Toomey for Senate

Published: Thursday, September 02, 2010
By Danielle Lynch
Delco Times

U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, D-7, of Edgmont, who is running for U.S. Senate, admitted Thursday that he made an error with a controversial request for a $350,000 wind energy earmark.

Earlier this year, Sestak requested the grant for the Thomas Paine Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Media. Drew Devitt, founder of the organization, also operates a for-profit business, New Way Energy LLC in Aston.

Sestak has received criticism over this earmark request this week, particularly from his opponent in the Senate race, former U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey, a Republican from Lehigh County. In March, The U.S. House of Representatives banned legislators from directing federal taxpayer money to for-profit companies.

“Over the past couple of days, Congressman Sestak has broken congressional rules, misled the public about his involvement in the violation, and tried to funnel hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to a tiny atheist group to build a wind turbine demonstration project with which it had no experience,” said Nachama Soloveichik, a spokeswoman for Toomey. “Many questions remain about which story is the real one, why Congressman Sestak tried to cover it up, and whether Pennsylvania taxpayers can trust anything Congressman Sestak says.”

On Thursday, Sestak sought to clarify the earmark controversy. He said he received a federal appropriations request from Devitt in late February. Then in April, Sestak said he received a request from Devitt for an introduction to the U.S. Department of Energy.

“I am writing to introduce you to Drew Devitt, the founder and chairman of New Way Energy LLC … and suggest a meeting with the app. Mr. Devitt would like to discuss utility scale, floating vertical axis wind turbine as a means to reach off-shore winds quickly and cost effectively,”states Sestak’s April 12 letter to the Department of Energy, which he released to the Daily Times on Thursday. “The technology has been developed in conjunction with his nonprofit organization, the Thomas Paine Foundation.”

Sestak said he sent out over 4,500 letters that month and failed to catch the connection between Devitt’s nonprofit and for-profit business in the letter.

“I failed to put two and two together,” Sestak told the Daily Times. “It was my error.”

Sestak said the Devitt’s grant request never received approval.

“(Devitt) never got any of the money,” Sestak said.

Sestak said he has been transparent about earmarks he distributed throughout his tenure as Congressman. He argued that his opponent, Toomey, was less transparent when he served as Congressman.

Devitt also sought to clarify information surrounding the controversy in a statement he released Thursday.

“I submitted an appropriations request through the formal process established by (Sestak’s) office,” Devitt said. “In that request, I explained I would be the point of contact and the organization requesting the appropriation was the Thomas Paine Foundation, a nonprofit entity.

“The request stated that the foundation would oversee the development of the prototype, which would be manufactured by New Way Energy. I also explained that the work would also include researchers at Philadelphia area universities. If provided with federal government funding, the foundation would have the capability to oversee the demonstration project and, as with any other recipient of government funding, would comply with any related reporting requirements.”

Devitt said he established the nonprofit foundation in 1991 because Thomas Paine was an inspiration to him. “While some have attributed the goals and founding principles of the Free Thought Society to the Thomas Paine Foundation, in particular a link to atheist beliefs, that is not the case,” he said.