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Judicial Watch Sues Treasury Department for Documents Related to Obama Administration Sale of Delaware GM Plant
Acquisition Raises Questions About Possible Quid Pro Quo Deal Involving Vice President Biden
| Source: Judicial Watch
WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwire - January 19, 2010) - Judicial Watch, the public interest group
that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today
that it has a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Obama
Treasury Department to obtain documents related to automotive start-up
Fisker's purchase of a former GM plant in Wilmington, Delaware, Vice
President Biden's home state. The Department of Energy made possible the
purchase of the plant with a $528.7 million taxpayer-funded loan for
Fisker. The company plans to use the plant to produce a new line of hybrid
electric vehicles set to launch in 2012.
On October 27, 2009, in a press event announcing the plant reopening, Vice
President Biden made news by inadvertently revealing Fisker's undisclosed
plans to produce 100,000 plug-in hybrid sedans, coupes and crossovers. At
the conclusion of his speech, Biden told the crowd of mostly UAW workers,
who had previously worked at the plant when it was owned by General Motors,
"imagine when this factory, when the floor we're standing on right now is
making 100,000 plug-in hybrid sedans, coupes and crossovers every single
year."
Fisker's selection of the plant, and Vice President's participation in the
press conference announcing the plant reopening as well as his intimate
knowledge of Fisker's production plans, raised questions in the auto
industry as to whether or not there was any quid pro quo arrangement with
the Vice President related to the purchase, especially given the fact that
a large government loan made the purchase possible. (Moreover, given that
the federal government is the majority owner of GM, there are other
potential conflicts of interest related to this deal that merit
investigation.)
According to Judicial Watch's lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for
the District of Columbia, Judicial Watch seeks access to "any and all
records regarding the sale of General Motor Company's Wilmington, Deleware,
plant to Fisker Automotive, Inc." The time frame for the request is August
1 - October 31, 2009.
Judicial Watch filed its original FOIA request with the Treasury Department
November 2, 2009. Treasury acknowledged receipt of the request and, on
November 9th, granted itself additional time for processing. A response was
due December 16th. However, to date, Treasury has failed to produce any
documents or demonstrate why documents are exempt from production.
"The Obama administration needs to come clean with respect to how this deal
was struck," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "Vice President
Biden had inside knowledge about Fisker's purchase of a plant based in his
home state, creating at least the appearance of impropriety. Taxpayers
have half a billion dollars at stake in a controversial and expensive
business idea. And now that the federal government has an ownership stake
in the auto industry, its decisions must be completely transparent in order
to root out any possible corruption."
Visit www.JudicialWatch.org to view Judicial Watch's lawsuit against the
Treasury Department.