That's Weird?… State-Run Media Actually Reports on Carnahan $107 Million Wind Farm Scandal
Posted by Jim Hoft on Friday, October 1, 2010, 3:58 PM
That’s weird?
How often does this happen? The state-run media today actually reported on the Carnahan family wind farm scandal. Maybe because it’s a Friday afternoon and they figured that most people had already started their weekend.
Tom Carnahan, brother of Robin and Russ Carnahan, was gifted with $107 million in stimulus money for his wind farm project in Missouri.
The Carnahans got a windfall in stimulus dollars. We got the bill.
The AP reported:
Fertilized with federal stimulus money, 100 new wind turbines have cropped up among the soybean fields of northwest Missouri, and they’re generating some high-voltage sparks in Missouri’s U.S. Senate race.
That’s because the Lost Creek Wind Farm, which received $107 million in stimulus money, was developed by a company run by Tom Carnahan — the younger brother of Democratic Senate candidate Robin Carnahan and U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan.
Vice President Joe Biden highlighted the project during a visit to Missouri in April 2009. Two weeks ago, the White House included it on a list of “100 Recovery Act Projects Changing America.”
Since then, the wind farm has generated a steady breeze of criticism for Republicans.
Missouri Republican Party Executive Director Lloyd Smith claimed the Carnahans “used their power and influence to bail out their own brother with more than $100 million in taxpayer dollars.”
This week, Robin Carnahan’s Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, began airing a TV ad showing Robin and Russ Carnahan, the two candidates, standing in front of a wind farm. The ad accuses Robin Carnahan of campaigning for the stimulus act and claims Tom Carnahan “lobbied for his special deal.”
The Carnahans deny their family connections played a role in the federal renewable energy grant. Russ Carnahan voted for the stimulus act, and Robin Carnahan — who is secretary of state — has said she supports it. But the Carnahans say no one asked the Obama administration for money for the Lost Creek Wind Farm, nor would have that been necessary.
You can support Roy Blunt who is running against Robin Carnahan here.
You can support Ed Martin who is running against Russ Carnahan here.
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Published May 15, 2012 at 8:05 pm - 33 Comments
kansas commented:
Front page KC Star today was a kissy piece on Robin Carnahan working on the farm down by Rolla. Wonder how much in federal subsidies they get down there? Didn’t mention that in the article.
Granny commented:
Riiiight – just like Sheila didn’t know she wasn’t supposed to give her grandkids those scholarships for needy kids.
notsurprised commented:
All these pol’s got their fingers out of there asses and stuck them in the air and are realizing the smell is blowing into their faces…….
They know they are in sheep dip…….
aro5o75 commented:
They just throw it right in our face. It’s like they’re saying, convict me if you can……..cuz ya can’t.
Just_Saying commented:
So, what’s with the “show me” state’s infatuation with the Carnahans? I just don’t get it!
.
GOP KICKS ASS commented:
I never thought about it, but I wonder if Robin gets farm subsidies too.
Hedgehog commented:
They not only used taxpayer money to get their personal business up and running, that business will need a constant stream of government subsidies to continue operating. Forever. Until they are shut down. This is open corruption and a continuing crime.
eddie commented:
No one “asked” for the money for the windfarm? Why were they given $107 million then? Just curious. lol
Freddy commented:
The stimulus bill was a list of major payoffs to everybody connected to the Democratic Party.
I wonder how much of the remaining $851,893,000,000 found it’s way into politically connected pockets?
And why is there no mention of the 1 million per individual windmill? Looks like another major rip-off there as well.
And who makes money from this deal selling the electricity?
seems to me that …
the answer my friend,
is blowin in the wind,
the answer is,
blowin in the wind …
befuddled commented:
we need another American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for Republicans. How about, jailing all the thieves that had a hand in the scamming of America and reinvesting that money back into the country on projects that are viable now. no more funding for projects to convert pixie dust into alternative energy. learn from Spain, before it’s too late.
#1 on the list, providing jobs for out of work lawyers and countless law schools– yup, you heard me– to battle all the facist- eeological job- killing liberals and their support base. we can call it, ship these hypocritical deadbeats to China Bill. If they really wanted a pristine world, they should start in China. let’s see how many of them are willing to stand in front of a tank for their “convictions”. if Alaska wants to drill we need to support them and lawyer up to fight the liberals. As well, how the hell are we letting china drill off the Florida coast and we can’t?
this is what happens when you allow liberals to be in charge. You know eventually that liberals will drive themselves to extinction, if afforded the possibility, but first they will kill you.
billy sol commented:
when robin stated that she managed the family farm, she omitted “wind” and, we all thought that she was raining livestock . . . . not hot air! it is amazing that the MSM reported it!
Ed Helms commented:
Hey, what a coincidence! Just look at the paragraphs Hoft “forgot” to include:
The federal government has long provided tax credits for investors and producers of renewable energy. The 2009 economic stimulus act expanded that by giving them the option of cash payments instead of tax credits for wind-energy projects completed in 2009 or 2010. More than 1,100 projects nationwide qualified for the program, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
“There is no discretionary authority from the Treasury Department,” agency spokeswoman Sandra Salstrom said Friday. “We’ve got pretty rigorous application criteria. If you meet those criteria, we have to fund your project in 60 days.”
Deloras Vind commented:
The truth of the matter is that wind turbines will not produce any meaningful electricity, because of the low density of wind power.
The Carnahan’s will also receive a tax write off provision included In the Small Jobs Bill, just signed into law by Obama. A new provision in the Small Business Jobs Act passed by the Senate last week may mean big things for wind farm owners who place projects into service this year.
One such provision is bonus depreciation, which allows wind farm owners to write off more than 50% of the capital costs of building a wind farm in the year the project is commissioned. To take advantage of this tax break, project owners must commission the project by the end of this year.
Wake up folks wind power is a swindle!
tarpon commented:
Democrats taking the media with them, media knows it. It’s the twofer election.
David McCrary commented:
This is an amazingly bold, in-your-face move by the Carnahans. The money sure looks to be legally locked in. Now the voters can decide whether or not the two political Caranahans deserve to be given more power like this. I am holding my hopes because Missouri voters elected a dead Carnahan and got his unqualified wife to be a Senate lapdog plus a nice pension to go along with the lawsuit settlement involving the plane crash. Missouri’s own version of never letting a crisis go to waste!!! End the corruption.
Vote for Blunt and Martin!!!!
philwynk commented:
Ed Helms (comment #13) seems to think that an unquoted paragraph in the story actually changes the scandalous nature of the story. It does say that the criteria for wind farm subsidies have been in place for some time, true enough.
Mr. Helms apparently does not understand why conservatives find instances like these scandalous. Government activism makes it inevitable that the spending of public monies become tainted by the personal concerns of the politicians controlling those monies. Just because that taint is “business as usual” does not make it any less inappropriate.
The Republican alternative is to reduce the reach of government activism, thereby reducing the number of opportunities for politicians to route money to their own pet projects. It’s a solution that does, in fact, solve the problem directly.