President Obama has learned nothing from the widening scandal surrounding the Department of Energy’s loan guarantee program. Even as Energy Secretary Steven Chu admitted last week that he personally intervened to give the now bankrupt solar panel manufacturing firm Solyndra even more money — after they had defaulted on their federal loan — the Energy Department approved two new similar loans, worth more than $1 billion, to solar firms which, like Solyndra, have strong ties to Democratic Party fundraisers. In the fall of 2010, Solyndra executives told Chu that their firm was dangerously low on cash and might not make a Dec. 1 payment to a $30 million cash reserve fund as required by the original terms of the loan. But when Dec. 1 came, and Solyndra did fail to make the payment, not only did Chu fail to pull the plug, he actually restructured the loan in a way to further protect Solyndra’s investors at the expense of taxpayers.

Many of these investors are big-time Democratic Party fundraisers, including Oklahoma billionaire and Obama bundler George Kaiser. But the Solyndra loan turns out to be not the only hand Kaiser has in the taxpayer’s pocket. On Wednesday, the Energy Department announced two new loans, including a $737 million guarantee to Tonopah Solar Energy, which is owned by SolarReserve LLC. One of SolarReserve’s “investment partners” is Kaiser’s firm, Argonaut Private Equity.