the technology.” But then, the Buffalo News says: “The initial production in Buffalo is expected to include photovoltaic cells that SolarCity purchases from suppliers and are used in the products that will be assembled in the South Park Avenue factory.”
Whatever the plant builds or manufactures, getting it operating will be expensive—even with the New York taxpayers owning the building and equipment—and will drain scarce cash from SolarCity at a time when its financing costs have increased.
Buffalo residents wonder if they’ll be stuck with the world’s largest empty warehouse and without the promised jobs.
No wonder the entire project is in doubt. Because of the Cuomo administration corruption allegations, other proposed job-creators, including IBM, have pulled out until the probe is completed.
For now, Cuomo is not a part of the criminal complaint—though his name is mentioned many times—and he claims he knew nothing about it, nor does he think he’s a target of the ongoing federal probe. “It is almost inconceivable the governor didn’t know what was going on,” Doug Muzzio, a professor of public affairs at Baruch College, said. “And if he didn’t know what was going on, you can argue he should have known.”
Bharara has suggested that the better name for the program would be: “The Buffalo Billion Fraud and Bribery Scheme.”
Yep, the Buffalo Billion project is a “symbol” of the political promises and crony corruption—“everything we’re doing”—that takes taxpayers dollars to reward political donors and then walks away when the jobs don’t materialize.
The author of Energy Freedom, Marita Noon serves as the executive director for Energy Makes America Great Inc. and the companion educational organization, the Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE). She hosts a weekly radio program: America’s Voice for Energy—which expands on the content of her weekly column. Follow her @EnergyRabbit.
America’s
Industrial Wind Blight – Enriching
the .1%
at taxpayer, ratepayer & the environment's expense
“America
is being auctioned off to the highest bidder.” – Donald J. Trump
A recent article, NY looks to the wind to replace its fossil fuel diet, by Joe Mahoney, was full
of half-truths and misinformation.
There is
nothing "free," "clean," or "green" about industrial
wind. Quite to the contrary, the true costs of industrial wind
development are astronomical. Yet, the wishful thinking of Governor Andrew
Cuomo, Attorney General Schneiderman, and ‘green’ ideologues who benefit from this massive taxpayer and ratepayer
rip-off, have been repeated unquestioned by many in the media for years now.
Mahoney’s
article highlighted Cuomo's approval of the proposed offshore wind factory off
of Montauk, NY, saying, "The offshore ‘wind farm’ could be a symbol of how
the state can meet Cuomo's ambitious goal of getting half of New York's energy
from carbon-free sources by 2030. Now, those sources represent about 23
percent of the state's energy draw."
That
statement is inaccurate.
New York
State's hydro power supplies approximately 23% of New York State electricity
generation all by itself. New York State's emissions-free nuclear power supplies
approximately another 30% of New York State's electricity generation. "Other Renewables" (ie: wind, solar, biofuels, geothermal, etc) now provide another 3%, as cited by the U.S. EIA.
Clearly,
current hydro and nuclear power supplies alone in New York State are already
exceeding Cuomo’s emissions-free target of 50%, but for some reason, emissions-free
nuclear is NOT counted towards NY’s “emissions-free” goal.
Most
infuriating for New York State taxpayers and ratepayers is the fact that New York State was ALREADY GETTING approximately
50% of its electricity from emissions-free sources (19% from hydro + 29% from nuclear + 1% from "Other
Renewables") back in 2000 - BEFORE Governor Cuomo & Co began
throwing $BILLIONS of taxpayer and ratepayer dollars into the wind, plastering
rural NY with these bird-slaughtering lemons, as reported here.
'Clean' Power Plan Problem - Wind
Power Destruction in New York State:
https://www.masterresource.org/epa-power-plant-rule/wind-destruction-clean-power-plan/
Scientific Proof MIA
As our
government officials continue to throw $Billions of dollars into the wind, the
key question that needs to be asked by everyone is this:
The answer is that there is NO such
scientific proof. None. Nada.
