A shocking new report from The Oregonian is revealing yet another case of Democrat Governor Kate Brown flushing taxpayer money down the drain. This time, the Brown administration is under fire for continuing to funnel taxpayer cash into a failed solar panel business that is now shuttered, despite clear signs that the business would never succeed.
The report explains how the state of Oregon gave a failed solar panel maker over $24 million in taxpayer money. Last summer, Kate Brown’s administration handed out over $640,000 in taxpayer cash to the failing company to “cover their rent” despite “ample reasons to turn down the request.” Now, the factory is shuttered and the building is “steeped in a toxic stew of cadmium and hydrochloric acid.”
Just last year, Kate Brown faced numerous scandals related to massive erroneous payments by the Oregon Health Authority. From wasted healthcare dollars to throwing taxpayer dollars at a failed solar factory, it’s become increasingly clear that Kate Brown is a terrible steward of the public’s money.
The Oregonian writes,
There were so many reasons to say no: the eight years of consistent failure, the loan defaults, the shuttered factory, the management turnover.
But when SoloPower Systems called last summer, Oregon answered. The state that already had given the Portland company $13.5 million in tax credits, $10 million in direct financial assistance and millions of dollars’ worth of tax breaks ponied up another $641,835 in rent.
Thirteen months later, SoloPower appears to be dead. The state doesn’t expect to recoup its loans, and the company owes Multnomah County $1.8 million in property taxes.
In a final twist, the county could seize the company’s equipment to cover the unpaid taxes, but it’s steeped in a toxic stew of cadmium and hydrochloric acid.
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