The Obama administration urged the now-bankrupt solar-energy firm Solyndra and its top investor to hold off announcing planned layoffs in 2010 until after the Nov. 2 elections, according to e-mails released by House Republicans on Tuesday.
Solyndra received a loan guarantee from the federal stimulus program in September 2009, but it went bankrupt this September—leaving taxpayers on the hook for most of the $535 million initial loan. Struggling financially, the company announced layoffs and plans to consolidate some of its businesses on Nov. 3, 2010, according to press reports at the time.
“They did push very hard for us to hold our announcement of the consolidation to employees and vendors to Nov. 3—oddly, they didn’t give us a reason for that date,” states an October 2010 e-mail exchange between advisers for Argonaut Private Equity, the top investor in Solyndra that was founded by George Kaiser, an Oklahoma oil billionaire who bundled campaign donations for presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008.
