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Stearns rejects Chu’s claim that Solyndra loan wasn't political
Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), the GOP’s point man on the Solyndra probe, is rebutting Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s claim that politics played no role in decisions about the failed solar company’s loan guarantee.
“We don’t have all the emails, and in fact I don’t know how he can say that, really,” Stearns, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, said Wednesday.
Stearns spoke to reporters in the Capitol on the eve of Chu’s showdown with Republicans at a committee hearing Thursday morning about the $535 million Energy Department loan guarantee issued in 2009. Solyndra went bankrupt in early September.
Chu, in his prepared testimony, says that, “I did not make any decision based on political considerations.”
But Stearns, in wide-ranging remarks, alleged that Chu was not carefully following the company’s performance, and noted that the committee wants to see more internal White House emails about the loan guarantee to the failed solar panel manufacturer.
“For the secretary to indicate anything would belie the fact that he didn’t know what was going on,” Stearns said.
“Emails that we’re getting back show that senior advisers in the White House knew about Solyndra and were influential. And so that’s a fact and so we want to see all the emails, and so I don’t think the secretary is really speaking from knowledge other than ... he evidently feels he’s got to defend the administration.”
Republicans have sought to show White House political influence in the loan guarantee, and in particular have highlighted the role of George Kaiser, a fundraiser for President Obama whose foundation was a major investor in Solyndra.
Stearns acknowledged there is not a smoking gun showing political influence but added, “We have found smoke.”
But the probe has not uncovered evidence of political favoritism, and White House and Energy Department officials say loan-guarantee decisions were made on the merits.
Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats are circulating a detailed memo aimed at rebutting Republican allegations of political influence. It cites a series of interviews with administration officials, who said “they had no reason to believe decisions regarding the Solyndra loan guarantee were based on political contributions” from Kaiser.
Stearns: Chu’s credibility ‘hurt dramatically’
Stearns said lawmakers are also looking more broadly at Chu’s stewardship of the loan-guarantee program, citing the bankruptcy of Beacon Power Corp., an energy-storage company that received a loan guarantee and has also gone bankrupt.
“We’ve got lots of questions, so I want to be fair to him to give him every opportunity to talk tomorrow,” Stearns said of Chu.
But Stearns, on the eve of the hearing, also questioned Chu’s credibility.
He said Chu’s standing has been hurt by the White House decision to order an independent review of the loan-guarantee program by Herb Allison, a former Treasury Department official.
“Secretary Chu is in a very untenable position because Herb Allison has been appointed by the president to review all of his loan guarantees,” Stearns said. “So what confidence does that show in his ability to perform, when somebody in the White House is appointing somebody outside of DOE to look at all of his stuff?
“So I think his credibility has been hurt dramatically because of that appointment. You’d think that the president would ask him to do it, wouldn’t you? But no, it’s an outside source.”
