Posted on 01/14/2002 4:32:29 AM PST by callisto
And if that doesn't work, point out that Democrats, both individually and through their national party committees, were just as willing as Republicans to accept hundreds of thousands of dollars in political donations fromEnron over the past decade. And say that Democrats became self-righteous on the issue only after it became clear that the company's demise presented them with an opportunity to slam President Bush and the GOP.
"The Bush administration has only been in place for one year,"said a senior House Republicanaide. "The Clinton administration had 1998, 1999 and 2000 to deal with any problems at Enron, and they clearly didn't do it. They are the ones at fault, not Bush. If you want to blame anyone, blame Clinton and the Democrats."
The search for an Enron strategyby GOPCongressional leaders and the White House has become more urgent of late. A Justice Department criminal probe and several other federal investigations into the energy giant's bankruptcy are under way, and Enron-related hearings are planned in a half-dozen House and Senate committees over the coming months.
Most troubling for Bush and Hill Republicans was a spate of disclosures last week showing repeated contacts between Enron executives and high-ranking administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and Commerce Secretary Donald Evans, during the weeks and months leading up to the company's Dec. 2 bankruptcy filing.
Enron executives sought help in dealing with bankers preparing to call in the company's loans and credit agencies seeking to downgrade its debt rating.
Although White House officials flatly stated that the requests were denied, the fact that they occurred at all - and that the Bush administration took so long to disclose them - upset some GOP lawmakers and top aides.
"That made a lot of people up here very nervous,"said a senior House Republicanaide, who added that party leaders worry the GOPwill seem too beholden to special interests.
"Even if there's nothing there, [the Democrats] will continue to try to frame it that way, and the way the White House is handling things, they might succeed," this staffer added.
In a week of fast-moving developments, the White House on Tuesdayrevealed that Vice President Cheney and the staff of his energy task force met repeatedly with Enron officials while crafting Bush's energy plan - a fact that came out only in response to several requests for information on the task force's workings by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.).
Word then came that the Justice Department had begun a criminal investigation into Enron's failure, an announcement followed by a declaration from Attorney General John Ashcroft that he and his chief of staff would recuse themselves from the probe. Ashcroft received more than $57,000 in donations from Enron CEOKenneth Lay and other company officials during his unsuccessful 2000 Senate re-election campaign. Lay was also one of Bush's biggest financial supporters; he and other Enron employees contributed more than $550,000 to Bush's gubernatorial and presidential campaigns as well as $100,000 to Bush's inaugural committee.
Arthur Andersen, Enron's outside auditor, also disclosed that its employees had destroyed "thousands of documents"related to the company.
All of these revelations left Democrats gleeful, convinced they had finally found a way to undermine an extremely popular President who has seemed untouchable since the terrorist attacks.
"Every day their problems grow exponentially,"said a top aide to Senate MajorityLeader Thomas Daschle (D-S.D.).
"They can try all they want to blame it on Clinton and the Democrats, but this happened on their watch and they're going to have answer for it."
ButRepublicans plan to emphasize the fact that the private partnerships which eventually helped sink Enron were established during Clinton's tenure in the White House. They also note that Democratic appointees ran the regulatory agencies, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, during that period and that they should have spotted Enron's problems before they became fatal.
Individual Democratic lawmakers also may be politically vulnerable for accepting donations from Enron.
While Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Phil Gramm (R-Texas)led the way in the Senate, receiving $99,500 and $97,350, respectively, from Enron and its employees since 1989, Rep. Ken Bentsen (D-Texas)collected the most in the House, accepting $42,750, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Democratic Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee (Texas), Martin Frost (Texas), Chet Edwards (Texas), JohnDingell (Mich.)and Earl Blumenauer (Ore.) were also among the top recipients of Enron donations.Dingell, ranking member on the Energy and Commerce Committee, which is investigating Enron, has been critical of the SEC's handling of the case.
Clinton also benefited from Enron's largess. After the former president helped the company win a $3 billion contract for a project in India in 1997, Enron cut the Democratic National Committee a $100,000 check, according to Time magazine.
"The Democrats' hands are just as dirty as ours on Enron," a top Republican strategist noted. "There's plenty of blame to go around."
But the political risks will not stop the Congressional investigations.
Senate Governmental Affairs Chairman Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who oversees the Governmental Affairs subcommittee on investigations, issued 51 document subpoenas to current and former officials of Enron and Arthur Andersen on Friday, nearly twice as many as had been envisioned by committee investigators just a week earlier. Levin vowed to follow any leads to the end, despite the Justice Department's criminal investigation.
"Because these are document investigations, the criminal investigation will have no effect on our investigation,"said a statement released by the Michigan Democrat's office. Levin plans his first hearing for Jan. 24, and the Commerce, Science and Transportation and Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs panels will take up the issue as well.
On the House side, Energy and Commerce Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.)plans to begin hearings on Enron in February, and the Financial Services and Education and the Workforce committees are also conducting their own probes.
Let's see.
1. The Dem's WERE in charge while this was happening; during the Clinton Market Bubble and then the Bubble Collapse.
2. The Dem's DID ACCEPT hundreds of thousands of Enron donations.
3. The Dem's (with media attack dogs) are using it as a tool to slam the pubbies.
4. Apparently, a portion of the calls to the White House on behalf of Enron were made by one of Clinton's former lawyers who NOW works for Enron.
5. Finally, isn't the White House saying they denied the requests for direct intervention? Is there any proof that that isn't so?
Pure leftist political hogwash. What is the worst thing done here? That the Bush cabinet declined to help Enron. These slimey bottom feeders are trying to make something from absolutely Nothing!!
Why don't they just fricking grow some balls and come out swinging at a news conference or something?
Your ideas have merit.
Basically, you're saying, "go on the offense." Beats the heck out of standing around defending the virtually unprovable, that something didn't happen. On the defense, you just sit there waiting for the enemy to lob the next explosive round.
The Democrats are trying to make it into one, and the press is certainly helping, but if the Republicans are open and honest about this, there will be no lasting political damage.
Bush has announced a Justice Department criminal inquiry. He's got folks looking at the 401K issues. He has the SEC investigating, and the Republicans in Congress are not trying to obstruct Congressional investigations, even though they know that they are designed to blame Republicans instead of blaming Enron.
As soon as the public figures out that the Republicans aren't involved in this scandal, they will lose interest. Most of them never heard of Enron before this and the story doesn't really affect them. It doesn't have any sex appeal.
Meanwhile, the Democrats are already laying the ground for a shift in strategy. Unable to find any evidence so far that the White House was active in granting favors to Enron executives, they are getting ready to argue that the White House should have granted favors to Enron executives.
It's almost funny to watch.
Now the Pub head is -- Roccio? (Roscoe?)-- anyway, the Montana guy he was so big in the publicity war during the recount in Florida. He came out smokin' at that time. Maybe he'll show up here shortly, and we'll see what he's made of.
My vote is: "THE DECADE OF SLEAZE"
V537
It sounds like a winner to me. Best description of the 92-2000 years yet.
The dead past.
Well, well, well, finally someone at "the top" admits that both parties are crooks. Elected crooks but crooks nonetheless.
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