{"id":1711074,"date":"2022-10-26T05:18:37","date_gmt":"2022-10-26T09:18:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1711074"},"modified":"2022-10-26T05:18:43","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T09:18:43","slug":"michigans-gretchen-whitmer-directs-236-million-to-electric-battery-exec-who-has-already-lost-taxpayers-millions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/michigans-gretchen-whitmer-directs-236-million-to-electric-battery-exec-who-has-already-lost-taxpayers-millions\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan\u2019s Gretchen Whitmer Directs $236 Million to Electric Battery Exec Who Has Already Lost Taxpayers Millions"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmichigans-gretchen-whitmer-directs-236-million-to-electric-battery-exec-who-has-already-lost-taxpayers-millions%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1711074&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/\">Democrats<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">Dem governor lauds &#8216;historic&#8217; investment after similar funding went to failed companies<\/p>\n<p>    Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D., Mich.) \/ Getty Images   <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/collin-anderson\/\" title=\"Posts by Collin Anderson\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Collin Anderson<\/a> \u2022 October 26, 2022 5:00 am  <\/p>\n<p>Michigan Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer is making a $236 million taxpayer-funded bet on an electric battery executive whose last company lost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n<p>Whitmer on October 5 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freep.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2022\/10\/05\/electric-vehicle-battery-plants-michigan\/69541356007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced<\/a> a $236 million incentive package for Our Next Energy, an electric vehicle battery startup that plans to build a factory in the Great Lakes State. Weeks later, the Democrat <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/whitmer\/news\/press-releases\/2022\/10\/20\/gov-whitmer-cuts-ribbon-at-our-next-energys-new-hq-in-novi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> she was &#8220;proud&#8221; to join the company&#8217;s founder and CEO, Mujeeb Ijaz, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony, which saw Whitmer laud Our Next Energy as &#8220;innovative,&#8221; &#8220;historic,&#8221; and &#8220;cutting-edge.&#8221; But Ijaz has a troubled history with public funding.<\/p>\n<p>Before he launched Our Next Energy, Ijaz served as a top executive at fellow electric battery maker A123 Systems after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/mujeebijaz\/details\/experience\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">founding<\/a> its automotive division in 2008. One year later, A123 secured a $249 million grant from the Obama administration, with then-president Barack Obama <a href=\"https:\/\/www.govinfo.gov\/content\/pkg\/PPP-2010-book2\/pdf\/PPP-2010-book2-doc-pg1307.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">predicting<\/a> the company would &#8220;help power the American economy for years to come.&#8221; Instead, the opposite occurred. A123 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/SB10000872396390443854204578060433271656440\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lost $269 million<\/a> during an eight-month period in 2012 alone, losses that were driven in part by the company&#8217;s production of defective battery cells for Fisker Automotive\u2014on his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/mujeebijaz\/details\/experience\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a>, Ijaz specifically states he led A123&#8217;s production of &#8220;battery systems&#8221; for Fisker. In October 2012, A123 declared bankruptcy and was quickly sold to Chinese automotive conglomerate Wanxiang.<\/p>\n<p>Whitmer&#8217;s decision to award Ijaz after A123&#8217;s high-profile collapse comes as the Democrat faces a difficult reelection bid against Republican challenger Tudor Dixon. That race has seen Whitmer <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/michigan-governor-wont-stop-lying-to-voters-about-job-gains\/\">repeatedly<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/tale-of-two-gretchens-whitmer-campaign-repeats-job-growth-lie-as-official-office-backtracks-from-it\/\">claim<\/a> she&#8217;s added 25,000 &#8220;good-paying auto jobs&#8221; during her tenure, but as of May, Michigan had actually lost thousands of auto jobs on her watch. Whitmer likely hopes her green energy investments will help voters forget those losses\u2014the Democrat <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/whitmer\/news\/press-releases\/2022\/10\/05\/whitmer-announces-new-jobs-and-investment-as-our-next-energy-builds-battery-manufacturing-campus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">used<\/a> the announcement of her Our Next Energy incentive package, for example, to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/whitmer\/news\/press-releases\/2022\/10\/05\/whitmer-announces-new-jobs-and-investment-as-our-next-energy-builds-battery-manufacturing-campus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tout<\/a> the creation of &#8220;2,000 new jobs.&#8221; But the investments could also provide political fodder for Dixon, who has already criticized Whitmer for another grant recipient: Gotion, a Chinese battery manufacturer whose leader is a <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/10\/05\/michigan-contract-gotion-inc-chinese-communist-party\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chinese Communist Party member<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is something we have to hold Gretchen Whitmer accountable for,&#8221; Dixon said in a September 27 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TudorDixon\/status\/1574927477171961856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1574927477171961856%7Ctwgr%5Eeb85ad734e3397b8f6f208f8a057dd1df7bc19ee%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&#038;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.detroitnews.com%2Fstory%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2Fmichigan%2F2022%2F09%2F28%2Fdixon-criticizes-whitmer-using-taxpayer-funds-to-lure-big-rapids-ev-battery-plant-project%2F69524310007%2F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">video<\/a>. &#8220;Your taxpayer dollars should be used to make sure your<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michigan Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer is making a $236 million taxpayer-funded bet on an electric battery executive whose last company lost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.<br \/>\nThe post Michigan\u2019s Gretchen Whitmer Directs $236 Million to Electric Battery Exec Who Has Already Lost Taxpayers Millions appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":1711077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1711074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1711074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1711074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1711074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1711077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1711074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1711074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1711074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}