Enron Reps Met 6 Times with Cheney or His Staff

Reuters via Drudge ^ | Tuesday January 8 4:17 PM ET | Reuters

[tonyinv]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Representatives of the collapsed energy giant Enron Corp. met six times with Vice President Dick Cheney or staff from his energy task force, the White House has told a Democratic lawmaker.

In a Jan. 3 letter to Rep. Henry Waxman, vice presidential counsel David Addington said that Enron's Chairman Kenneth Lay met Cheney once during the development of the administration's energy plan. Cheney has already acknowledged this publicly.

But the Addington letter also revealed five further meetings with Cheney's energy task force staff, three of which took place before the White House energy policy was announced in May and two afterwards.

Enron's financial position was not discussed in any of the meetings, Addington's letter to Waxman said. Waxman, a California Democrat and ranking member of the Government Reform Committee, released the Addington letter on Tuesday. The lawmaker had written to Cheney's office seeking information on Enron's possible influence on administration policy.

``Enron did not communicate information about its financial position in any of the meetings with the Vice President or with the National Energy Policy Development Group's support staff,'' said the Addington letter.

Waxman, in a reply addressed to Cheney, noted the meetings with Cheney or his energy task force staff had stretched from last Feb. 22 to Oct. 10, just a few days before Enron announced a reduction in shareholder equity ahead of its spectacular collapse.

``For the first time, the letter from Mr. Addington provides some limited details about the contacts between Enron and the energy task force,'' Waxman told Cheney. ``It reveals that Enron had extensive access to the task force, meeting in person six times with you or the task force staff to discuss 'energy policy matters'''.

[tonyinv]

I wonder how many times Cheney met with other Energy company execs? This is gonig to blow up in these idiots faces. THe Dems are so desprate to pin SOMETHING on this administration so it can hamstring Bush.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Roughly the same number of times i42 met with Monica Lewinsky.

[KantianBurke]

Cheney also met with Condit on the day of Chandra's dissapperence. That mean Dick's murderer too?

[spqrzilla9]

Exactly, but more importantly, the Bush admin's energy policy had nothing to do with Enron's accounting practices.

[habs4ever]

I didn't know Cheney would be called in by Enron to establish partnerships amongst the senior execs all to further bogus asset sales and inflate earnings booked.Enron was a Ponzi and doing business with the federal gov't in no way changes the fact that they were using accounting legerdemain.The attempt to try and smear anyone with Enron's undoing except for the executives and board membrs is unbelievable ignorance.

[Shermy]

Cheney also met with Condit on the day of Chandra's dissapperence. That mean Dick's murderer too?

How come his office was so slow in releasing information about the meeting, and it's length, and what was talked about? Hmmmmmmmm.....

[babble-on]

Guys, we're going to take a hit on this one. We're basically lucky that the spectacular collapse occurred when the country was focused on other things. Still, Enron senior management appear to have been very crooked and they were in very deep with the administration over a long long period of time. I'd say to do what Clinton would do in this situation, which is hang Ken Lay out to dry, and trust he's big enough not to turn on you. Go after him and the rest of the firm with both barrels (SEC and Justice) all the while expressing how personally hurt you are by his unethical behavior. I'm sure the President and VP truly knew nothing of the crooked deals at Enron, but you have to disassociate yourself from these guys now.

[Shermy]

I wonder how many times Cheney met with other Energy company execs? This is gonig to blow up in these idiots faces. THe Dems are so desprate to pin SOMETHING on this administration so it can hamstring Bush.

A point would be that the meetings had nothing to do with Enron's fall, but the meetings could be illegal or unseemly otherwise. I thought it was all unseemly and suspicious, not unlike Hillary's Hillary-care secret schemings with a selected few health care providers. As for something to pin: that's politics. The stink will prove to be nothing, something big, or just something in between whereby everyone will exaggerate the proof or lack of thereof.

My bet is on court battles between the banks, shareholders, etc. to provide the juiciest scandals, probably (and hopefully) unrelated to the White House.

[drjimmy]

I wonder how many times Cheney met with other Energy company execs?
Interesting you should ask that question, because it is one that the Bush administration has so far refused to answer. If you recall, shortly before Sept. 11 the General Accounting Office was considering suing the administration because the info on the role energy industry executives played in developing the administration's energy policy was being kept secret.

[ravingnutter]

When you are formulating a plan such as the energy policy, you go to the experts in that field for advice, absolutely nothing wrong with that. I don't see why they are making such a big deal of it. At least they were not asking Enron for advice on stocks...

[Ramius]

What's to take a hit on here? Enron was badly managed and had, apparently, some unethical business practices-- and they went under. So what? That's what SHOULD happen to a company in that situation.

That they would be lobbying all over governments at many levels is neither surprising nor suspicious. If they were getting favors or some other such nonsense would they not still be in business?

[cksharks]

HMMMMMMMMMMMM He didnt. Read the article. Cheney announced this right after the mess started.

[Quila]

Why is anyone at all suprised? Energy was a big part of Bush's platform, so of course he was going to have his people talking to energy companies. So what if they had more access than anyone else, they paid the most to get GW elected, and that's the way things work in Washington, plain and simple.

[r9etb]

Guys, we're going to take a hit on this one.

Maybe. I think it all depends on a couple of factors: if there's any there there; and whether or not the Bush administration appears to be dodging the issue.

If the Bushies are clean and open, there won't be a problem.

If their tarnished and honest, there will be a problem, but probably not fatal.

If they're tarnished and defensive, then all bets are off.

[spqrzilla9]

Again, nothing related to Bush administration actions.

[Ragin1]

All you can do is keep trying.

[My back yard]

This is one of those headlines, intended to catch the eye of a passerby who never reads what is in the article. Those same people still think it was just about 'sex', and that Gore won in 2000.

[TRY ONE]

"Guys, we're going to take a hit on this one."

BS..BS...BS

Enron's major growth...from Fortune's 500th size company to its 7th.........occurred from '92-2000.

Who the hell was watching the store then?