A top staffer from the Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office did not appear for a sworn deposition before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee this afternoon -- in what Republicans are calling the first instance of a subpoenaed witness skipping a committee deposition.

"The decision of this key figure in the Solyndra scandal to ignore his legal obligation to appear for a deposition is unprecedented and regrettable," panel Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said in a statement this afternoon. "This refusal to appear as ordered by a lawful subpoena only adds to the perception of wrongdoing and attempts to hide what really happened in the loan program office."

Morgan Wright, the director of strategic initiatives in the Loan Programs Office, told Issa in a letter this afternoon that he was skipping the scheduled appearance because he was unable to obtain counsel in time for the meeting.

And while Republican investigators leading up to the meeting said that Wright's concerns about his lack of representation would be discussed once he met his legal obligation to appear before the panel, Wright told Issa today that he did not believe it was appropriate for the chairman to insist he show up without counsel, especially after Republican staff made it clear that he should get a lawyer.

Wright said he has made "diligent efforts" to find a lawyer since receiving Issa's subpoena Thursday but has so far been unsuccessful. In his letter, he offered to appear for a transcribed interview with committee staff Tuesday and to conduct a full deposition "as soon as I have been able to obtain private counsel and my private counsel has had a sufficient opportunity to prepare me."

In his role at DOE, Wright is a key staffer in the loan program that Republicans charge was used to dole out benefits to political supporters of the Obama administration.

Agency officials have steadfastly denied those accusations and maintained that all decisions about the program were made by career staff on the merits. But Republicans say they have evidence that shows Wright and others in the agency used nonofficial email accounts to discuss controversial loan decisions as part of an intentional effort to avoid scrutiny and disclosures under federal transparency laws.

They have already highlighted an email from former loan program director Jonathan Silver on Aug. 21, 2011, in which he told Wright, "don't ever send an email on doe email with a personal email addresses. ... That makes them subpoenable."

Panel ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) has charged that Issa has repeatedly broken committee rules during his investigation and that he did so again today when he tried to force Wright to testify without a lawyer (Greenwire, Sept. 12). Cummings has said Issa's investigation is less concerned with conducting serious oversight and more focused on trying to play politics ahead of the November elections.

"I think that this is an effort to try to embarrass the president," Cummings said yesterday.

Yesterday Issa indicated that he had requested that Energy Secretary Steven Chu -- who appeared before the committee in March to discuss the loan program -- again testify before the panel next Thursday.

Issa said Chu had until today to respond. As of this afternoon, it was unclear whether Chu would show up. DOE spokesman Damien LaVera would say today only that the agency has received Issa's request.

"In addition to voluntarily providing more than 1 million pages of documents to Congress, the department has made officials available for scores of interviews and responded to 45 letters from congressional committees," LaVera said. "We will continue to make every reasonable effort to accommodate Congress' investigations and demonstrate that all decisions on the loan program have been made on the merits after careful review by officials in the loan program."