While congressional Democrats offer lame, partisan excuses for the Solyndra scandal and why Republicans continue to pursue answers from the Obama administration, the strange twist here is that Michigan’s Congressman Fred Upton, a west Michigan Republican, now appears to be knee-deep in this mess.
It was previously reported that Upton supported green energy grants by the administration, though he has jumped on the fact that Solyndra’s federal funds arrived as the solar panel manufacturer was facing bankruptcy.
But kudos to the Kalamzoo Gazette for pursuing the story and uncovering information that shows an Upton appointee worked for the firm that helped Solyndra obtain the federal grant.
In breaking news that came forward within the hour, the Gazette’s Fritz Klug reports that the staff director for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is investigating Solyndra, was a lobbyist for a firm, Dutko Grayling, that helped the now-bankrupt company obtain the half-billion-dollar federal grant at the heart of the inquiry.
Gary Andres was the vice chairman of public policy and research at the firm, then known as Dutko Worldwide, until last December, when he was appointed to his current position as top committee staffer, at a salary of $172,000, by Upton, who chairs the committee.
Andres told the Gazette that he was not aware of the ties and said he doesn’t believe there is a conflict of interest between his role overseeing the committee and the fact that his former employer had a contract with the California-based company.
“I never heard of the company until (Energy and Commerce) oversight staff started looking into it,” Andres told the Gazette.
A former George W. Bush administration official, Andres said that one might think that if he had benefited from Solyndra, the committee would go easy on the company, according to Klug’s report. Rather, he noted that the committee is aggressively pursuing the investigation, including subpoenaing White House records.
Among the findings so far, the investigation has revealed that the Obama administration asked the company to hold off from announcing layoffs until after the 2010 mid-term elections.
The Kalamazoo Gazette was unable to reach Upton for comment about Andres and his former employer’s ties to Solyndra.
I suspect there is a lot more to this story that will be laid bare when the sunshine reflects the truth.