Obama was warned of loan dangers long before Solyndra sank

Top economic advisors to President Obama warned him a year ago about the serious political and financial risks of the Energy Department's loan guarantee program that has resulted in taxpayers likely being responsible for the loss of $527 million loaned to the politically-connected California solar firm Solyndra.

That loan is currently under investigation by a House subcommittee and the FBI, which raided company offices earlier this month.

Obama visited the Solyndra plant in 2010, touting it as a shining example of his program to simultaneously boost the U.S. green-energy industry and create new jobs. Last winter the Energy Dept. restructured the more than half-billion dollar loan to the troubled firm.

But on Aug. 31 the company, whose major owner was also a major fundraising bundler for the 2008 Obama-Biden campaign, filed for bankruptcy and eliminated most of its 1,100 jobs.

In a detailed story posted overnight, The Times' Tom Hamburg, Kim Geiger and Matea Gold outline the danger signals set off in October 2010 when secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner and chief economic advisor Lawrence Summers warned the president that Energy's vetting process was not stringent enough to weed out troubled applicants in advance.

Energy Secy. Steven Chu, who like Obama holds a Nobel Prize, was eager to push through applications by 30 companies for the program's $17 billion. He wanted even less oversight from Treasury.

The story has developed legs for two reasons:

One, it hints at possible high-level political favoritism using taxpayer dollars in risky ventures with well-connected business people, what some have labeled "crony capitalism."

And, two, it's a classic example of the fundamental ongoing D.C. debate over government's proper role in the economy and the financial dangers to taxpayer funds inherent when officials and bureaucrats, not free market forces, pick corporate winners and losers.

Pencil this into your calendar for future political debate throughout 2012.

RELATED:

New gaffe: Obama confuses Jews with janitors

How many Obama gaffes can the media ignore?

Obama touts jobs plan at Ohio bridge that won't qualify

 --Andrew Malcolm

Don't forget to follow The Ticket via Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or click this: @latimestot. Our Facebook Like page is over here.

Photos: Alex Brandon / Associated Press (Obama in 2010 during a visit to the now-shuttered Solyndra facility undergoing hearings on Capitol Hill); T.J. Kirkpatrick / Bloomberg (Summers).

No recession for Obama's 454 White House aides: They'll make $37,121,463 this year

In his numerous fund-raising and policy speeches around the country these days, President Obama often bemoans the difficult economic times and uncertainties afflicting millions of Americans, including the nearly 14 million still seeking work unsuccessfully.

The Democrat argues that his administration needs more time to straighten out the economic mess left by somebody else, who's been gone almost 900 days now.

But good news this morning: The challenging Obama era and 9.1% national unemployment rate do not include the 454 people now helping President Obama do presidential things.

This crowd is being paid a total of $37,121,463 this year. That's up seven staff members and nearly $4 million from 2008, the last year of George W. Bush's presidency.

Fully 141 Obama aides -- or nearly one-in-three -- earn more than $100,000 a year. That's also up from the 130 with that scale salary in Bush's last year.

Twenty-one Obama aides earn the top-dollar $172,200.

The staff names and salaries report, required annually by Congress, was released on Friday by the White House. The timing, however, was probably an accident because last Friday most Americans were not watching the news closely and were thinking of not working for a three-day holiday weekend.

Because Americans would no doubt be pleased to know of the Obama staff's economic success amid the bleak national scene for so many others, we saved the information for today, when most Americans who are still employed are back at their own jobs and can share the joy.

The 2011 White House salary report does not include mention of the 41 unidentified Obama staff members who owe the Internal Revenue Service $831,000 in back taxes. That report came out last fall (Scroll down for the link.)

The report comes as Republicans and Democrats, led from behind by Obama, appear stalemated in closed-door negotiations over a package deal to raise the national debt limit by Aug. 2 and begin spending cuts to tame the $14.2-trillion national debt, up 35% since Obama's inauguration. Obama maintains a deal must include new revenues to cover the rising costs of government.

Having Chicago connections appears to be useful for obtaining the maximum $172,200 salary from the Illinois ex-state senator Obama, who is paid $400,000 a year, almost twice the amount paid to Joe Biden for doing whatever he does. But he's only from Delaware.

The top paychecks include:

Chief of Staff William Daley, who is the brother of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, who just retired and left the top Democratic-machine job there to Rahm Emanuel, who was Obama's chief of staff and before that held the Chicago House seat of Rod Blagojevich, who had given it up to become governor of Illinois, which he no longer is due to impeachment and, now, conviction on 17 counts of fraud.

