Influence Alley

The collapse and FBI investigation of solar-panel maker Solyndra after it was given more than $500 million in federal loans by the Obama Administration has been a field day for Republicans. And RNC chairman Reince Priebus went big today calling the company, which axed 1,100 workers, a"prime example of stimulus failure."

But Priebus took his criticism one step further by saying the company represented "the kind of taxpayer-funded cronyism this White House said it would eliminate" because one of the company's major investors, George Kaiser, was also an Obama fundraiser. And Kaiser is one of the first investors in line to be repaid now that the company is headed toward bankruptcy, according to Time's Michael Grunwald.

The other investor slated to be paid back with Kaiser? A partnership affiliated with the Walton family of Wal-Mart fame, which, Grunwald also reports, leans Republican.

And that's not the only GOP tie. San Jose Mercury News scribe Dana Hull reported that Solyndra CEO Brian Harris is a registered Republican.

So with the White House going to great pains to point out that the loan guarantee program Solyndra used started under then President George W. Bush, it's only a matter of time until Democrats start publicly throwing around the GOP connections.