One angle left unexplored by the Wall Street Journal in its article on the $529 million federal loan to Al Gore's Fisker Automotive is the company's lobbying expenditures. According to Senate lobbying records reviewed by FutureOfCapitalism.com, Fisker spent $120,000 between December 2008 and June 2009 on the services of the firm Fabiani & Company. The filings indicate that the Fabiani lobbyists who worked on Fisker's behalf included Laura Lovelace, a Goldman Sachs veteran whose bio says that she worked in the Bush administration's Treasury Department in the Office of Economic Policy, where she "worked with the White House, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Commerce on the National Energy Policy Interagency Task Force." The filings indicate that the Fabiani lobbyists lobbied the Department of Energy to get the loan. A July filing indicated that Ms. Lovelace is still representing Fisker, but has left Fabiani to join a firm called "Wellford Energy Advisors," named for Harrison Wellford, who in 2008, "advised then Senator Obama on White House organization and strategic planning for the Presidential transition during the pre-election period and served as transition advisor to Michelle Obama and Senator Biden." In other words, how do you get a $529 million loan from the government? You hire the former Bush administration official who helped set up the program, and President Obama's transition adviser. What a wonderful example of bipartisan cooperation.
Fisker's Lobbyists
https://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2009/09/fiskers-lobbyists
by Editor | Related Topics: Auto Industry, Energy, Goldman Sachs receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list