  Solargate Opens WidePosted 09/30/2011 06:51 PM ET
Corruption: It turns out a recent recipient of the administration's largesse is from the House of Pelosi. The green energy scandal keeps picking up speed.
Last week, the Energy Department completed a $737 million loan guarantee to Tonopah Solar Energy and an additional $337 million for Sempra Energy.
On the surface, there's nothing suggesting either is improper. But just beneath the surface is the clear appearance of impropriety.
Tonopah Solar is a wholly owned subsidiary of SolarReserve, which lists among its "investment partners" a company named Pacific Corporate Group. Again, on the surface, no hint of corruption.
But an enterprising blog called the American Glob dug a bit and found that "The No. 2 guy at Pacific Corporate Group is Ronald Pelosi," who happens to be the brother-in-law of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
Fortune senior editor Dan Primack argues that "it is patently false" that Ronald Pelosi "will benefit from the loan."
That's a bit of a stretch, though. He might not be free to put his hands on any of those taxpayers' dollars. But if PCG benefits from the loan, so does he, just as any employee profits when his employer has healthy earnings or receives a windfall.
Merely hanging on to a cushy job due to an influx of cash qualifies as a benefit.
Give Primack credit, however, for finding "an actual connection between DOE and SolarReserve."
"Richard Kauffman, the former CEO of venture firm Good Energies — also a SolarReserve investor," recently joined the Energy Department as a senior adviser, he writes.
Kauffman, who as a former Goldman Sachs executive is marked as one of the "fat cat bankers" President Obama sneers at, is another wealthy contributor who has given generously to Democrats, including Obama.
The administration's questionable links to green energy were first exposed through the $535 million loan to Solyndra, the gone-bust solar energy firm with heavy ties to the White House.
The connections continued through Tonopah Solar Energy and SolarReserve, not only with Pelosi but also with George Kaiser, the billionaire who has invested heavily in both Solyndra and Obama.
Other connections with SolarReserve include two board members who have given generously to Obama and other Democrats.
One might think that with all the trouble from federal loans to green energy schemes, the White House would ease off the loans.
Yet the Energy Department had plans for as much as $5.3 billion in new green energy loans by the end of the business day Friday.
We've also learned Energy Secretary Steven Chu made the final decision to keep giving Solyndra taxpayers' dollars, even after it had defaulted on a $535 million loan.
Apparently, green energy advocates are so obsessed, they'll even court corruption in their quest to eliminate fossil fuels.
They should stop, but they won't. They think they're justified in breaking the rules. And that's what makes them dangerous.
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