I think this story will be interesting to check up on occasionally and see how the Texas Governor race goes. I can see how he might be abusing power, but I can see how he thought he was acting in the best interest. We should just wait and see how it turns out with evidence.
They gave $11M straight to his campaign donor? That's real news, barfo. You have a scoop on your hands. Meanwhile, the real investigators say otherwise. http://www.dallasnews.com/investiga...es-grant-to-dallas-firm.ece?action=reregister CPRIT also released a nine-page report from executive director Bill Gimson about the Peloton grant. Two Republican legislators, who wrote the law five years ago that created the agency, requested the report. Gimson’s report says a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, the Column Group, approached CPRIT in June 2010 to try to get state funding to help create Peloton. Steven McKnight, chairman of biochemistry at UT Southwestern Medical Center, was a founder of Peloton. Based on the UTSW campus, Peloton is using laboratory discoveries made at UTSW to try to develop anti-cancer drugs. Gimson wrote that the Column Group has three scientific advisers who are Nobel laureates, including Michael Brown and Joseph Goldstein. Goldstein is chairman of UTSW’s department of molecular genetics. Brown is a professor at the medical center. Both Brown and Goldstein are longtime colleagues of Gilman. Gimson’s report says Gilman told Cobbs he was “very enthusiastic” about Peloton’s plans. Referring to the Column Group, Gimson wrote: “The investment firm wanted to start the company in Texas, associated with UT Southwestern; however, Peloton stated that if CPRIT was not interested they would have to consider other locations around the country.” Peloton lined up $18 million in commitments of private capital from the Column Group, Dallas-based Remeditex Ventures and Dallas philanthropist Peter O’Donnell. O’Donnell and his wife have contributed more than $240,000 to Gov. Rick Perry’s state campaigns since 2000 and about $200,000 to Lt. Gov David Dewhurst, according to the Texas Ethics Commission. ... Gimson called Cobbs’ action a misunderstanding and said that “there was no other intent than trying to quickly start efforts to get lifesaving products to Texans with cancer.” At the time that the Oversight Committee ratified the Peloton grant, Gimson said CPRIT didn’t have specific procedures for proposals like the one Peloton had developed. “Admittedly, we did not have all of the checks and balances in place,” Gimson told the Oversight Committee. Gimson apologized for the failure to review Peloton’s proposal and took full responsibility for it. “No grants have ever been funded for personal gain or ever will be,” he added.
Hey barfo, Indict obama? http://dailycaller.com/2011/09/01/b...ith-fed-backing-has-cozy-ties-to-obama-admin/ A solar energy company that intends to file for bankruptcy received $535 million in backing from the federal government and has a cozy history with Democrats and the Obama administration, campaign finance records show. Shareholders and executives of Solyndra, a green energy company producing solar panels, fundraised for and donated to the Obama administration to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Tulsa billionaire George Kaiser, a key Obama backer who raised between $50,000 and $100,000 for the president’s election campaign, is one of Solyndra’s primary investors. Kaiser himself donated $53,500 to Obama’s 2008 election campaign, split between the DSCC and Obama For America. Kaiser also made several visits to the White House and appeared at some White House events next to Obama officials. The moral of this story is don't shit where you eat.
Turns out the bogeyman isn't such a bogeyman after all. http://www.chron.com/news/houston-t...lements-suggested-by-official-who-4113523.php On Wednesday a spokesman for O'Donnell, David Margulies, said the Dallas philanthropist did not profit from the arrangement. "Mr. O'Donnell's investment in Peloton was made more than a year after the CPRIT Oversight Committee ratified funding for Peloton," Margulies said. "His investment in Peloton was made on July 25, 2011, and he donated all his Peloton shares, as well as the rights to future shares, to UT Southwestern (Medical Center) on Dec. 13, 2011." Margulies said O'Donnell invested $900,000 in Peloton.
