An Obama administration official actively collaborated with a prominent left-wing think tank in 2011 to advance the president’s green energy agenda, in possible violation of federal law

by ~ The Rebel ~ Posted 2012/09/14 15:55:40

Related Topics: Obama, Congress, Obama Administration, Bank, New York, Cycle, New York Times, Emails, Loans, Email, Politics, Issues, Silver, Expand

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emails reveal that in July 2011, Steve Spinner, then a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP), sought and received guidance from Jonathan Silver, executive director of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) loans program, regarding a CAP editorial urging Congress to expand funding for the program and permanently establish a Clean Energy Deployment Administration (CEDA), or “green bank,” to further fund clean energy projects.

Before joining CAP in 2010, Spinner worked with Silver as a “chief strategic operations officer” in the DOE. Spinner and his wife Allison have raised more than $2.2 million for Obama over the past two years, and almost $4.4 million since 2007, according to the New York Times. The Spinners are the president’s tenth largest bundlers for the current cycle.

His discussion with Silver took place over several days via Spinner and Silver’s personal email accounts. The emails also indicate that the two were in touch multiple times over the phone during that time.

Silver, Caperton, the Department of Energy, and a CAP communications representative did not return requests for comment.