All those people involved in the Solyndra fiasco have taken wing:
As congressional committees continue to shift through the mountain of paperwork over the Solyndra solar company scandal, it is becoming apparent to investigators that most of those who approved the loan have left the Obama administration. In many instances these people will be beyond the reach of congressional investigators.
Here are those who have since left the U.S. Department of Energy but who gave their seal of approved the $535 million loan guarantee. Hat tip to Darren Samuelsohn at Politico:
- Steve Isakowitz – The department’s former CFO. He is now VP and chief technology officer for Virgin Galactic, a commercial space flight company run by Richard Branson. Branson was a private investor in Solyndra.
- Matt Rogers – Secretary Steven Chu’s point person on Solyndra. He has returned to the consulting giant McKinsey & Co in their San Francisco office.
- Rod O’Connor – Secretary Chu’s first Chief of Staff who reassured President Obama he should not be concerned about visiting Solyndra. He now is the EVP to AEG Facilities in London.
- Steve Spinner – A major Obama fundraiser in 2008 who was awarded with a DOE post and repeated frustrated career DOE officials who were concerned about Solyndra. Spinner is a campaign bundler for Obama, raising $500,000 in the third quarter of 2011.
- Lawrene Oliver – Sat on the pivotal Credit Committee that approved the Solyndra loan guarantee while the assistant general counsel to DOE. He retired in 2009.
- Ove Westerheim – He was the director of DOE’s loan program. He is now back at OPIC, a semi-public overseas investment commission.
At the same time, a Fast and Furious figure who’s been unavailable to congressional investigators due to having been assigned to an oversight position in Iraq has been discovered inhabiting the White House.
Through a tip, PJ Media learned that Kevin O’Reilly was unexpectedly named director of the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau for Iraq (INL-Iraq). Long-time INL-Iraq employee Virginia Ramadan had been expected to get the position — many were quite surprised when she did not.
The previous occupants of the Director, INL-Iraq position — Joe Manso and Francisco Palmieri — were not considered “unreachable” to press or government access. A quick internet search reveals Palmieri, while director, attended a media event on August 23, 2010.
On October 21, PJ Media reporter Patrick Richardson called the number for Office of the Director, INL-Iraq:
1-240-553-0581, ext. 3275
Richardson reached a voicemail message confirming that it was indeed the correct number. He left a message that was not returned.
On Monday Richardson called again, and an assistant answered. Richardson asked to speak with Kevin O’Reilly, and the assistant asked who was calling. Richardson gave his name and stated he was with PJ Media.
The assistant said O’Reilly was currently on a conference call, and asked if Richardson wanted to leave a message. Richardson gave his phone number. His call was not returned.
This morning, Richardson called again. He received a prerecorded message saying “this number is not in service.”
They’ve passed that information along to Issa and company.
Issa was on CNN with John King yesterday; King seems to think that the problem here is a lack of trust between investigators and the White House:
Considering that Obama’s decided to run against the “Republican controlled Congress,” that’s a laugher.
Or could it have something to do with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ illegal shredding of documents in Kansas?
If a private health insurer had engaged in the kind of criminal obstruction that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has been tied to in her home stion, reported on new bombshell court filings showing that Kansas health officials “shredded documents related to felony charges the abortion giant faces.” World Magazine reported: “The health department failed to disclose that fact for six years, until it was forced to do so in the current felony case over whether it manufactured client records.”
The records are at the heart of the fraud case against Planned Parenthood. Kansas health bureaucrats now shrug that the destruction of these key documents — which they sheepishly admitted had “certain idiosyncrasies” — was “routine.” Who oversaw the agency accused of destroying the evideate of Kansas, it would be a federal case. Instead, it’s a non-story in the Washington press. Nothing to see here. Move along.
On Monday, a district judge in the Sunflower State suspended court proceedings in a high-profile criminal case against the abortion racketeers of Planned Parenthood. World Magazine, a Christian news publication six years ago? Sebelius.
