(WASHINGTON TIMES) Finances had become so dire at Solyndra in the spring of 2010 as President Obama toured the federally-backed solar panel maker in California that company officials began viewing the government not just as a lender but as a customer big enough to lift the company out of a growing financial hole, according to documents.
“Getting business from Uncle Sam is a principal element of Solyndra’s channel strategy,” one investor wrote in an email months after Mr. Obama’s May 2010 tour of the now-bankrupt company, according details of an investigative report Thursday by Republicans on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
The now bankrupt company’s founder, Chris Gronet, “spoke very openly to Obama about the need for installation of Solyndra’s rooftop solar panels on U.S. government buildings,” Tom Baruch, founder of CMEA Capital, an investor, wrote to another Solyndra official.