Solyndra Scandal Really Was All About Political Payoffs

“The DOE really thinks politically before it thinks economically,” a Solyndra board member wrote in December to George Kaiser, an Obama fundraiser whose family funds owned a third of the company. 

It's not just Republicans saying it now. Recipients of Obama's largesse are saying it.

The new details come from e-mails released Wednesday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, whose Republican majority has been investigating Solyndra’s collapse since February. The documents were provided in advance of Chu’s testimony, scheduled for Thursday before the committee’s investigative panel.

Committee Republicans have said that President Obama used his clean-energy initiative to steer loans to campaign donors. Solyndra’s biggest investor is Argonaut Equity, an investment firm for Kaiser’s family funds. Kaiser, a Tulsa billionaire, has said he played no part in helping Solyndra win a $535 million federal loan. 

The new documents depict Solyndra and its investors as far from passive recipients of the Energy Department’s money. Instead, they show executives making demands, striking tough bargains and not shying from criticism of the agency that was fueling the company’s growth.