However, there IS much proof that development
of sprawling, unreliable, industrial wind factories has been vastly detrimental
across the nation and the world. So
much so, President Obama had to approve 30-Year
EAGLE-KILL permits specifically to accommodate
the bird-slaughtering wind industry.
Governor
Cuomo’s pie-in-the-sky ‘green’ energy policy is bereft of any realistic
assessment of the expensive lessons already learned in Europe and elsewhere as
a result of pushing these ‘renewable’ energy policies. Results include, but are
not limited to: “skyrocketing”
electricity rates, industries fleeing, 2 – 4 jobs lost for every ‘green’ job
created, destroyed habitats and countryside, birds and bats slaughtered, lost property values, health
issues, utter civil
discord, and increasing numbers of people
being thrust into ‘energy
poverty.’
All this as a result of the
same ‘green’ mess Governor Cuomo, President Obama, and Hillary Clinton continue
to push. While they demonize
fossil fuel use and promise
to rid us of it, the truth is that the
availability of reliable, affordable power thanks to fossil fuels is directly
correlated with greatly improved health and longevity here in the U.S., as explained
by Alex
Epstein in his book, The
Moral Case for Fossil Fuels.
“It’s all about the money!”
WHY do
they continue to push such an obvious failure as industrial wind, you ask? Simple: “It’s all about the money!’
Manhattan
Institute scholar, Robert
Bryce, recently reported that the wind industry
has garnered $176
BILLION of crony-capitalism here in the U.S. It’s no wonder the American Wind Energy
Association spends over $20 Million per year lobbying for more of the same! Big
Wind and the Big Banks who back them are playing the system to tap into
taxpayers’ and ratepayers’ wallets, while the crony-politicians who enable the
whole dastardly deal get hefty ‘campaign donations’ in return. The greatest Ponzi Schemes of all time pale in comparison to the eco-heist these ‘Green
Gangsters’ are pulling off.
Industrial
wind was initiated in the U.S. by ENRON as a tax shelter generating scheme.
Nothing about that has changed. Big
Wind enriches the .1% at taxpayers' and
ratepayers' expense. Just ask Warren Buffett, who said, "We get tax
credits if we build 'wind farms.' That's the only reason to build them. They
don't make sense without the tax credits."
Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump was absolutely correct when he said in
regard to our nation’s economic demise, “America is being auctioned off to the
highest bidder.” The Industrial Wind blight across America exemplifies this sad
reality!
TAKE ACTION!
Contact
your Congressional Representatives, and tell them to STOP wasting OUR
money on the environmentally destructive CONSUMER FRAUD that is industrial wind
energy. If they won’t, vote the
bums out!
Mary
Kay Barton
Mary Kay Barton is a
retired New York State-certified Health Educator, Cornell-certified Master
Gardener, and a tireless advocate for scientifically sound, affordable, and
reliable electricity for all Americans. She has served over the past decade in
local Water Quality organizations and enjoys gardening and birding in her
National Wildlife Federation “Backyard Wildlife Habitat.”
Scientific silencers on the left - led by NY AG Schneiderman - are trying to shut down climate skepticism
George Will is right--and worse, these attorneys general may be committing a felony, violating 18 U.S.C. Sec. 241:
"If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or
intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession,
or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege
secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same; or
If two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured—
They shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, they shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death."
Read the article here:
http://wpo.st/lk1X1
The citizens' grassrooots group - Save Ontario Shores, has written to New York State Attorney General Schneiderman to request that he investigate the corrupt practices of the Big Wind LLC - APEX, who is working to ASSAULT their Lake Ontario shores communities with 625' industrial wind LEMONS, absurdly sited among peoples' homes. Read their letter to AG Schneiderman here:
http://www.eastniagarapost.com/2016/04/group-asks-for-attorney-general-to.html?m=0
WHILE THE PARIS CLIMATE DEAL WAS BEING SIGNED. THE LARGEST RENEWABLE BANKRUPTCY OCCURRED.
