Romney Campaign Press Release - Another Political Payoff Produces More Middle-Class Layoffs

"Just two years ago, President Obama promised that Amonix would have an 'extraordinary impact' on getting Americans back to work. But now, after tens of millions of taxpayer dollars wasted, it's clear the only people who benefitted are President Obama's political allies. Americans deserve a president who will focus on helping middle-class workers rather than helping those who got him elected." —Amanda Henneberg, Romney Campaign Spokesperson

Yesterday, Another Obama-Backed Green Energy Company Produced More Middle-Class Layoffs:

After Being "Heavily Financed" By The Obama Administration, Solar Manufacturer Amonix Closed Its Las Vegas Facility. "The Amonix solar manufacturing plant in North Las Vegas, heavily financed under an Obama administration energy initiative, has closed its 214,000-square-foot facility 14 months after it opened. Officials at Amonix headquarters in Seal Beach, Calif., have not responded to repeated calls for comment this week. The company today began selling equipment, from automated tooling systems to robotic welding cells." (Hubble Smith, "Amonix Closes North Las Vegas Solar Plant After 14 Months, Heavy Federal Subsidies," Las Vegas Review-Journal, 7/18/12)

• Amonix Received More Than $20 Million In Federal Tax Credits And Grants. "A designer and manufacturer of concentrated photovoltaic solar power systems, Amonix received $6 million in federal tax credits and a $15.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to build the plant in North Las Vegas." (Hubble Smith, "Amonix Closes North Las Vegas Solar Plant After 14 Months, Heavy Federal Subsidies," Las Vegas Review-Journal, 7/18/12)

Amonix's Las Vegas Plant Employed 700 People During Its Peak Production. "Rene Kenerly, a former material and supply manager at Amonix, said the plant has been idle since May 1, when he was laid off. At its peak, the plant had ramped up to about 700 employees working three shifts a day to produce solar panels for a utility customer in Amarosa, Colo., he said." (Hubble Smith, "Amonix Closes North Las Vegas Solar Plant After 14 Months, Heavy Federal Subsidies," Las Vegas Review-Journal, 7/18/12)

Just Two Years Ago, President Obama Lauded Amonix As An Example Of The "Extraordinary Impact" His Policies Were Having On Job Creation. OBAMA: "Now, these manufacturing tax credits are already having an extraordinary impact. A solar panel company -- a solar power company called Amonix received a roughly $6 million tax credit for a new facility they're building in the Las Vegas area -— a tax credit they were able to match with roughly $12 million in private capital. That's happening right now. And that's just one of over -- (applause) -- that's just one of over 180 projects that received manufacturing tax credits in over 40 states." (President Barack Obama, Remarks, Las Vegas, NV, 7/9/10)

Why Was President Obama So Enthusiastic About Amonix? His Political Backers Were Key Investors In The Project:

Amonix Is Backed By Firms With Ties To Three Major Obama Donors, Who Raised At Least $700,000 For President Obama's 2008 Campaign. "The investors include John Doerr's venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Daniel Weiss' Angeleno Group LLC and Steve Westly's eponymous Westly Group, according to Amonix's website. ... According to a database maintained by the Center for Responsive Politics, Doerr has donated $171,900 since 2008. Weiss has donated $26,480 and Westly has donated $181,250. Nearly all of those contributions went to Democrats. Together, the three have also bundled at least $700,000 for Obama." (Neil Munro, "More Solyndra-Style Failure: Obama-Tied Amonix Inc Lays Off Most Of Company," The Daily Caller, 1/30/12)

Amonix Is Just One Of Multiple Investments In Steve Westly's Company Portfolio That Received "More Than Half A Billion Dollars In Loan, Grants, Or Stimulus Money." "All the while, Westly's four-year-old green business has boomed. Since June 2009, four companies in his venture firm's portfolio have received more than half a billion dollars in loans, grants or stimulus money from the Obama Energy Department, a review by the Center for Public Integrity and ABC News has found. ... In July, with Amonix in the Westly fold, President Obama spoke alongside Amonix executives during a speech at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, using the setting to press Congress to pass a $5 billion extension to the administration's clean energy manufacturing tax credit." (Ronnie Greene and Matthew Mosk, "Green Bundler With The Golden Touch," Center For Public Integrity & ABC News, 3/30/11)

• "Relatively Few Companies Succeeded In Winning" The Federal Funds That Several Westly-Backed Companies Received. "Relatively few companies succeed in winning such benefits. More than 90 percent of applicants have failed to secure funding in two programs benefiting three Westly-backed firms. Securing government aid helps attract investors and can make corporate stars of even small startups. Funding for The Westly Group firms occurred prior to his joining the government advisory board, though an Obama administration proposal after Westly's appointment immediately boosted the stock price of one company." (Ronnie Greene and Matthew Mosk, "Green Bundler With The Golden Touch," Center For Public Integrity & ABC News, 3/30/11)
• Steve Westly Bundled Over $500,000 For The 2008 Obama Campaign, And Is Planning To Raise Over $500,000 For The 2012 Obama Campaign. (Center For Responsive Politics, 7/13/12)

John Doerr, "A Very Big-Ticket Obama Donor," Is On The Board Of Kleiner Perkins. "Fisker, meanwhile, counts among its top investors Kleiner Perkins, which has both former Vice-President Al Gore and John Doerr, a very big-ticket Obama donor, on its board of directors. Of course, it's not entirely surprising that people involved in green manufacturing happen to be left-leaning and wealthy, but the optics of those monetary ties aren't great. And unless Tesla and Fisker can demonstrate that they are on the steady road to profitability — which neither appears to be right now, though of course it's still early — the administration is probably going to face even more Solyndra-esque scrutiny." (Noreen Malone, "Does Obama Have Another Solyndra On His Hands?," The New Yorker, 10/21/11)

• Kleiner Perkins Is An Investor In Amonix. "Amonix has raised approximately $140 million in venture capital from Kleiner Perkins, Adams Street Partners, Angeleno Group, New Silk Route, PCG Clean Energy & Technology Fund, Vedanta Capital, Westly Group, and MissionPoint Capital Partners." (Eric Wesoff, "The Bad News In CPV: Amonix Layoffs And Soitec Losses," Greentech Media, 5/23/12)