Solyndra Takes The Fifth

Scandal: Two top executives of the bankrupt solar panel firm will refuse to answer questions about possible fraud and the waste of taxpayer dollars. Unlike oil execs, they and the administration have much to hide.

There's a delicious irony in the news that Solyndra's two top executives, Chief Executive Brian Harrison and Chief Financial Officer W.G. "Bill" Stover, plan to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights and refuse to answer questions when they testify Friday before a House Energy and Commerce Committee panel investigating their failed company, which got more than $500 million in federally backed loans.

It was only a few months ago when the executives of Exxon Mobil, Shell, ConocoPhillips, BP America and Chevron were summoned to appear before the Senate Finance Committee for what Sen. Orrin Hatch labeled a dog-and-pony show to defend their allegedly ill-gotten profits and tax breaks.

It didn't matter that they paid more than their share of taxes, ranking above most industries, or reinvested their profits to create a useful and reliable source of energy that created American jobs. They didn't need protection against self-incrimination, for they'd broken no laws and squandered no taxpayer cash. They were just the black hats du jour for the greenies and progressive left.

Solyndra asserts that it "is not aware of any wrongdoing by Solyndra officers, directors or employees in conjunction with the (Energy Department) loan guarantee." Oh, really? Then why did the FBI raid Solyndra's Fremont, Calif., offices, carting away boxes of files, something that happens only when authorized by a judge who believes a crime may have been committed?

"Who exactly are Solyndra's executives trying to protect and what are they trying to hide?" said Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., chairman of the Subcommittee Oversight and Investigations in a joint statement.

Even Democrats are upset, with Rep. Henry Waxman saying CEO Harrison personally assured him in July his company was in a "strong financial condition and in no danger of failing." Harrison even told him, Waxman said, that Solyndra was on course to double its revenues in 2011. That was about a month before Solyndra filed for bankruptcy and laid off 1, 100 employees.

The government had plenty of warnings, as recently disclosed emails show, that this loan guarantee was "not ready for prime time" and that Solyndra's bankruptcy was a question of when and not if. Yet the White House pushed blindly ahead in a rush to redistribute our wealth while attempting to pick winners and losers in the marketplace.

We already knew a major investor in Solyndra was a foundation run by Tulsa billionaire and major Democratic donor George Kaiser. We have learned that one of President Obama's top fundraisers in 2008, currently raising money for the 2012 campaign, is Steve Spinner, who helped monitor the Department of Energy's issuance of $25 billion in government loan guarantees to renewable energy projects.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has announced that his Oversight and Government Reform Committee also plans an inquiry into Solyndra and the LightSquared affair, where a U.S four-star general was pressured to alter sworn testimony to make a Democratic donor's wireless project appear harmless to the nation's GPS system.

LightSquared is owned by Democratic donor Phil Falcone. Administration officials met with company executives the same day CEO Sanjiv Ahuja wrote a $40,000 check to the Democratic National Committee.

Here a donor, there a donor, everywhere in these affairs is a major Democratic donor. Perhaps that's why in picking winners and losers, the administration seems to be picking only losers and letting political contributions be the deciding factor.

So far, the American people are the biggest losers from a policy that leaves oil in the ground and corrupt dipsticks running things in Washington.