The Daleys' father, Richard J. Daley, was also a longtime Chicago mayor whose operatives provided Illinois' crucial electoral votes to elect John F. Kennedy president back in 1960 before Obama was born.

Valerie Jarrett has a White House title as long as Chicago's winters (senior advisor and assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs and public engagement). Before this, she was a chief of staff for the most recent Mayor Daley and hired an assistant named Michelle Robinson, who went on, of course, to become Mrs. Barack Obama, whose chief of staff also earns the top $172G paycheck.

This year, the one before Obama's attempted reelection, he reduced his staff by 15 people and $1.7 million.

Some White House aides have already returned to Chicago as campaign employees, including political strategist David Axelrod, who helped elect the most recent Mayor Daley, as well as, briefly, Sen. Obama and then President Obama. Axelrod also made the top salary when he had to live in Washington.

RELATED:

41 Obama aides owe the IRS $831,000 in back taxes

Complete list of 2011 White House staff and their current salaries

861 days and $787 billion in, Obama pleads for more time on creating jobs

-- Andrew Malcolm

Don't forget to follow The Ticket via Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or click this: @latimestot. Our Facebook Like page is over here. We're also available on Kindle. Use the ReTweet buttons above to share any item with family and friends.

Photo: Pete Souza / White House (Obama addresses his staff, file); Kevin Dietsch / EPA (the Obamas greet guests at another White House party, July 4) .

Anthony Weiner, serial sexter, opts for ground service to deliver House resignation letter today

Four days after Anthony Weiner promised to quit, copies of his letter of resignation to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo arrived on the desks of House leaders today.  It takes effect Tuesday.

It is now up to Cuomo to call a special election for his state's 9th Congressional District, covering parts of Brooklyn and Queens, most likely to coincide with November voting.

In case you've been over on MySpace, last month the married, seven-term congressman accidentally tweeted a photo of an enlarged private portion of his body to his entire Twitter audience instead of a direct message to one woman.

Weiner at first said he had been hacked, but his refusals to deny they were his gray briefs raised questions among those who could spot their own underwear if it appeared online. And the Democrat finally admitted serial sexting and sexual conversations on cell, Twitter and Facebook with at least half a dozen women around the country over the last three years.

Weiner said he was sorry and would seek treatment for something.

But after two days in seclusion, more shower self-portraits emerged of Weiner's package as did word that Weiner had exchanged private messages with a 17-year-old Delaware high school girl.

Even if they were discussing the newest X-Men movie, that ended the patience of Democratic colleagues and calls for his resignation grew.

Weiner's future career plans are unknown. Larry Flynt offered Weiner a job in his porno empire.

However, after his own sex scandal, resignation and a period of out-of-sight contrition, Weiner's fellow New York Democrat, ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer, got a job judging other pols on CNN.  Also, after another recent alleged New York sexual incident, the International Monetary Fund's top job is open.

Although short for self-justifying resignation letters that end up in the National Archives, Weiner's departure missive was way too long for Twitter -- 212 characters.

RELATED:

Anthony Weiner doll crashes website

Top lessons of the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal

Weiner sext partner Ginger Lee bares all, finds work

-- Andrew Malcolm

Don't forget to follow The Ticket via Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or click this: @latimestot. Our Facebook Like page is over here. We're also available on Kindle. Use the ReTweet buttons above to share any item with family and friends.

Photos: ABC News (one of the photos Megan Broussard said she exchanged with Weiner); Timothy A. Clary / AFP-Getty Images (Weiner's head).

Anthony Weiner would have been 'rendered impotent' in Congress, Sarah Palin says

Anthony Weiner jokes are so easy that even Sarah Palin got into the act, saying the gentleman was correct in stepping down from his congressional seat.

“Anthony Weiner, from henceforth after his personal indiscretions were disclosed, he was going to be rendered impotent basically in Congress and he wasn’t going to be effective," former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said on "Freedom Watch" on the Fox Business Network in an interview that will air this evening.

"Obviously it was the right thing to do. Day late dollar short though; I think he should have resigned when all of this came to light," hockey mom and Fox News contributor said.

Freedom Watch host Judge Andrew Paolo Napolitano asked Palin how she felt in the wake of tens of thousands of her emails being released recently.

