Dems Tilted Scales for Solyndra

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is a political committee devoted to maintaining and increasing the 239-member Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

Former White House Chief of Staff and current Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel actively pushed for promoting now-bankrupt Solyndra, just the latest revelation in a growing controversy that now threatens to ensnare President Obama himself:

“E-MAILS: RAHM PUSHED TO PROMOTE SOLYNDRA”: (Michael Kaplan, “E-mails: Rahm Pushed to Promote Solyndra,” NBC Chicago, 11/14/2011)

EMANUEL PRODDED BIDEN CHIEF ABOUT PLANNING SOLYNDRA EVENT DESPITE CONCERNS: “An e-mail from a White House official indicates Emanuel talked to Ron Klain, Biden's chief of staff, to plan an event in summer 2009, despite concerns raised by White House environmental adviser Heather Zichal about Solyndra's finances.” (Michael Kaplan, “E-mails: Rahm Pushed to Promote Solyndra,” NBC Chicago, 11/14/2011)

EMANUEL DENIED INVOLVEMENT, BUT EARLIER E-MAILS REVEALED THAT EMANUEL “MAY HAVE BEEN THE ONE EAGER TO SPOTLIGHT SOLYNDRA”: “In September, Emanuel denied any knowledge of the Solyndra loan to WLS Radio's Bill Cameron. ‘I don't actually remember that or know about it,’ Emanuel said. But e-mails from White House officials dumped in October revealed that Emanuel may have been the one eager to spotlight Solyndra in early 2009, despite concerns that the California company could be financially unstable.” (Michael Kaplan, “E-mails: Rahm Pushed to Promote Solyndra,” NBC Chicago, 11/14/2011)

This development comes amidst news that some members of the Obama administration were so bent on covering up for Solyndra’s financial troubles that they became the subject of mockery in other corners of the administration:

“CLEAREST PICTURE YET OF SOLYNDRA’S DETERIORATING FINANCES” AND THE “EXTRAORDINARY EFFORTS” BY OBAMA’S DOE “TO PROP UP THE COMPANY”: “The newly obtained documents, along with other records obtained in recent weeks, offer the clearest picture yet of Solyndra’s deteriorating finances and the Energy Department’s extraordinary efforts to prop up the company. Chu, who is scheduled to testify next week before a House investigating subcommittee, is likely to be questioned about his agency’s willingness to invest millions more taxpayer dollars in the firm, even after the White House had abandoned hopes of a rescue.” (Carol Leonnig and Joe Stephens, “Solyndra: Energy Department Failed to Sound Alarm as Solar Company Sank,” The Washington Post, 11/11/2011)

“ESCALATING TENSIONS” AS ADMINISTRATION “CAME TO GRIPS WITH SOLYNDRA’S LIKELY DEMISE”; DOE OFFICIAL MOCKED FOR BOUNDLESS SOLYNDRA OPTIMISM: “The documents also capture escalating tension as staffers at the White House, its Office of Management and Budget, and the Energy Department came to grips with Solyndra’s likely demise. Working deep into the night and into the weekend, they fretted at times about political fallout from the collapse, noting that Solyndra had been a centerpiece of President Obama’s effort to promote clean technology businesses.

“By Aug. 9, with Solyndra weeks away from a bankruptcy filing, OMB career staff mocked supportive comments offered by Jonathan Silver, then the head of Energy’s loan program. Silver had been quoted in an article saying that Solyndra was ‘significantly misunderstood’ and experiencing the normal ‘bumps in the road’ for a startup company.” (Carol Leonnig and Joe Stephens, “Solyndra: Energy Department Failed to Sound Alarm as Solar Company Sank,” The Washington Post, 11/11/2011)

DESPITE WARNINGS AND LOAN RESTRUCTURING, ENERGY SEC. STEPHEN CHU AND TOP DOE OFFICIALS DOUBLED-DOWN ON SOLYNDRA: “The new loan deal was approved in February. The following month, Chu told an interviewer that Solyndra’s sales were growing, and he was ‘confident’ Solyndra would thrive and repay the public’s money.

“In April, Silver told critics that Solyndra was ‘going in the right direction’ and rapidly growing. ‘This is a company that doubled their revenues and essentially doubled them again, year over year,’ he told a trade publication. Silver resigned his post last month.” (Carol Leonnig and Joe Stephens, “Solyndra: Energy Department Failed to Sound Alarm as Solar Company Sank,” The Washington Post, 11/11/2011)

TOP OBAMA CAMPAIGN ADVISER “SUGGESTED FIRING STEPHEN CHU”: (Aamer Madhani, “Campaign Adviser Suggested Firing Stephen Chu,” USA Today, 11/12/2011)

DÉJÀ VU? ADVISER FEARED CHU “DIDN’T HAVE THE BACKGROUND TO DEAL WITH THE BUSINESS SIDE OF RAMPING UP THE U.S. CLEAN ENERGY INDUSTRY”: (Aamer Madhani, “Campaign Adviser Suggested Firing Stephen Chu,” USA Today, 11/12/2011)

TOP OBAMA BUNDLER KAISER “WEIGHED ASKING WHITE HOUSE TO SAVE SOLYNDRA” AS IT WAS FAILING: “A key investor in the failed solar power company Solyndra, who was also a political donor to Barack Obama, strategized with his top executives about whether and how they should use their contacts inside the White House to help their failing business venture, according to emails surfaced by Congressional investigators Wednesday.” (Matthew Mosk, “Emails: Obama Donor Weighed Asking White House to Save Solyndra,” ABC News, 11/9/2011)

Even as the dirty details about Solyndra continue to leak, additional reports are shedding light on another politically connected Solyndra sibling that may have benefited from special treatment by the Obama administration:

BEACON POWER, A SOLYNDRA SIBLING, ALSO RECENTLY FILED FOR BANKRUPTCY: “Beacon Power Corp., an energy- storage company that received $43 million in backing from the U.S. program that supported failed solar-panel maker Solyndra LLC, filed for bankruptcy after struggling to raise private financing.

“The money-losing company, which makes flywheels that manage energy moving through a power grid, had sought to avoid the fate of Solyndra, which entered bankruptcy last month after receiving a $535 million loan guarantee from a U.S. Energy Department program designed to spur alternative energy development. Beacon faced delisting of its shares by the Nasdaq Stock Market and warned in an Aug. 9 regulatory filing that it might not remain a ‘going concern.’” (Dawn McCarty, “Beacon Power, Backed by U.S. Loan Guarantee, Files Bankruptcy,” Bloomberg, 10/31/2011)

“OBAMA, DEMS RECEIVED CONTRIBUTIONS FROM FAILED POWER COMPANY”: “Beacon Power Corporation, which filed for bankruptcy late last week, was the recipient of a $43 million loan guarantee from the Energy Department. Campaign contribution information from Open Secrets shows that Beacon Power's CEO F. William Capp donated to both Barack Obama and two Massachusetts Democrats.” (Michael Warren, “Obama, Dems Received Contributions from Failed Power Company,” The Weekly Standard, 10/31/2011)