The Solar Eclipse of the White House
Embattled Administration Refuses to Release Solyndra Documents and Changes Old Press Releases
- The White House announced late last week that it would refuse to release documents relating to internal deliberations about now-bankrupt Solyndra, and Energy Department officials went so far as to change old press releases to delete references to a company with ties to Nancy Pelosi’s “closest ally.”
- White House officials aren’t the only ones avoiding questions. Solyndra executives are insisting they won’t discuss the company’s contracts and pleaded the fifth before a Congressional inquiry as evidence mounts that Solyndra received extensive special treatment from its political allies.
- This refusal to release internal documents and information about Solyndra’s operations comes amidst 3rd quarter fundraising reports that show political advisors associated with now-bankrupt Solyndra among Obama’s top bundlers, further raising the issue of whether political influence played a role in granting Solyndra special treatment.
BACKGROUND
The White House announced late last week that it would refuse to release documents relating to internal deliberations about now-bankrupt Solyndra, and Energy Department officials went so far as to change old press releases to delete references to a company with ties to Nancy Pelosi’s “closest ally”:
“WHITE HOUSE DRAWS A LINE ON SOLYNDRA DOCUMENT REQUEST”: “A top lawyer for President Barack Obama told GOP Congressional investigators late Friday that the White House will not be providing documents about internal deliberations regarding Solyndra, a now-bankrupt solar panel company under investigation by the FBI.” (Jonathan Strong, “White House Draws a Line on Solyndra Document Request,” Roll Call, 10/15/2011)
ENERGY DEPARTMENT “CAUGHT RED-HANDED ENGAGING IN REVISIONST HISTORY” ON “LOAN GUARANTEE PROGRAM THAT SOLYNDRA HAS BEEN A PART OF”: “ANCHOR: ‘The Energy Department has been caught red-handed engaging in some revisionist history. Eamon Javers is breaking that story, he has the exclusive from Washington. Eamon?’
“JAVERS: Karl, I just want to share with you some odd stuff that we found in looking through the Department of Energy press releases in that loan guarantee program that Solyndra has been a part of, that’s been such a controversial story. We’ve been combing through those press releases. And if you look at what we found, it looks like somebody over at the Department of Energy has gone back and retroactively changed some of the press releases. Start with this April 12, 2011 press release which said the Department of Energy was issuing a $1.187 billion loan guaranteed that was sponsored by Sun Power Corporation, the project in question. Now look at the way that has been revised. The date on this is still April 12th, 2011, but now the press release up on this loan program’s office website at the DOE says the program was sponsored by NRG Energy, an entirely separate company. Now the Department of Energy issued us a statement about the two situations that we found on their website about this. They say the only website that changed was a separately maintained loan program web page that is managed by support services contractors. They say the changes were inadvertent because the contractor were updating the website to reflect the fact that NRG energy had purchased that Sun Power project and they were going back and making changes. But I have to tell you, Carl, making changes to previously issued press releases is a little bit unusual in this town or anywhere else, and that’s why we’re flagging it for you today.” (Eamon Javers, “Dept. of Energy Revises History,” CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” 10/19/2011)
REP. GEORGE MILLER (D-CA) IS NANCY PELOSI’S “CLOSEST ALLY”: (John Bresnahan and Jonathan Allen, “Nancy Pelosi to Run for Minority Leader,” Politico, 11/05/2010)
MILLER’S SON IS A LOBBYIST FOR SUNPOWER: “But, Miller failed to mention how his son, George Miller IV, is SunPower’s top lobbyist in California. Miller’s son was pushing for the $1.2 billion loan guarantee taxpayers are on the hook for now.”(Matthew Boyle, “Solar company with $1.2 billion taxpayer loan guarantee, political connections exhibits signs of financial trouble,” The Daily Caller, 10/12/2011)
White House officials aren’t the only ones avoiding questions. Solyndra executives are insisting they won’t discuss the company’s contracts and pleaded the fifth before a Congressional inquiry as evidence mounts that Solyndra received extensive special treatment from its political allies:
AMERICANS GET THE SILENT TREATMENT FROM SOLYNDRA:
SOLYNDRA EXECS “REFUSED TO DISCUSS THE COMPANY’S CONTRACTS” AT MEETING WITH BANKRUPTCY ANALYST: “Officials at failed solar-panel maker Solyndra LLC refused to discuss the company’s contracts at a private meeting last month with a bankruptcy analyst for the Justice Department, fueling the push to have a trustee take over the failed company during its bankruptcy, records show.”(Jim McElhatton, “Solyndra Won’t Talk About Its Contracts,” The Washington Times, 10/16/2011)
