Republicans may have found a way to slow the momentum of the front-runner in the Maine Senate race.

The GOP is criticizing the Maine wind energy firm co-founded by former Gov. Angus King, an independent who is now seeking his state's open Senate seat, for receiving funding from the same controversial Energy Department loan guarantee program that also funded the now-bankrupt Solyndra solar company.

A report from the Republican-led House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last week argued that loans under the program were often made without regard to eligibility requirements, citing 27 specific projects. Those include a Maine wind farm known as Record Hill Wind built by the firm King co-founded and co-owned until last week, when he sold it to his business partner a few days before the report was issued.

King's campaign, which said the former lawmaker was unaware of the report until its publication Tuesday, dismissed the Oversight panel's criticisms, noting the firm has already begun to repay the $102 million loan guarantee it received from DOE in early 2011.

Campaign spokeswoman Crystal Canney also rebutted concerns raised by the conservative Maine Heritage Policy Center about the timing of the sale.

"You have special interests groups slinging as much mud as they can and desperately trying to draw conclusions which are false to fit their agenda," Canney said in an email. "That's exactly what's wrong with Washington right now. Angus did not know that there was an oversight committee investigation, his former company followed the rules to qualify for the loans and it is our understanding that the company which he no longer owns, has already sent out the first payment. These accusations are absurd. Angus is smart but he is not clairvoyant."

King, who served two terms as governor between 1995 and 2003, founded the firm Independence Wind in 2007 along with Rob Gardiner, the former head of Maine's Bureau of Public Lands and a former director of the Maine Advocacy Center for the Conservation Law Foundation.

Since that time, Independence Wind partnered with New Hampshire-based Wagner Forest Management to construct a 22-turbine wind farm in Roxbury, Maine, known as Record Hill Wind.

King announced his bid for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R) in early March, a week after the GOP senator issued a surprise announcement that she would not seek re-election.

According to King's campaign, he moved to sell his share of the company shortly after announcing his Senate bid in an effort to avoid conflicts of interest if he wins the race. He made similar statements in interviews in mid-March with local television and radio stations.

King made his personal fortune -- and partially funded his bid for governor -- by selling his previous company, the energy conservation firm Northeast Energy Management, for $19.8 million in 1994. At the time, King reported he made about $8 million from the sale.

Despite his split with the Independence Wind, a National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman suggested the concerns about Record Hill could tarnish King's reputation.

"Given the fact that Angus King hasn't been on the ballot in over a dozen years, having his recent business dealings grouped in with Solyndra probably isn't helpful way to start the campaign," said NRSC spokesman Brian Walsh. "But we expect this is one of many outstanding questions he will have to address in the weeks ahead, starting with what he was promised by Senate Democrat leaders in return for them pushing top fellow Democrats candidates out of the race."

Republicans have accused Democrats of colluding with the independent King, after his decision to run when a host of high-profile Democrats, including Reps. Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree and former Gov. John Baldacci, declined Senate bids. But he has denied discussing his plans with national or state-level Democratic officials, and has said he will not select a party to caucus with before he is elected.

Democrats who did file for the seat include former Secretary of State Matt Dunlap, state Sen. Cynthia Dill and state Rep. Jon Hinck.

Republican candidates seeking the Senate seat include former state Senate President Rick Bennett, a one-time board member of Maine Conservation Voters; Maine Secretary of State Charlie Summers; former Lisbon Falls Town Selectman Scott D'Amboise, a conservative who lost a 2006 bid to Michaud; and state Sen. Deb Plowman.

GOP charges

In its report, the Oversight panel criticized DOE's selection of Record Hill for a loan guarantee, asserting that the company should not have qualified as an "innovative" project.

"[T]he Record Hill Wind project attempted to categorize minor modifications to existing commercial technology as 'innovativeness,'" the report says, citing shorter wind turbine blades and changes made to keep the turbines operating in cold temperatures. "DOE eventually agreed with Record Hill Wind's questionable reasoning."

The House panel also disparaged DOE for issuing loans to Record Hill and other companies, asserting that the firms should have invested more of their own funds into projects, rather than placing taxpayer money at risk.

"In other words, in four cases, the borrower undercapitalized the project and refused to extend a parental guarantee," the report says.

It cites an unspecified investment in the Record Hill project by the Yale University Endowment.

"The most egregious use of this technique was in the case of Record Hill, LLC, where AAA rated Yale University created a project with a rating of only BB+. The idea that Yale would take a substantial taxpayer subsidy and still seek to protect its remaining assets from the liabilities of Record Hill reflects Yale's view of the Record Hill project and its disregard for taxpayers," the report says. "It is inconceivable that any normal bank would take these kinds of risk when loaning money."

Gardiner, who co-founded Independence Wind with King, told The Boston Globe on Friday that the company had followed DOE guidelines in seeking the loan.

"Our project met all of the qualifications, despite what the report might say," Gardiner told the newspaper.