“A Serious Conflict of Interest?”
January 14, 2010 by Capt. Karl
Report released by Minneapolis free-market think tank provides details about lack of transparency in doling out billions in stimulus funding
Minneapolis, MN The Freedom Foundation of Minnesota (FFM) today released the results of their eight-month investigation into a high-ranking Obama Administration official’s close ties and apparent conflict of interest regarding the economic stimulus package and its energy efficiency provisions.
Last year Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA or the so-called Stimulus Bill). The U.S. Department of Energy’s office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) received $16.8 billion of those ARRA funds to be used to promote green energy and conservation programs including the popular $1,500 tax credit for homeowners who install energy-efficient windows. The Assistant Secretary of Energy, Cathy Zoi, is responsible for oversight in disbursing these stimulus funds.
Ms. Zoi is married to Robin Roy, a top executive at Serious Materials, a privately held manufacturer of “sustainable green building materials” located in California. On the Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure submitted by Ms. Zoi to the White House Ethics office as part of her confirmation, Ms. Zoi disclosed ownership with her spouse of 120,000 vested and unvested stock options in Serious Materials, a company her office regulates and that she may profit from.
According to several news reports and the trade magazine Window & Door, Serious Materials was “[A] company, and a man, virtually unknown in the window and door industry just a short time ago.” Yet this small California manufacturer suddenly burst on the scene in Washington as what Vice President Joe Biden called the “poster child” for green jobs and economic recovery. For the past several months, the White House has repeatedly praised and promoted Serious Materials. To see the events and what the administration has said about Serious Materials, visit: www.FreedomFoundationofMinnesota.com and view the FFM video entitled, “The Obama Administration’s Serious Conflict of Interest”.
What has all of this praise from the White House meant to Serious Materials? “The new administration is a huge boon to what we are doing,” Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious Materials said in a June interview. “The White House issued a press release specifically thanking Serious Materials a few weeks ago. We had a 22 minute press conference with the president. In a national address, he opened with Serious Materials. I don’t think we can ask for better coverage. We are very close to the White House and Department of Energy. We have 30 patents pending in window technology and the DOE (Department of Energy) loves what we are doing.” And, it’s Assistant Secretary Zoi’s office that has disbursed billions of dollars taxpayer dollars for the very windows that Serious Materials manufacturers and her husband works for.
“On the surface, this appears to be another case of government using tax dollars to pick winners and losers,” said Annette Meeks, CEO of the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota. “Yet upon closer examination, it appears to be a bit more than that. Our research suggests that one window manufacturer that has very close ties to this Administration has received lavish attention and special tax breaks. President Obama promised the “most transparent Administration in the history of this country. Now is the time for his administration to live up to that promise and prove to taxpayers that stimulus funds haven’t been used to reward their political friends.”
Apparently the story was false in the end. Company posted more data, and I read that the Minnesota Think Tank took money from another window manufacturer to create the story and hand to Stossel.
here is the company post;
http://blog.seriousmaterials.com/?p=1007
The Serious Materials blog post you mention in your post above makes it sound EVEN WORSE to me… What other “startup” company is getting a PRESIDENTIAL send off like that to the point that there is no possible way this company can fail no matter how bad they may or may not be?
On top of that they have “partnered” with “The Chicago UNION”?
Oh my gosh. Not crony capitalism, crony Socialism. Oh and BTW the “Unions” don’t have to pay extra taxes on “their” Cadillac Health Care Insurance like all the rest of us who are going to be coerced with additional tax money RIPPED right out of our paychecks. Isn’t that special?
If Serious bought a dead plant and recovered jobs for Americans, union or not, God bless them! We need more companies who have the balls to do the right thing. They apparently have 5 plants and have never received even one dime from the feds. This is some of the worst reporting I have ever seen. If there is really money flowing due to cronyism, we all want to know. Lets expose it. but in this case, no money flowed anywhere. And the fact that the President mentioned them in a speech is because the opened those plants, long before the employees wife worked for DOE.
Leaving those details out makes this simply a hack job and nothing more.
Hey John,
I opened a brand new rock manufacturing plant in late 2003. Do you suppose the Obama Administration will promote my manufacturing company too?
I sure would be able to hire a lot more people and my competition might have to lay off a few because their business would have a lot less orders to fill because my company would have them.
Oh, and BTW I don’t have any relation in The Administration or any Czars implanted in there either.
So if you could work that out for me, I sure would appreciate it A LOT partner.
I’ll wait for the call from Joe Biden for when I will be called up on stage to promote my business followed by Barack Obama doing the same. Thank’s for the hot tip John H.