0 comments Posted by SARTRE at 7:32 AMhttp://www.batr.org/negotium/040616.html
For all those sun baked brains that see salvation in renewable nirvana, the imminent demise of SunEdison is the latest case that creative green economics is the path to insolvency. After studying the tangled web of cross collateralization and rehypothecation of debt, the WSJ announcement is inevitable, SunEdison Said to Be Preparing to File for Bankruptcy. “Solar-energy company SunEdison Inc. plans to file for bankruptcy protection in coming weeks, a dramatic about-face for a company whose market value stood at nearly $10 billion in July.”
Take the tour of the SunEdison: A Timeline of the Biggest Corporate Implosion in US Solar History, and understand that the solar and wind industry is founded on a Ponzi scheme of investor hype and government subsidies. Forbes investigates the convoluted and intertwined relationship in Reconsidering The SunEdison YieldCos, TerraForm Power And TerraForm Global.
“The company has been highly levered for some years now and management states that the recent increase in indebtedness will go towards funding of the company’s project pipeline.
Management expects the company to continue to lose money. However, it expects the cash generated by the two yieldcos under long-term contracts will begin to flow as early as the end of this year or beginning next year.”
At this point you must be asking just what is a ”yieldco”? Sun Edison Buying First Wind Scam provides a breakdown and crash course on how SunEdison used their corporate shell game to acquire a long failed and immensely indebted industrial wind scheme, lately known as First Wind.
“The lack of disclosure of ALL the debt for projects that cannot even satisfy minimum interest payments must less retiring the actual obligations, is indicative of an industry that is based upon fraud and uncompetitive costs.”
According to Law 360 the Nov. 2014: SunEdison and TerraForm acquire wind developer First Wind for $2.4 billion, does not tell the entire story.
“TerraForm picks up First Wind’s operating portfolio, which includes 521 megawatts of wind power assets, for an enterprise value of $862 million. That amount includes the equity purchase price, the assumption of debt for First Wind’s operating portfolio, certain swap and debt breakage fees and the purchase of a partner’s ownership stake in certain assets held by First Wind through a joint venture, according to regulatory filings.”
Now you need to enter into the looking glass and examine the rejected filing of First Wind with the SEC for their IPO. The links on Cohocton Wind Watch documents the actual degree of debt that this candidate for receivership held back in 2010. Why is this important?
The latest law suit from the investment banksters who financed First Wind gives the answer in SunEdison Legal Woes Mount With Suits Over First Wind.
“D.E. Shaw & Co. LP and Madison Dearborn Capital Partners IV LP say the funds in the TerraForm Power matter are owed as deferred payment for SunEdison’s $1.9 billion purchase of First Wind Holdings LLC in January 2015, and will be due “immediately” if SunEdison files for bankruptcy or restructures its debt, according to the suit filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York.
First Wind was one of SunEdison’s biggest purchases, and made it the world’s biggest renewable-energy company. It was part of a massive buying spree that racked up $11.7 billion in debt by the end of September and helped drive the company to the edge of failure.”
Well, the immediate implosion of the SunEdison house of cards follows the same pattern of the crooked First Wind operation that cooked the books for years. Start with the notice that SunEdison In More Hot Water As SEC Investigation Begins & Bankruptcy Looms, “US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has begun its own investigation into the company’s disclosures to investors about its liquidity” and add in the Bloomberg reports that SunEdison Receives U.S. Subpoena on Vivint Deal Gone Wrong.
“The Justice Department’s subpoena comes about three weeks after the deal with Vivint, a takeover that drew the ire of billionaire investor David Tepper, was canceled. Vivint sued SunEdison shortly after, saying its officials had failed to meet financial obligations and work toward consummating the merger. SunEdison auditors had meanwhile started investigations into allegations made by former executives and a current employee about the accuracy of the company’s “anticipated financial position.”
The circular accounting circles never seem to reconcile. Just maybe the basic economics used to finance these dubious energy companies need a thoroughgoing over examination by the regulatory agencies and financial community.
