In case you missed any of the details on the developing Solyndra scandal, be sure to catch up with Tina’s video and summary post from earlier today. And glancing over the most recent news, it appears that some of the Democrats in Congress have been watching it as well. Otherwise, it’s hard to imagine why Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) would suddenly be leaning toward issuing subpoenas in the case.
Democrats would back a GOP subpoena to compel testimony from executives at government-backed solar firm Solyndra who plan to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights at a hotly anticipated oversight hearing tomorrow, according to the party’s senior member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Addressing the decision by Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison and CFO Bill Stover to decline to answer lawmakers’ questions about their company’s three-week-old Chapter 11 filing — six months after the Department of Energy agreed to restructure its half-billion-dollar federal loan guarantee — Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said yesterday that panel Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) had further options at his disposal.
“There are things he can do, subpoenas he could issue” to secure sought-after testimony from Solyndra executives, Waxman told E&E Daily. “We’d support it.”
Maybe it’s just me, but it certainly looks like there’s a whole lot of butt covering going on in Washington these days. Some of these folks appear to be positioning themselves to be on the right side of history before a bunch of questions begin coming up which include phrases like, “what did he know and when did he know it?”
It’s one thing to be unaware that all of this was going on, but as the old rule in politics teaches us, it’s always the coverup that gets you more than the actual deed. With Solyndra executives doing their best mobster imitation and taking the 5th, (perfectly legal, of course) they’re leaving the worst possible impression of the White House in the eyes of the public. If any of the President’s allies do anything at this point to give the impression that they’re hindering an investigation or facilitating a coverup, they could well find themselves having to fall on their swords later on. (Assuming that this turns out to be anywhere near as bad as it’s looking so far.)
But no matter the motivation, when we see members from both parties lining up to identify a potential problem and moving to vigorously investigate it, it’s a hopeful sign, no? Which brings us to our exit question: could this be one of those rare cases where they system actually *gasp* works? Naw… must just be my natural streak of optimism showing again. (/sarc)
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