"It certainly shows the priorities in what was once a respected cornerstone of our democracy; our mainstream media and we see that priorities are quite skewed. With the gusto they went after my emails; I hope folks who read the emails learned a lot about energy independence, fish and game conservation, protecting 2nd Amendment rights, why I opposed [President] Obama’s stimulus package," Palin said Thursday.

"I hope folks learned a lot from these benign and boring emails, but it showed a picture of what my priorities were, with a servant’s heart, trying to serve the people of Alaska. I knew there was nothing to hide because I know what I have done over these years," she told Napolitano.

Palin and her daughter Bristol both successfully trademarked their names and likenesses, U.S. News and World Report said Friday.

The clear sailing for both Palins is something of a surprise considering the attention they draw from detractors.

RELATED:

Anthony Weiner scandal: Leave the poor guy alone

Sarah Palin for president in 2012? Most people polled say no

Anthony Weiner resignation interrupted by Howard Stern writer Benjy Bronk

-- Tony Pierce
twitter.com/busblog

Photo: Sarah Palin was introduced by TV talk show host Elisabeth Hasselbeck at a campaign rally in Kissimee, Fla., in October 2008. Credit: Matt Stroshane / Getty Images.

Anthony Weiner offered Internet job by Hustler's Larry Flynt

Anthony Weiner may have resigned from Congress in disgrace, but hours after the news conference at which he made the announcement, he was offered an Internet job with a raise, moving expenses, health benefits equal to what he has been accustomed to, and a fancy office in Beverly Hills working for an internationally known publishing company.

On Thursday, porn magnate Larry Flynt reached out to Weiner in an open letter to "sincerely" offer the former congressman a job in the Internet group of Flynt Management Group.

"This offer is not made in jest. To show our sincerity, Flynt Management Group, LLC is willing to pay twenty percent more than your former Congressional salary, ensuring that your medical benefits would be equal to what you were previously receiving. While you will have to relocate to our corporate offices in Beverly Hills, California, we would pay for all relocation costs," Flynt wrote in the Huffington Post.

Flynt stressed how serious the offer is, and explained that the company has been involved in politics for over three decades, focusing on "the crucial fight of battling hypocrisy within the federal and state governments."

The publisher of magazines such as "Hustler," "Barely Legal" and "Asian Fever"  wrote that "Flynt Management Group, LLC and Hustler Magazine have been dedicated to decades of serious political commentary. Just as we do not undertake insincere political crusades, we do not make insincere job offers.

" ... I feel that your unfortunate resignation is a prime example of unfounded political pressure and the hypocrisy that has invaded democracy in Washington D.C.," the 68-year-old Flynt wrote.

Correction: An earlier version of this post said Flynt posted his offer on Friday, but the open letter was published on Thursday.

RELATED:

Jury sides with Larry Flynt over use of his name

Eliot Spitzer says he sympathizes with Anthony Weiner [Video]

Weiner's drama opens the door for Alec Baldwin to consider NYC mayorship

-- Tony Pierce
Twitter.com/busblog

Photo: Larry Flynt in 2003. Credit: Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times

Lessons of the Anthony Weiner sexting saga

Finally, we can all be rid of that awful Anthony Weiner scandal that had many of the elements that so disgust humans and their pandering media representative that they simply can't avert their eyes or mouse: power, sex, attractive women, dirty talk, lies, online infidelity, perversion and did we mention sex?

Like virtually every American, we really had zero interest in any of the sordid, sexy parts of the long Weiner story. All we cared about, quite frankly, was the potential for abuse of public resources by an elected official. And his truthfulness. That was key. Really.

Honey, we truly had no desire interest in reading any of the blackjack dealer's explicit texting transcripts until professional obligation called required. The Dallas bathrobe pic, towel shots, strategically placed cellphone can honestly say we did not see them much.

Same for watching the news conference of the porn star  stripper featured dancer with Gloria Allred that L.A. lawyer.

The Weiner saga did, however, reveal how amazing are the connective networkings within the human mind.

Once you raise erect establish that the subject is sex and a man, almost any word immediately takes on unintended pair of double meanings.

How, candidly, do you handle describe something as innocent as the national pastime without now snickering over balls the spherical objects they play with toss around throw? Or an on-deck player swinging his big bat. Reaching second base. Striking out. Scoring.

Suddenly, any sport is susceptible. A whole new meaning to sacking someone. Jockeys. Boxers. Diving. Breast stroke.