"TerraForm Power's acquisition of the Invenergy wind plants leverages the power of SunEdison's platform which was enhanced with our acquisition of First Wind in January of 2015," said Ahmad Chatila, SunEdison chief executive officer and TerraForm Power chairman. "The Invenergy transaction creates significant value for our shareholders through the accretion in our TerraForm Power ownership and the acceleration of our Incentive Distribution Rights (IDRs). Together with TerraForm Power, SunEdison's development platform will change how energy is generated, distributed and owned around the world."
No wonder that the SEC is investigating “the company’s disclosures to investors”. The public needs to wake up to the facts that the solar and wind industry promises much and delivers little. Anyone remember Solyndra and Evergreen Solar?
Who else but the Motley Fool to sum up the lesson of another failed “Green” utopian environmental illusion, What Happens to SunEdison Inc If It Goes Under?
“Here's the biggest question in a potential SunEdison bankruptcy: What is the renewable energy development business worth?
In theory, developing renewable energy projects should drive everything from the O&M business to yieldcos. But developing projects requires a lot of money, including debt, which SunEdison has found out the hard way. If that funding dries up, so does the business.”
Learn well and remember long. Generating electricity based on government subsidies is a fool’s game. Allowing quick buck artists to become developers and pitch their convoluted and Byzantine yieldco “re-use” collateral pledges is pure fraud. The public is continually being duped by opportunists, who are more skilled at ripping off the investor than producing any usable electricity. The forthcoming bankruptcy of SunEdison is another sign that energy policy under the cult of renewable production is not economically feasible.
For additional evidence that SunEdison’s Subsidy-Fueled Collapse, Robert Bryce nails the problem with a failed governmental energy policy.
“The biggest federal handouts — two of them totaling $200 million — were made in 2010 and 2011 to a subsidiary of SunEdison, First Wind, for the Milford Wind project in Utah. In addition to the federal subsidies, SunEdison got $30 million in subsidies from various state authorities, including $21 million from governmental entities in New York. On top of that, SunEdison also received $846 million in federal loans, loan guarantees, tax-exempt federal bonds, and federal insurance. The total government support for SunEdison comes out to $1.5 billion.”
The effort to shut down coal generation, decommission nuclear plants, limit hydro facilities and restrict natural gas turbines all lead to higher electric costs and ultimate brown outs. The true cost of continuing down this road of electric burn out by underwriting uneconomical “feel good” projects is punitive and ridiculous.
A SunEdison bankruptcy reshuffling is not about cancelling debt, but needs to be the liquidation of assets and accountability for fiduciary malfeasance. What does it take to admit that the renewal experiment is a bust? Cut the “Green” loses and get on with the business of generating reliable energy.
James Hall – April 6, 2016
New Jersey Pipe Supply Company Owner Sentenced to 32 Months in Prison for Role in Fraud and Bribery Conspiracy in Power Generation Industry
0 comments Posted by SARTRE at 8:17 PM
Company Sentenced to Pay a Total of Over $1.7 Million in Fines and Restitution
A New Jersey industrial pipe supply company and its owner were sentenced today for conspiring to commit fraud and pay bribes to a purchasing manager at Consolidated Edison of New York in return for the manager’s efforts to steer contracts to the company, the Department of Justice announced.
Andrew Martingano, of Staten Island, New York, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Deborah A. Batts of the Southern District of New York to 32 months and a day in prison. American Pipe Bending and Fabrication Co. Inc. of Edison, New Jersey, was sentenced to pay a $150,000 criminal fine. Martingano and American Pipe were also sentenced to pay over $1.6 million in restitution, jointly and severally with their co-conspirators, to the victim, Con Ed. The company and its owner pleaded guilty to committing wire fraud and conspiring to defraud Con Ed on Aug. 15, 2012.
According to court documents, Martingano and others agreed to pay approximately $510,000 in cash bribes to James M. Woodason, a department manager of the purchasing department at Con Ed. In exchange for the bribes, Woodason steered Con Ed industrial pipe supply contracts to American Pipe by secretly providing Martingano with confidential competitor bid information, thereby causing Con Ed to pay higher, non-competitive prices for materials. At the time of Woodason’s arrest in August 2010, Woodason had already received approximately $45,000 in cash bribes from Martingano and American Pipe.
