Both sides cite bad faith in Solyndra case
WASHINGTON -- With the White House due to deliver a response to a subpoena to produce internal documents on its dealings with failed energy company Solyndra on Thursday, administration officials and GOP lawmakers are exchanging charges that the other is acting in bad faith.
GOP lawmakers investigating Solyndra haven't followed up on assurances they would narrow the scope of the documents they're demanding the Obama administration hand over, said White House spokesman Eric Schultz.
Before the House Energy subcommittee voted along party lines last week to give Reps. Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., authority to subpoena the White House, Democrats on the subcommittee raised concerns that the GOP lawmakers weren't considering that Kathryn Ruemmler, White House counsel, agreed the night before to hand over pertinent documents if the committee narrowed the scope of its request.
Upton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, assured Democrats that he would consider Ruemmler's proposal before issuing the subpoena and "refine the scope of the subpoena and work with the White House on its document production."
But the committee's subpoena, delivered to the White House Friday, demanded the administration produce "all documents referring or relating in any way to the $535 million loan guarantee issued to Solyndra, Inc."
"We are disappointed that the committee has refused to discuss their requests with us in good faith, and has instead chosen a partisan route, proceeding with an overly broad subpoena that is unprecedented and unwarranted," Schultz said.
The White House has been called on to produce the documents by noon Thursday, according to subpoenas issued to White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley and Bruce Reed, Vice President Biden's chief of staff. The White House has already produced about 900 documents, and the Departments of Energy and Treasury and the Office of Management & Budget have provided the committee with more than 80,000 additional documents.
Sean Bonyun, a GOP spokesman for the Energy committee, said the wording of the subpoena is very similar to one issued to OMB in July as part of the investigation. Bonyun added that "the White House has not provided any factual information that would inform the Committee's ability to craft the details of a document request" since Oct. 5. "We will certainly be happy to work with them to make this as least burdensome as possible."
Solyndra has become a problem for the White House since the Fremont, Calif.-solar manufacturer declared bankruptcy Aug. 31. Republicans have questioned whether the company — whose investors included a foundation with ties to Obama fundraiser George Kaiser— won the loan because of political connections.
Mark Rozell, a George Mason University professor who has written extensively on executive privilege, said the committee likely has the right to see much of what it is seeking, but the broad request hurts the committee's credibility.
"It's not reasonable," Rozell said. "I understand they are trying to reach for as much as possible and leave no potential for anything to be missed. But on the other hand, the requests for information and subpoena are much more credible if they are more specifically directed."
Schultz declined to say how the White House will respond on Thursday.
Before the Energy committee issued the subpoena, Ruemmler had written to the committee about her concerns that their request would infringe on a well-established precedence of "preserving the confidentiality of Executive Branch deliberative communications." Rozell said the White House will be hesitant to invoke "executive privilege," the right to withhold as private the candid advice of aides.
"The typical pattern of many administrations is to avoid uttering the words 'executive privilege' for as long as they can," Rozell said. "Understandably, their worry is the very words have negative connotation. It brings up memories of Watergate, Lewinsky and the like."
Related Stories
ABC News Live