SOLYNDRA TOLD DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE TO “MOVE ON”: “Bankruptcy analyst Jeffrey Heck of the U.S. Office of the Trustee, an arm of the Justice Department that oversees bankruptcy cases, said that during a routine interview not long after Solyndra filed for bankruptcy last month, Solyndra officials suggested he ‘move on’ when he asked about its contracts, according to an affidavit filed Friday by Mr. Heck in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.” (Jim McElhatton, “Solyndra Won’t Talk About Its Contracts,” The Washington Times, 10/16/2011)
“SOLARGATE: SOLYNDRA CEO RESIGNS AMID FRAUD INVESTIGATION”:“Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison has left the company, after refusing to answer questions from Congress over the solar company’s disastrous bankruptcy that left taxpayers on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars.” (Grace Wyler, “SOLARGATE: Solyndra CEO Resigns Amid Fraud Investigation,” Business Insider, 10/13/2011)
SOLYNDRA EXECS PLEAD THE FIFTH AND REFUSED TO TESTIFY MORE THAN A DOZEN TIMES: (“Solyndra Execs Plead the Fifth at Congressional Hearing More Than a Dozen Times,” Associated Press, 9/23/2011)
SPECIAL TREATMENT FOR OBAMA’S FAVORITE SON:
NEW REVELATIONS: SOLYNDRA RECEIVED SPECIAL TAX EXEMPTIONS FROM OBAMA’S IRS: “In November of 2009, in the midst of Solyndra’s downward financial spiral, the Internal Revenue Service issued a ruling that granted special tax favors to the firm and its customers.” (Lou Dolinar, “Solyndra and the IRS,” National Review, 10/19/2011)
IRS OFFICIAL: “RULING RAISES A RED FLAG ABOUT POLITICAL INTERFERENCE IN THE TAX SYSTEM”: “The ‘private letter’ ruling involving Solyndra, though widely discussed among tax lawyers, commented upon within the solar-power community, and even flaunted by Solyndra itself, has received little attention in the mainstream media. A former IRS official told National Review that the ruling raises a red flag about political interference in the tax system. The source, who was not directly involved in the case, says that politicians have increased their lobbying for private-letter rulings on behalf of individual taxpayers ever since the Democrats took over Congress in 2007. Congressional investigators of the Solyndra scandal say they are aware of the tax angle, but have not had time to delve into it, as they are too busy unsnarling the specifics of the controversial $535 million loan to the company, as well as billions in similar loans to other companies.” (Lou Dolinar, “Solyndra and the IRS,” National Review, 10/19/2011)
ENERGY DEPT. OFFICIALS MADE A LEGAL CASE FOR RESTRUCTURING SOLYNDRA LOAN WITH THE EXPECTATION THAT THE COMPANY COULD COLLAPSE: “A memo issued earlier this year makes the case that the Energy Department was within its legal rights to restructure the $535 million Solyndra loan guarantee in February as the California solar company faced financial collapse. … The memo is dated Feb. 15, 2011.” (Andrew Restuccia, “Memo Argues Energy Legally Restructured $535M Solyndra Loan,” The Hill, 10/14/2011)
EVEN THOUGH TREASURY DEPT. OFFICIALS SAID THEY BELIEVED “SUBORDINATION” OF TAXPAYERS IN RESTRUCTURING MOVE WAS ILLEGAL:“One of the witnesses — Gary Burner, the chief financial officer for Treasury’s Federal Financing Bank — raised questions about the Energy Department’s plan to restructure the loan. Internal emails show that Burner told officials with DOE’s loan programs office in February that they might need approval from the Justice Department before approving the restructuring of the Solyndra loan guarantee. A separate Treasury official, Assistant Secretary for Financial Markets Mary J. Miller, wrote to a White House Office of Management and Budget official in August of this year stating that Treasury believed the “subordination” of the taxpayer interest in the restructuring agreement was illegal.” (Andrew Restuccia, “Memo Argues Energy Legally Restructured $535M Solyndra Loan,” The Hill, 10/14/2011)
OBAMA’S DEPT. OF ENERGY “WAS ACTIVELY PUSHING” SECOND LOAN GUARANTEE WORTH $469 MILLION: (Carol Leonnig, “Solyndra E-mails: Dept. of Energy was Poised to Approve $469 Million for Firm,” The Washington Post, 10/5/2011)
This refusal to release internal documents and information about Solyndra’s operations comes amidst 3rd quarter fundraising reports that show political advisors associated with now-bankrupt Solyndra among Obama’s top bundlers, further raising the issue of whether political influence played a role in granting Solyndra special treatment:
“SOLYNDRA TIES SHOW IN OBAMA 3Q HAUL”: “Two Obama fundraisers involved in the controversy surrounding bankrupt energy company Solyndra ramped up their efforts on behalf of the president’s campaign in late summer, according to the campaign’s voluntary disclosure of its bundler list, released late Friday.” (Jennifer Epstein, “Solyndra Ties Show in 3Q Haul,” Politico, 10/14/2011)
DOE POLITICAL APPOINTEE WHO RUSHED SOLYNDRA LOAN RAISED OVER $500,000 FOR OBAMA: “Steve Spinner, a longtime Obama fundraiser of Menlo Park, Calif., raised $500,000 or more during the third quarter, up from $200,000 to $500,000 during the second quarter.