The department said the conspiracy took place from approximately January 2009 to August 2010. In addition, Martingano and American Pipe defrauded Con Ed by requesting a 14 percent price increase and basing that request on a fake email purporting to document a “Steel Mill” price increase that American Pipe was passing on to Con Ed. These false and fraudulent price increase requests caused actual losses to Con Ed in the amount of approximately $1.4 million and intended losses of approximately $9.4 million.
Con Ed is a regulated utility headquartered in Manhattan. It provides electric service to approximately 3.2 million customers, and gas service to approximately 1.1 million customers in New York City and Westchester County, New York. Con Ed received more than $10,000 in federal funding each year between 2003 through 2010, and cooperated with the department’s investigation.
Including Martingano and American Pipe, a total of five individuals and two companies have been charged as part of this investigation and have been ordered to serve a total of more than 16 years in prison and to pay criminal fines and restitution of more than $3 million.
The charges arose from an ongoing federal antitrust investigation of bid rigging, bribery, fraud and tax-related offenses in the power generation industry. The investigation is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s New York Office, with assistance from the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation. Anyone with information concerning bid rigging, bribery, tax offenses or fraud in the power generation industry should contact the FBI’s New York Division at 212-384-3720 or the Antitrust Division’s New York Office at 212-335-8000, or visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm.
16-126
Antitrust (including FTC antitrust)
Updated February 2, 2016
Cuomo's anti-Conservative rant inexcusable
(From January, 2014 Batavia Daily News)
Editor,
Three cheers for Assemblyman Steve Hawley
for standing up and speaking out on behalf of all Conservative New York
State citizens in the wake of Governor Cuomo's mind-blowing,
anti-Conservative rant last week.
In
this increasingly 'go-along-to-get-along' world we live in, it's good
to know that there are still a few elected officials who have the guts
to speak out against tyrannical bullies like Cuomo (who apparently has
forgotten what the Constitution is), instead of just cowering in silence
for fear of retribution, as many do.
Reading
the Governor's rant against Conservatives was bad enough, but when I
actually heard the arrogance and condescending tone in the Governor’s
voice as I listened to the interview, I was appalled. Cuomo was very
clear about the fact that pro-life, pro-gun, pro-Biblical marriage
Conservatives “have no place in New York State.”
Isn't
it bad enough that New York State is hemorrhaging more people than any
other state -- losing millions of dollars in taxable income every day as
thousands of people flee the highest taxes in the nation? (See:
www.HowMoneyWalks.com) So why would New York State's chief financial
officer be resorting to using divisive rhetoric, specifically geared at
driving more people out of the state?!? It boggles the mind that any
"public servant" - especially a Governor, could be so ignorant.
Our
forefathers fled to America to escape religious persecution. Down
through the generations, all of our families have spent their blood,
sweat, and tears building this country into a place where we are
supposed to be able to be FREE to practice our religion without the fear
of mad, power-hungry government dictators imposing their "state"
religion upon us. Thus, Cuomo's intolerance is inexcusable, and in my
opinion, renders him unfit to govern.
Sad
as it is to say, I have come to a much clearer understanding - under
Governor Cuomo's 'reign', as to why our Founding Fathers instituted the
2nd Amendment into our Constitution to protect us from a tyrannical
government.
Regardless
of tyrannical rants like that just displayed by the Governor, we have
no intention of abdicating our belief in God and Jesus Christ to fall in
line with baby-killing beliefs that we find abhorrent. Nor will we be
giving up our guns, as we still believe in the 2nd Amendment. Just how
many more people the Governor's radical disdain and incompetency ends up
driving out of the state, however, remains to be seen.
THANK
YOU once again, Steve Hawley, for speaking truth to power on behalf of
ALL freedom loving, Constitution-believing Americans across New York
State! May God bless you and keep you safe as you continue to battle
for all of our rights!
Mary Kay Barton
Silver Lake, NY
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