› Leonard Boswell Forgets Iowa & Pella Corporation
I’m sure many of you may have heard or seen Jon Stossel’s great piece on the stimulus funds and how they are politically tied to a window manufacturer out of Pittsburgh, PA. Serious Materials, the manufacturer coming out of Pittsburgh, was fortunate enough to receive over $500,000 in tax credits and “without you [VP Biden] and the recovery act, this would not have been possible.” Serious Materials has received endorsements and mentioned by Vice President Biden and even President Obama. Naturally, the mainstream media now gives this company the title of “most energy efficient windows in the world” as well.
What’s wrong with all this? Serious Materials is the only window manufacturer that received these tax credits. Pella Windows and others, who make equally energy-efficient windows, were not included. Nor did they win the public endorsement of the President and Vice-President of the United States. So while the great window manufacturers in the US are cutting labor and working hard to get by during this recession, Serious Materials is capitalizing on their millions in free marketing from the government to build a company now featured in Inc. Magazine and Fortune Magazine.
Where is Leonard Boswell during all of this? Why is he not fighting against this? Serious Materials, previously one of the smaller windows manufacturers, does not deserve this type of treatment anymore than our very own Pella Windows does here in Iowa. As a matter of fact, Stossel also points out that Serious Materials VP for Projects & Policy is married to Kathy Zoi, who oversees the government’s weatherization program. This is absurd and I find it shocking that Leonard Boswell has just sat on the bench watching all of this happen. Watching the government at the highest level, picking winners and losers with tax credits and public endorsements.
This isn’t representation at all. This is, as Stossel put it, “Crony Capitalism.” The government has no business picking winners and losers and giving out free marketing worth millions of dollars. Boswell should have spoken out against this behavior and fought to protect the interest of the people he allegedly represents. Rather, he’ll sit back with a ball and chain called Nancy Pelosi and forget about the people that sent him there in the first place. You can watch the video below.
Not true at all. Serious is ELIGIBLE for $548K over 4 years if they spend $1.5M on new equipment and expansion. Pella didn't even apply. But 7 other windows and glass companies did and were also listed for $70M total. Serious got less than 1%. And it was chosen not by any government employees, but by an independent 3rd party team chosen by the IRS. Please get your facts right before posting things like this.
The company posted the full information here:
http://blog.seriousmaterials.com/?p=1007
Your argument aside, it seems their article here is to point out how Leonard Boswell stood by while your Serious Materials received millions in free marketing through Presidential and Vice Presidential endorsements. The government is not here to pick winners and losers and Boswell should never have allowed them to claim on Serious' behalf that their windows are the most efficient in the world.
I'm from Iowa and hands down I would bet Pella Corporation makes at least equally energy efficient windows. And Boswell should have been on the front page screaming this fact.
Why don't you try to call Pella and ask what their highest R-value window is and see if they even answer that question. And then verify what they tell you is correct by going to the NFRC site and looking it up for yourself. The fact is that Pella and other window manufacturers are doing NOTHING TO PUSH THE BAR to build more energy efficient homes – even if they say so. They FIGHT against HIGHER STANDARDS that would save people more money. Why? Because they don't want to change and spend the millions it takes to do it. Serious raised millions from private investors. They are the little ship going out all on their own dime trying to rethink, remanufacture, and recreate to just make BETTER products. I've seen that at many conferences and seen their CEO talk and have been following them for years.
Instead of republishing sloppy inaccurate reporting, why don't you try to make a point – any point – but perhaps one about what you will do for your state to keep the products being made in it competitive for the long haul?
Well, I'm not running for Congress, Dave Funk is, I just read this blog. I'm not saying Serious Materials is in the wrong here. I'm agreeing with this article in that the government does not serve in a function that picks winners and losers by giving public endorsements.
The second President Obama made those public claims he crossed a line. It's not his job to promote one business. It's his job to say that America makes the most energy efficient windows and promote the industry.
One thing I've learned though is that Serious obviously is paying attention online and send out the wolves to fight back against this obvious fact – Your company doesn't deserve Presidential recognition. No company does. American industries do. So get off your high horse.
BTW, a year ago I had the opportunity to meet and spoke with the VP of operations for Pella and discussed how their manufacturing processes etc extensively. Just because you've seen the Serious CEO speak doesn't make you credible.
The President mentioned Serious as one example of a company that in the midst of the recession opened a plant and hired workers to make an energy efficiency product. He mentioned them a week after they opened the plant in PA, all without gov assistance. If Pella opened a plant, I am sure the Pres would have mentioned them as well. He has mentioned tons of companies and the VP has visited over 100 in the past year I read.
Like the above post claimed, the President of the United States has NO business promoting one business over another, or one city or one State. Ask the people and Mayor of Vegas how they feel about the President "bashing" their city and the effect it had there. "Tons of companies"? That he promoted or bashed, which is it? The Gov. should not be in the business of offering carrots to certain industries to hire people or expand. Let the market decide who wins and loses.
The "green economy" is nothing but an illusion being pushed by liberals intent on leveling the playing field.