House panel subpoena aims to force White House to hand over documents, while bankrupt solar company is reduced to auctioning fittings
The White House could be forced to reveal emails and other documents related the US government’s $535m loan guarantee to now-bankrupt solar company Solyndra, after a House of Representatives panel obtained a subpoena.
Unless the government chooses to invoke executive privilege, the White House could have to turn over a huge range of data including emails received by the President on his Blackberry.
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Republicans are hoping the move will result in further embarassing revelations over the administration’s loan guarantee programme, following this week’s news that the government considered a plan to save Solyndra that would have left the Treasury with up to 40 per cent equity in the company and two seats on the board.
The rescue plan, proposed by financial advisors Lazard in August, but was rejected resulting in Solyndra ceasing operations a day later.
A Republican-controlled House panel has been looking into whether the loan was approved because of the company’s ties to Obama campaign donors, a charge the White House vehemently denies.
Committee-chair Fred Upton declared the subpoena was the “last resort” in his efforts to access documents relating to the loan guarantee. But Democrats in the panel voted against the subpoena and urged him to work with the government to gain access to any necessary records.
White House spokesman Eric Schultz said the subpoena was “unprecedented and unwarranted”, adding that the administration was cooperating with the investigation by providing more than 85,000 pages of documents so far.
“All of the materials that have been disclosed affirm what we said on day one: this was a merit-based decision made by the Department of Energy,” Schultz said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the stricken Californian company has resorted to selling off technology and fittings from its Fremont, California, headquarters.
Bloomberg reported that in the two day auction a digital project sold for $1,300 and, most poignantly, a 30 foot banner welcoming President Obama when he visited the company in 2010 sold for $400.
(Source: www.businessgreen.com )