House To Hold Hearings on Solyndra Collapse Next Week

Created some jobs for House investigators, at least.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s investigative panel announced it will hold hearings next Wednesday on the government’s Solyndra loan. ABC News and iWatch News have also learned that Senate investigators have begun seeking answers from the administration about the deal.

“How did this company, without maybe the best economic plan, all of a sudden get to the head of the line?” said committee chairman Rep. Fred Upton, R.-Michigan, in an ABC News interview last week. “We want to know who made this decision . . . and we’re not going to stop until we get those answers.”

How did they jump to the head of the line? Oh, who could possibly answer such a question.

According to White House visitor logs, between March 12, 2009, and April 14, 2011, Solyndra officials and investors made no fewer than 20 trips to the West Wing. In the week before the administration awarded Solyndra with the first-ever alternative energy loan guarantee on March 20, four separate visits were logged.

George Kaiser, who has in the past been labeled a major Solyndra investor as well as a Obama donor, made three visits to the White House on March 12, 2009, and one on March 13. Kaiser has denied any direct involvement in the Solyndra deal and through a statement from his foundation said he “did not participate in any discussions with the U.S. government regarding the loan.”

But the countless meetings at the White House seem hardly coincidental. Kaiser, in fact, is responsible for 16 of the 20 meetings that showed up on the White House logs.

posted by Ace at 04:24 PM

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