WASHINGTON ? Top officials at the White House circulated a plan calling for the ouster of Energy Secretary Steven Chu and other top Energy Department officials as the administration braced for a political storm brewing over the failing solar energy company Solyndra.
An email from a clean-energy activist and former official in President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign said Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, was a brilliant man but "not perfect" for other critical DOE missions, including creating jobs. The Feb. 25 email from Dan Carol, a former issues adviser in Obama's campaign, was circulated by then-Chief of Staff Peter Rouse and seen by more than a dozen senior White House officials, including senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and then-energy adviser Carol Browner.
The emails were released late Friday by the government in response to a subpoena by House Republicans, who are investigating a $528 million federal loan received by Solyndra. The firm later went bankrupt and laid off its 1,100 workers.
A White House spokesman said Friday the plan to oust Chu was not taken very seriously.
Rouse, in a March 14 email to Deputy Chief of Staff Nancy-Ann DeParle, passed along Carol's proposal, saying he was "not that interested in Dan's criticism of Secretary Chu," but said Carol was smart and shared the president's views on energy policy.
In the Feb. 25 email, Carol said Chu should be reassigned as chief scientist at Energy, where he could "reinspire and reorganize" DOE's labs.
"This is a HUGE job and he would be perfect for it," Carol said, adding that Chu "is a wonderful and brilliant man, but he is not perfect for the other critical DOE mission: deploying existing technologies at scale and creating jobs."
The memo also says the energy secretary should be "comfortable meeting with bankers," adding that the bookish Chu is not comfortable doing that. Carol also recommended an overhaul of Energy Department staff, including Chu's deputy, the department's chief of staff and its undersecretary.
Carol acknowledged that Obama was unlikely to replace Chu, "out of personal affection of perhaps concern of perceived public perception of failure."
Even if Chu were not reassigned, Carol added, the Energy Department should redirect its efforts on the $38 billion loan guarantee program and other spending. "There is a still A LOT of money over there that could be repurposed to better uses," he wrote.'
Carol suggested Navy Secretary Ray Mabus as a replacement for Chu, adding that the new secretary should not come from Silicon Valley. Such an appointment "will get caught up in the wave of GOP attacks that are surely coming over Solyndra and other inside DOE deals that have gone to Obama donors and have underperformed," Carol wrote.
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