I mentioned the most outrageous part about Napolitano’s testimony before the Oversight Committee was her refusal to acknowledge the interagency nature of all operations such as Fast and Furious, trying to pin it on ATF alone, which a leaked internal white paper shows they’re willing to deep six if push comes to shove. Sipsey Street Irregulars delve a little further into that.
Inside the White House, things are going from bad to worse, according to Ulsterman’s anonymous insider. Other folks won’t make much of those posts, though they read them, for fear of getting burned, either by being used as conduits for misinformation or because they’re concerned the guy is a fraud, but this bit regarding Bill Daley’s decision to leave the sinking ship rings true to my inner ear:
Ulsterman: Would it be accurate to say that the Obama White House needs Bill Daley far more than Daley needs the White House?
Insider: That would be a big fu—ing understatement. Look at the clues here – Bill Daley has acted with immunity since day one. Remember that time he took the president to task when he was speaking to the business community? When he agreed with them – their anger and frustration at how the administration was killing jobs? How their policies were…hell, he came right out against the president. He called what Obama was doing “indefensible”, right? The White House Chief of Staff ripped into the President of theUnited States publicly. And nothing happened to him. No response from Obama. None. During the debt negotiations not so long ago, Daley was getting an earful from both the Dems and the Republicans about how clueless this administration was – how little the president seemed to care about working out a deal. How Obama would abdicate his role over to a few advisers and repeatedly ask that they just get him something to sign – and Daley…privately with them – he agreed things were not right. Not good. Fu—ed up. Bill Daley’s announced departure is very good news. It’s the message some of us realized a while back – this White House cannot be saved from itself. The dysfunction runs way too deep. You saw – read about…confirmation of the description I gave you about the president’s White House setup. His second floor study. The time spent watching TV up there in that room, smoking away. How he defers to Valerie Jarrett and a couple other advisers. Little or no communication his own Cabinet. As outrageous as what I told you was – as borderline insane it sounded – what was the result? What was reported later?
Ulsterman: It became – your description …it was verified in the media. The Heileman book…other reports.
Insider: That’s right. And now Daley’s leaving. The walls are collapsing in on the administration. They are gonna spend millions and millions trying to portray a different version of reality. Call in every media favor they can. It’s our job to make sure they don’t succeed, right? It’s our job to keep pushing the truth out there. Daley is leaving. The party…hell, you got Democratic Party candidates purposely avoiding being seen with the president. That is about as bad as it gets son. You have the military boys ignoring the Commander in Chief time and time again – given the ok to do their own thing as long as they don’t embarrass the president. Wall Street is turning against him – telling his campaign to f-ck off. The Chamber of Commerce is planning to spend “whatever it takes” to defeat him in 2012. Poll numbers are at all time lows. The internals are even worse for them. The likelihood of a primary opponent increasing. Fast and Furious and other scandals finally getting a bit of media traction…that White House…if they thought things were tough for them before – it’s about to hit a whole other level of sh-tstorm.
The biggest possible news, though, is that David Ogden might have turned over internal documents to Issa and his team, though Anthony Martin is cautious:
Today the whispers floating around Washington, D.C. among the ‘inside-the-beltway’ pundits concerning the Project Gunwalker case focus on former Deputy Attorney-General David Ogden, a key figure in the scandal. The rumor is that Ogden has handed over to Darrell Issa’s House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform a stack of documents that not only vindicate ATF whistleblowers but confirm the guilt of the perpetrators of the scheme within the DOJ and the ATF.
One of the original Gunwalker reporters who first broke the story warns that such behind-the-scenes whispers may be a ‘disinformation campaign’ aimed at discrediting the allegations by raising false hopes only to see such hopes dashed later on.
Such disinformation is a common practice among government elites. The Clinton Administration, for example, was quite adept at propaganda campaigns aimed at hiding truth by diverting attention to other issues.
However, Issa’s committee, when asked about the veracity of the rumors, would neither confirm nor deny that they possess such documents.
If it is true that Ogden has turned over the goods, then this would represent a major turning-point in the ongoing investigation into what has become the single biggest political scandal and cover-up in U.S. history.
IF that’s true, you can expect the pace of these hearings to pick up, and the likelihood of a Democrat primarying Obama rise.
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