We won't insert detail fishing. Or golf. But you get the point subject matter.

This Weiner story, bottom line at the end of the day, was really about a pedestrian flasher who talked good and took advantage of his powerful position to attract female attention in certain parts ways from the presumed safety of his office chair.

We were pondering if this particular scandal would have had the same endurance  lasting power timeframe if Anthony's last name wasn't Weiner. If he was Anthony Solovitz. Or Tony Pesce. Would the late-night comedians still be doing their Oscar Mayer thing?

Just then the cell rang. FedEx with a package delivery.

RELATED:

Weiner doll crashes website

Ginger Lee, another Weiner texting partner, bares all, finds work

Talk about distractions: Anthony Weiner climactic resignation interrupted by Howard Stern writer

-- Andrew Malcolm

Don't forget to follow The Ticket via Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or click this: @latimestot. Our Facebook Like page is over here. We're also available on Kindle. Use the ReTweet buttons above to share any item with family and friends.

Photos: BigGovernment.com (Shirtless man identified as Anthony Weiner by BigGovernment.com); Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times (Weiner's resignation announcement, June 16).

Ginger Lee, another Anthony Weiner text partner, bares all, finds work

Amid all the chaos and confusion of Rep. Anthony Weiner's sexting scandal, somehow Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred got connected with one of the New York Democrat's female electronic correspondents.

And today, the pair opted to call a news conference in New York to announce that they would really like to avoid publicity and get on with their private lives.

Because Weiner has refrained from publicly texting his whereabouts and desires the last couple of days, times were slow on the power/sex news front. So, fewer than several hundred news media showed up at the Friars Club to watch the shy women enter down a spiral staircase.

Weiner's texting partner is a Tennessean known as Ginger Lee. She is a former porn actress and what Allred calls a "featured dancer," who is studying to become a real estate agent and likes long walks on the beach. We made up that last part.

Lee carefully read a written statement (see video below).

Mainly, in her attempt to duck publicity, Lee said she had not responded in kind to Weiner's suggestive sexts but had continued exchanging maybe 100 messages since March, mostly about politics, she said. And especially about the managed care opt-out for certain states that obtain healthcare waivers by the deadline set out in Section 14 (v). We made up that last part again.

Lee said the married Democrat would often steer their political exchanges toward sexual subjects, one time proudly texting her: "I have wardrobe demands too. I need to highlight my package." We did not make up that last part.

Lee also said that Weiner, who apparently got her phone number somehow, called when the scandal began to urge her to lie about their relationship.

She said she became disturbed when she saw the New York representative lie on national television about the photo of a brief-covered package that Weiner originally said was sent from his Twitter account by a hacker.

Lee said she wanted to get on with her regular life. Somehow, shortly after the news conference, word leaked that Lee was off the unemployment line and would be uncovering her package tonight at an Atlanta strip club.

Weiner has since admitted lying about the hacker and numerous other things during these three years of explicit online exchanges with a half-dozen women who are not his wife.  

Wife Huma Abedin returned from a lengthy Africa trip with her boss, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, early today.

The 46-year-old Weiner is on a two-week leave of absence allegedly receiving some kind of treatment for something and consulting with his wife on growing demands for his resignation after seven terms in the House.

Even BlackBerry addict President Obama has weighed in on the titilating distractions of shower photos and explicit texts between a man and women he's never met.

When asked about the fellow Democrat by NBC's Ann Curry, Obama said if he were in Weiner's towel, he would resign.

 

RELATED:

Bathroom mirrors and cellphones: A lethal mix in modern American politics

Can Anthony Weiner survive admission of online exchanges with high school girl?

-- Andrew Malcolm

Don't forget to follow The Ticket via Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or click this: @latimestot. Our Facebook Like page is over here. We're also available on Kindle. Use the ReTweet buttons above to share any item with family and friends.

Photo: D. Dipasupil / Getty Images (Lee).

Hello, I'm John Edwards, and if you're on the jury, I'd like your vote: The official 2011 campaign mug shots

John Edwards.

Even posing for his official federal mug shot, Edwards' hair is perfect and there's that cheesy smile that finished second in the 2008 Iowa Democratic caucuses.

The 58-year-old former senator, former vice presidential nominee, former presidential candidate and former philanderer of a wife dying of cancer, is under six federal felony counts, including conspiracy.

