Free Republic

Former Obama administration Department of Energy loan programs adviser Steve Spinner jumped up a bracket in fundraising for the president’s re-election campaign. Spinner was the staffer inside Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s office who pushed and advocated on behalf of Solyndra. Spinner was ranked in the Obama campaign’s $250,000 to $500,000 bundling bracket in the second quarter, but third-quarter fundraising numbers released on Friday show he raised more than $500,000.

WASHINGTON — A senior Energy Department official pushed hard for the government’s $535 million loan to the California solar energy company Solyndra even after he had disclosed that his wife’s law firm represented the company and promised to recuse himself from matters related to its loan application, according to e-mails released by federal officials on Friday. The official, Steven J. Spinner, a senior member of the Energy Department’s loan guarantee oversight office and a 2008 Obama fund-raiser, inquired frequently about the progress of the Solyndra loan, urging the White House Office of Management and Budget to move more quickly on...

Who arranged the Solyndra loan? A top Obama fund raiser named Steven J. Spinner who, according to ABC, worked to “pick and select fantastic projects” for DOE to fund. During the campaign, he was responsible for raising at least half a million dollars for Obama. Now, he told associates that he “helped oversee the more than $100 billion of loan guarantee and direct lending authority” for DOE’s green-energy lending program. And what a coincidence! Spinner’s wife, Allison’s law firm Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati got $2.4 million in legal fees to handle the legal work in connection with the Solyndra...

Obama Fundraiser Llnked To Loan Program That Aided Solyndra The revelation is likely to spur new inquiries about the solar company's political influence. Separately, California lawmakers seek investigation of a state tax break the firm received. By Matea Gold and Stuart Pfeifer September 17, 2011 The White House faced mounting political complications as a second top fundraiser for President Obama was linked to a federal loan guarantee program that backed a now-bankrupt Silicon Valley solar energy company, and as two California lawmakers called for investigations of a state tax break granted to the firm. Steve Spinner, who helped monitor the...