Friday Afternoon Solyndra Document Dump: Obama Fundraiser Turned Department Of Energy Official Pushed For Deal That His Wife's Law Firm Profited From

Just yesterday at his press conference, Obama said this about the Solyndra loan guarantees.

...But the process by which the decision was made was on the merits. It was straightforward. And of course there were going to be debates internally when you’re dealing with something as complicated as this.

But I have confidence that the decisions were made based on what would be good for the American economy and the American people and putting people back to work.

Apparently "merits" is code for "companies who hire law firms connected to big time donors who work form my administration.

There actually is a line between crony capitalism and illegal corruption. It looks like the Solyndra story is getting closer and closer to the latter.

An elite Obama fundraiser hired to help oversee the administration's energy loan program pushed and prodded career Department of Energy officials to move faster in approving a loan guarantee for Solyndra, even as his wife's law firm was representing the California solar company, according to internal emails made public late Friday.

"How hard is this? What is he waiting for?" wrote Steven J. Spinner, a high-tech consultant and energy investor who raised at least $500,000 for the candidate before being appointed to a key job helping oversee the energy loan guarantee program. "I have OVP [the Office of the Vice President] and WH [the White House] breathing down my neck on this."

Many of the emails were written just days after Spinner accepted a three-page ethics agreement in which he pledged he would "not participate in any discussion regarding any application involving [his wife's law firm] Wilson [Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati]."

...

Recovery Act records show Allison Spinner's law firm, Wilson Sonsini, received $2.4 million in federal funds for legal fees related to the $535 million Energy Department loan guarantee to Solyndra. That ethics agreement said his wife would forgo pay "earned as a result of its representation of applicants in programs within your official duties."

Spinner's firm says she didn't directly profit from the Solyndra billings but this stinks to high heaven. The fact that this was released on a Friday afternoon of a three day weekend shows the White House knows this.

Below the fold, a John E. (who was actually on this angle before anyone else it seems) special info-graphic showing the Solyndra timeline.

posted by DrewM. at 05:47 PM

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