New emails disclosed as part of the congressional investigation into the failed solar company Solyndra show that the Obama administration pushed the firm to postpone a layoff announcement until after the critical November 2010 midterm elections.
The request was revealed in a GOP memo released ahead of a planned appearance by Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who is scheduled to testify about the government’s $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Thursday.
The firm, championed by President Obama as a green energy success story, folded in August and fired all of its workers.
“This confirms how political Solyndra was,” Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., a top Energy and Commerce Committee member, told The Washington Examiner. “It’s disturbing they would try to operate a company with taxpayer money for political reasons.”
According to the emails, Solyndra executives in October 2010 told the Department of Energy it had been unable to raise enough money from private investors and needed new installments of the $535 billion loan in order to avoid running out of cash in November 2010. During that month, Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison emailed Energy Department officials saying he wanted to begin informing company employees on Oct. 28 that there would be a consolidation and layoffs.
Harrison’s email was sent up the Obama administration’s chain of command, reaching then-energy czar Carol Browner and Ron Klain, then Vice President Biden’s chief of staff.
On Oct. 30, an adviser for Argonaut Private Equity, which was Solyndra’s main investor, sent an email to another Solyndra investor, saying the Energy Department had agreed to provide Solyndra with a $40 million loan installment that would get the company through November, but that it would make no promises about sending another tranche of cash in December.
“They did push very hard for us to hold our announcement of the consolidation to employees and vendors to Nov. 3rd,” wrote one Solyndra investor. “Oddly they didn’t give a reason for that date.”
The elections were held on Nov. 2, resulting in huge gains for Republicans. The next day, on Nov. 3, Solyndra announced part of its plant would close and it would fire workers.
Officials from the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch said the latest round of disclosures about the administration’s involvement in the failed firm show that a grand jury investigation is needed to sort out the matter.
“The most interesting aspect of this email is the timing,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “The understanding by Solyndra is that, if they did not play ball on this political issue, they would not get government funding.”
The Energy and Commerce panel’s top Democrat, Henry Waxman of California, said he had not seen the emails and declined to comment.
The emails were released to the Energy and Commerce Committee after Republicans running the panel voted earlier this month to subpoena the administration.
Stearns said it’s clear to him that administration officials are still holding back information requested under the subpoena, noting that there are no emails within or from the administration that refer to the impending Solyndra layoffs.
In other words, it’s not clear who, exactly, made the request that they postpone the announcement.
“We are going to ask Secretary Chu that,” Stearns said.
