Posted on 01/13/2002 8:41:41 AM PST by Brian Mosely
Sunday January 13 11:35 AM ET Bush Aides: Nothing New in Enron Calls
By Niala Boodhoo
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top Bush administration officials said on Sunday they felt they were not obligated to inform President Bush (news - web sites) or Enron employees and shareholders of requests for help made by the company's chairman because the information discussed was already known to the public.
Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, on the ``Fox News Sunday'' program, said he thought there was nothing unusual or new in two telephone conversations he had with Enron Corp. Chairman Kenneth Lay and that he felt there was no reason to alert President Bush.
``I didn't think this was worthy of me running across the street and telling the president,'' he said. ``... I frankly think what Ken told me over the phone was not new news. You all had been reporting for weeks that Enron had problems, that they were in trouble.''
Thousands of employees lost their pensions and life savings in the former Wall Street darling's downfall, which began last autumn when the company acknowledged several hundred million dollars of previously undisclosed liabilities.
Several congressional committees and the Justice Department (news - web sites) are investigating Enron's demise, including the company's bankruptcy filing on Dec. 2, the largest-ever in the United States.
O'Neill said on Sunday as a result of those investigations he was not discussing the Enron case with his deputies ``to make sure we do this correctly.''
TOO LATE FOR EMPLOYEES
Separately, Commerce Secretary Donald Evans said that Lay's Oct. 29 call to him was about credit agencies reviewing Enron.
``When I was talking to Ken I wasn't thinking about bankruptcy,'' Evans said in an interview with NBC's ``Meet the Press.''
``I was thinking maybe their credit rating would be dropped some ... but it wasn't the crisis yet that ensued some 30 days later.''
Evans said he was not told any information that had not already been made public.
``At that point in time, tens of thousands of employees had already lost their life savings because the stock value had already collapsed,'' he added.
Evans said he later informed White House chief of staff Andrew Card about the telephone call. Card did not tell President Bush about the call, Evans said.
Evans, Bush's presidential campaign manager, said he had several discussions with the president about the impact Enron's downfall was having on employees and shareholders but never mentioned Lay's telephone calls.
Sen. Joseph Biden, appearing on the same NBC program, said that Enron's failure could be ``of gigantic consequence'' politically if it were found that the Bush administration tried to help the troubled firm as a favor for the large financial contributions the company made to the Bush campaign.
``If there was any, any (administration) involvement because of the incredible help the Bush campaign got from Enron ... it will be devastating,'' Biden said.
Enron and its employees made $623,000 in contributions to Bush's campaigns since 1993, according to the Center for Public Integrity, a public watchdog group .
Before its collapse Enron spread its wealth all over Washington, Washington watchdog groups have said. Nearly half of the current U.S. House of Representatives and almost three-quarters of the Senate have received Enron contributions, they said.
Biden added ``there's going to be heck to pay'' if Enron executives were able to sell their stock before the final price collapse, while company employees and average investors were not able to unload their holdings.
Let's see WWCD (What Would Clinton Do)? He would pull some kind of 'wag the dog'.
WWBD (What Will Bush Do)? Let's see if he pulls some kind of 'wag the dog' or shines the light of truth on Enron.
This action will tell us more than Biden's words.
If it is proved that Biden raped his own mother before he was born, he may in fact forced to admitt that he is his own illegitimate son. If that is the case, Biden could legally and accurately be termed a genuine bastard.
Bush sure picks good people!
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