They stem from alleged irregularities involving hundreds of thousands of his campaign fund dollars going to secretly support Edwards' mistress, Rielle Hunter, the mother of the child he fathered back in 2008.

Edwards' estranged wife Elizabeth died of cancer in December.

Edwards is also a wealthy former trial lawyer. Aren't they all?  So, he should know well how the upcoming courtroom scenario will unfold.

RELATED:

Photos: Rielle Hunter

Read the federal indictment of John Edwards

John Edwards pleads not guilty: 'I did not break the law'

-- Andrew Malcolm

Don't forget to follow The Ticket via Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or click this: @latimestot. Our Facebook Like page is over here. We're also available on Kindle. Use the ReTweet buttons above to share any item with family and friends.

Photo: John Edwards. Credit: U.S. Marshals Service

Anthony Weiner seeks treatment, refuses to resign

Anthony Weiner, the embattled New York congressman mired in a seemingly neverending sext scandal, is asking for "a short leave of absence" so he may seek treatment.

Weiner has been asked to resign by several top Democrats including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi but continues to refuse to quit.

"Congressman Weiner departed this morning to seek professional treatment to focus on becoming a better husband and healthier person," a spokeswoman for Weiner said Saturday.

"In light of that, he will request a short leave of absence from the House of Representatives so that he can get evaluated and map out a course of treatment to make himself well. Congressman Weiner takes the views of his colleagues very seriously and has determined that he needs this time to get healthy and make the best decision possible for himself, his family and his constituents," the spokeswoman said.

Weiner got support by actress Janeane Garofalo Friday on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" who said that because everyone lies about sex, the congressman shouldn't be vilified, instead his path should be cleared so he could run the largest city in the United States.

"Anthony Weiner deserves to be supported and hopefully he will be mayor of New York one day. I'm serious," Garofalo said on the political show. "He is a Democrat [who] actually fights for the things liberals and progressive and rational people care about."

Can Anthony Weiner survive this? He admits online exchanges with a 17-year-old female

New York Democrat Anthony Weiner maintains his refusal to resign his House seat this weekend. But that may become even more difficult with Friday's new admission that he had exchanged private online messages with a teenage girl in Delaware.

Local police said they interviewed the high school girl Friday, and news reports said police were examining her computer.

A Weiner spokeswoman said, "According to Congressman Weiner, his communications with this person were neither explicit nor indecent."

Of course, according to Rep. Weiner at the start of this lewd imbroglio two weeks ago his Twitter account had been hacked, and he never sent any lewd photos or messages to anyone.

Then, last Monday with questions persisting over his prevarications, the married politician confessed that he had participated in explicit online sex with half a dozen women around the country over the last three years.

Those identified then were over age 21.

The 46-year-old New York native, who is married to Huma Abedin, who is pregnant and a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is in his seventh term in the House representing parts of Brooklyn and Queens.

About a dozen members of Congress have now called for Weiner's resignation, which he has so far adamantly refused. Weiner has received backing, however, from fellow New York Democrat Rep. Charles Rangel, who's had his own ethics difficulties.

Friday in San Francisco, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the departure decision should be up to Weiner and his constituents. She has asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate.

Police in New Castle, Del. have questioned the teen, whose name was not released. They said she provided no evidence of wrongdoing but their investigation was continuing.

Other news reports said the girl had first contacted Weiner after hearing him speak on a school field trip in April. He followed her back on Twitter and their exchanges began. At his public confession Weiner said, "I know that I never had any intention of having an interaction with underage women, and no information that I have now shows that I did."

However, the exchanges with the teen girl occurred in April and May and, as reported by the N.Y. Times, might seem innocent enough were it not for the other revelations about Weiner's chronic online behavior. In response to the girl's praise for his speech, Weiner replied, "My true love."

In another exchange with the girl, Weiner said, "I came back strong. Large. Tights and cape."

And the high school junior replied, "My favorite Congressman."

RELATED:

Bathroom mirrors and cellphones = a lethal mix in politics

Anthony Weiner still refuses to resign over serial online sex with women across the country

Anthony Weiuner admits lying about lewd photos; Twitter erupts with serial jokes over serial sex

-- Andrew Malcolm

Don't forget to follow the Ticket via Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or click this: @latimestot. Our Facebook Like page is over here. We're also available on Kindle. Use the ReTweet buttons above to share any item with family and friends.

Photo: Craig Ruttle / MCT (Weiner); Charles Dharapak / Associated Press (Weiner visits the White House).