None of that matters, anyway. Kenlay himself is a Republican, so there's that, to begin with. His felonious behavior, however, doesn't and *shouldn't* reflect on the GOP, from my point of view.
It's extremely obvious that Lay-as-Enron only gave money to politicians from whom he wanted business favors, to line his own pockets. It wasn't "personal" and he wasn't "friends" or "buddies" with any of them - except maybe his next-door-beach-neighbor, the now-deceased Lloyd Bentsen. Oh, and any of the Aspenites he pal-ed around with (note that he got special dispensation yesterday from the judge to be able to travel to Aspen, because he did so regularly before the conviction, that's in spite of being in the range of negative net worth, or so he says).
If he saw 41 around town, that's one thing. If he truly was asked for use of the Enron corporate jet by the POTUS (why?) or Dubya as the GuvTX, I'm certain he wasn't the only one. And I'm also certain it was a "have my people call his people" kind of thing, not a buddy-buddy deal. I'm a nobody and I could've done the same thing with a few of the good old boys - and have, in the past.
Lay only did whatever would make him look good, if you notice. Also note how the $$spending accelerated the worse the finances of Enron got. Those big buck$$ in 2001 are dollars of desperation.
As to the energy policy meetings and so forth, so what? Why wouldn't you have people from energy companies represented at those?
A lot of "collusion" allegations also just simply stem from geographic proximity. Lay lives in Houston, Bush41 lives in Houston, Pres W Bush sometimes considers Houston his hometown, although he hasn't lived here much in recent decades. We'll just say all are Texas people who have worked in the same industry - we can include Cheney in there, too.
The important thing to note is that he was just one of many, many people of similar situations who were included in all kinds of business conferences with those in DC. His "Enron" talking points they say were adapted by the agencies were probably the same talking points others in the industry had, including myself. Lay also had a way of making people think he was a lot smarter and savvier than he really was, so his opinions would "matter;" it is only after December 2001 that the majority of the public saw it was all a sham.
I was around KennyBoy a lot in the planning of the GOP convention here in 1992. He was one of those who showed up or sent "people" just to get their name in the "thank you" stuff.
Just about everyone at Enron was like that, if you ever sat on any kind of committee with them, which I did. I'm one of those volunteers and/or paid consultants who works on these events and their press. I suit up and show up - they seldom did, but always made sure they got credit for whatever.
That was behind all the inauguration money (less than he spent on one of his wife Linda's birthday parties, please note) and so forth. Pure self-interest.
Bribery has progressed to the point where the bribers pretty much cover the political bases just to make sure they get their way. The MSM seem to think their job is to count which side got $1 more than the other, and then it becomes that party's scandal.
If the guilty party is the Democrat one, its' "Next story" time.