Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee blasted their Republican colleagues yesterday afternoon for releasing an incomplete and an unfair depiction of Democratic fundraiser George Kaiser's relationship with the White House when it came to the controversial Solyndra loan guarantee.

In their letter to GOP committee leaders, committee ranking member Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and investigations subcommittee ranking member Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) reveal new details into just how cooperative Kaiser has been in the ongoing probe of the bankrupt solar energy company that received half a billion dollars in loan guarantees from the Department of Energy.

They also contend that Republicans are intentionally holding back documents that that show the efforts Kaiser made to avoid any image of impropriety when it came to Solyndra.

SPECIAL REPORT

Solyndra, a solar manufacturer that was given a $535 million loan guarantee and touted by the White House as a model for the clean energy economy, has filed for bankruptcy. E&E examines how it got there and what it means. Click here to read the report.

Yesterday afternoon committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and his top investigator, Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), released 11 emails that they said directly contradict statements that Kaiser -- who is a partner in an investment company that had a major stake in Solyndra -- never discussed Solyndra in his many visits to the White House since President Obama's election (E&ENews PM, Nov. 9)

Waxman and DeGette said those documents were cherry-picked from some 57,000 pages of communications that the committee has received from Kaiser's investment company, Argonaut Ventures, and his private foundation, the George Kaiser Family Foundation. Upton and Stearns' assertions also contradict statements made by Kaiser when he voluntarily appeared for an interview this week with committee investigators, Waxman and DeGette said.

"In his interview, Mr. Kaiser stated, 'I never lobbied for Solyndra,'" Waxman and DeGette wrote. "He said that he 'regularly refused' requests to intervene on his private interests, stating he 'didn't want to talk to anyone in government about anything other than my charitable interests.' ... He did not want to comingle his charitable interests with his for-profit investments."

A March 5, 2010, email conversation between Kaiser, foundation executive director Ken Levit and Steve Mitchell, who worked at Argonaut Ventures, released by House Republicans yesterday seemed to indicate some level of contact between Kaiser and the White House about the Solyndra deal.

Mitchell wrote to Kaiser and Levit that day to tell them about a conversation he had with Solyndra CEO Chris Gronet about the possibility of the company receiving a second loan guarantee.

Kaiser replied that "a couple weeks ago when Ken and I were visiting with a group of Administration folks in DC who are in charge of the Stimulus process (White House, not DOE) and Solyndra came up, every one of them responded simultaneously about their thorough knowledge of the Solyndra story, suggesting it was one of their prime poster children."

But Waxman and DeGette's letter offers more details about what happened at the meeting Kaiser referenced.

On Feb. 24, 2010, Kaiser and Levit met with a half-dozen administration officials to discuss the foundation's efforts to build a park in Tulsa, Okla., powered by on-site geothermal energy and a study from the National Energy Policy Institute on a new national energy policy.

According to Kaiser's statements, during the meeting administration staffers asked Kaiser why the NEPI study did not address renewable energies as part of its assessment of options for reducing reliance on traditional fossil fuels. Kaiser said that there was not much improvement that could be made for certain renewable technologies, like wind power, but improvements could be made for solar power. He went on to explain that dozens of companies were working on new technologies and disclosed that "we have an interest in one of them."

"At that point, someone in the room mentioned Solyndra, and Mr. Kaiser or Mr. Levit acknowledged their interest in the company," Waxman and DeGette wrote. "Mr. Kaiser said that the Administration staff knew about Solyndra and expressed a positive reaction to the company, which surprised him."

Other emails that were not released by House Republicans yesterday seem to indicate that Kaiser was deeply concerned about any appearance that he was trying to influence the White House and that he opposed suggestions that he might intervene on behalf of the company.

On Feb. 7, 2010, Kaiser emailed Levit to express concern that a reporter might make an association between his early support for Obama and his investment company's interest in Solyndra.

Levit responded that while he had wondered about it, too, "the truth is that the name of the company has never crossed your lips with the Administration (not so with Congress) and we've certainly never lobbied for the company."

In October 2010 when Kaiser was asked by Mitchell to contact the White House on Solyndra's behalf, the idea was rejected, with Levit noting that Solyndra's lobbyists should lobby for the company, not Kaiser.

"We are growing increasingly concerned about the partisan way in which you are conducting the investigation," Waxman and DeGette wrote in their letter yesterday. "We support an investigation of Solyndra, but it should be fair and evenhanded. The tactics you are using ... are unfair and reflect poorly on the Committee's objectivity."