Yes, if there is evidence of impropriety, it should be prosecuted. Pretty sure that there has been a considerable investigation into that issue. barfo
http://energycommerce.house.gov/pre...nsive-report-detailing-findings-solyndra-saga The report details the evidence gathered during the course of the investigation and the committee’s conclusions. The evidence demonstrates administration officials knew Solyndra was a bad bet from the beginning, but the White House was determined to make Solyndra a stimulus success story at any cost. Despite repeated warnings that Solyndra was doomed to fail, the Obama administration went ahead in backing the solar company, cutting corners in the process, and rushed the loan guarantee out the door. The investigation also found DOE knowingly violated the law when it restructured the terms of the loan guarantee and subordinated taxpayers’ interest to the interests of private investors. Documents obtained by the committee exposed a startling relationship between Solyndra and another stimulus-backed project. The report details Solyndra’s role as a supplier for Prologis’ Project Amp, a solar panel installation project and the recipient of a partial loan guarantee for $1.4 billion. The White House was well aware of Solyndra’s deteriorating financial condition when it allowed DOE to move forward with Project Amp. DOE would later use the relationship between Project Amp and Solyndra as a key bargaining tool to push for a second restructuring while directly engaging in last minute negotiations between Solyndra and the Project Amp sponsor. The report also gives an in-depth look into the role played by one of President Obama’s prominent backers in the administration’s decision to issue the loan guarantee and the loan’s restructuring that put taxpayers behind two private investors. Key decision makers at DOE, including head of the loans program office Jonathan Silver, knew of billionaire George Kaiser’s influence and attempted to leverage it. According to the report, “Individuals connected to the George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF) — whose primary investment arm, Argonaut, was Solyndra’s largest shareholder — played important roles in a series of critical discussions and negotiations with DOE. George Kaiser, whose fortune funds the GKFF, was closely involved in financial decisions related to Solyndra, often authorizing key disbursements and restructuring proposals, as well as in Solyndra’s lobbying, public relations, and government procurement strategies in Washington.”
Aaaand this is where I start believing Perry is guilty. Perry wanted to take out a "D" and replace her with an "R". Pure, selfish partisan politics. If the pig ain't guilty - why are you trying to put lip-stick on it? BTW, if he was acting in the public interest, he would have initiated a complaint with the state Bar Association. In fact, I would bet somebody already did, which makes Perry's actions even harder to explain.
Could be. This investor put about $150,000,000 into the university that was housing a number of cancer research startups. Doesn't seem like a bad guy at all. But I think this whole thing was intended to hurt Perry's chances for president. To end them before he really gets started. I'm sure there will be a lot of celebration on the left when his mug shot goes public.
Someone already did, and did again recently. Perry pushed for her to resign while she was serving time in jail. Put lipstick on that! I root for him to go into the private sector. The pig with lipstick on it is the indictment.
I doubt it seriously. I think this is intended to hurt him in Texas. Nationally, I think Democrats want Perry to run. He'd be the easiest candidate to beat. barfo
How's he hurt in texas? All but the one district where he was indicted solidly backs him in this. If anything, his support is going to get stronger.
Unless he's convicted, it probably doesn't make much of a difference, although it might be a distraction. As you point out, he's not running again, so his level of support really doesn't matter at all. Maybe I shouldn't have said 'hurt him in Texas'. What I meant to convey was that I think this is local, not national, politics. barfo
Exactly. This is a Texas thing and a battle between powers in Texas. Democrats would be lucky if Perry turns out to be the Republican presidential nominee.
Governor used whatever authority he had to try and force the DA out of office, DA's office uses it's power to indict governor. Par for the course in Texas.
In the Saturday Night Massacre, Nixon fired some leaders he had appointed who now wouldn't cooperate in covering up Watergate. It made him look worse. Prosecutors are more powerful than governors...because the American legal system, beholden to no one, is more powerful than democracy. Look at Ferguson, Missouri. Does anyone expect the majority to win against the police?
http://corporate.findlaw.com/litigation-disputes/federal-grand-jury-crash-course.html "As a practical matter, a federal grand jury will almost always return an indictment presented to it by a prosecutor. This is the basis for Judge Saul Wachler's famous saying that a prosecutor can get a grand jury to 'indict a ham sandwich.'" — Solomon L. Wisenberg, "Federal Grand Jury Crash Course"