“Spinner got a spot in the administration to help monitor the clean energy program that eventually gave $535 million in loan guarantees to faltering Solyndra, which was once touted as a model for business-government partnerships by the Obama White House.
“Spinner repeatedly pushed the Energy Department and the White House to commit to a loan before Vice President Joe Biden’s trip to the company’s headquarters in September 2009, according to emails released by the administration last week.” (Jennifer Epstein, “Solyndra Ties Show in 3Q Haul,” Politico, 10/14/2011)
MAJOR SOLYNDRA INVESTOR MET WITH OBAMA OFFICIALS TO LOBBY WHITE HOUSE TO BACK SOLYNDRA: “One investor in the failed solar firm Solyndra pushed for White House support of the start-up in early 2009, as the company sought a half-billion-dollar Energy Department loan, documents show.
“David Prend, a co-founder of the Boston venture capital firm Rockport Capital, met with Obama’s climate czar, Carol Browner, in early March to talk about Solyndra’s innovative solar panels. He followed up by e-mailing a junior White House aide to ‘help get the word out’ about the company’s desire to ramp up production and its pending partnership with the Obama administration. Prend’s Boston-based venture capital firm held 7.5 percent of the company’s equity.” (Carol Leonnig, “Solyndra Investor Asked for White House Publicity as Firm Sought Federal Funds,” The Washington Post, 10/13/2011)
THE SAME INVESTOR GROUP WAS INVOLVED IN HELPING SOLYNDRA COMPETE FOR A VALUABLE DEAL WITH THE U.S. NAVY: “A major investor in Solyndra LLC was instrumental in helping the troubled solar-power firm compete for a potentially lucrative U.S. Navy deal, a previously unreported connection that will likely fuel controversy surrounding the company.
“Solyndra was promoted to the Navy by RockPort Capital, one of the firm’s largest investors and board members, which has a seat on a Pentagon panel that helps the government find emerging technologies.” (Deborah Solomon, “Solyndra Came Close to Landing Navy Deal,” The Wall Street Journal, 10/14/2011)
“A LOT OF OBAMA’S POLITICAL APPOINTEES FOCUSED ENERGY ON GETTING [SOLYNDRA’S] FEDERAL BACKING APPROVED”: “A series of new e-mails and disclosures show, however, that a lot of Obama’s political appointees focused energy on getting the company’s federal backing approved. At the Energy Department, Secretary Steven Chu said he was intent on accelerating the first applications to show the administration was trying to stimulate the weakened economy. One of his stimulus advisers, Steven Spinner, whose wife’s firm represented Solyndra, pushed actively for a final loan approval.
“Inside the White House, as The Post first reported, federal budget staffers complained the White House chief of staff’s office was rushing them to give final approval to the Solyndra loan in time for a Sept. 4 event they were scheduling where Vice President Biden would help announce the loan. Browner, Obama’s climate czar, was also meeting and talking with backers of Solyndra before the company won the Energy Department’s preliminary approval for the project March 20.” (Carol Leonnig, “Solyndra Investor Asked for White House Publicity as Firm Sought Federal Funds,” The Washington Post, 10/13/2011)