With Image Under Attack, Lieberman Defends Enron Probe

Hartford Courant ^ | Jan 18 2002 | David Lightman

[2Trievers]

SAN ANTONIO -- Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman's most potent political weapon - his moral authority - came under harsh questioning Thursday following news that his staff met with Enron officials and did not tell him for months.

As the Connecticut Democrat prepares to conduct hearings on the fall of the Houston-based company beginning Thursday, reformers were skeptical of their worth and Republicans gleefully found they had an issue to make Lieberman look like just another politician with big ambitions.

[2Trievers]

Oh geez ... CT voters will re-elect him ... what's he worried about?

[TomGuy]

Lieberman is just PO'ed that others got more $$$ than he did--just a paultry $2000 while other got upwards of $57000.

[QueenCityAllan]

"I don't know about every meeting my staff is holding," he said, "or every request for a meeting. There must be hundreds and thousands of contacts between my office and labor unions, industry, military officials and so on."

Hmmmmm......isn't this EXACTLY what Ari said about the phone calls from Ken Lay to O'Neill and Evans? That the President doesn't know about every single phone call his cabinet members take? One of the qualities of a strong effective leader is putting good people in the right positions, equipping them with the tools that they need to do the job right, and then getting the heck out of their way. Sounds like GWB is exactly the kind of 'manager' I'd like to work for!

[chainsaw]

He has to stick in there so he can manipulate the outcome of his probe. He is a morally sick, spiritually sick democrat, whose god is the almighty buck.

[backhoe]

[OldFriend]

Anyone else notice that the presidential contenders are being knocked off, one by one. First Daschle sticks his neck out and fellow democrats abandon him. Now we have Lieberman tarnished.....who is next? The loathsome one from NY stands silently by while Schumer is returning Enron contributions.....

Now that WorldNetDaily has dragged the ex pres into this, it would seem there is a national cleansing taking place.

[metesky]

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman's most potent political weapon - his moral authority -

Bwahahaha!

[spycatcher]

Maybe registered's logo should be updated with the 2004 election year and a drop of Enron oil greasing up his election chances!

[backhoe]

The Enron oil drop would be a nice, subtle touch--

[backhoe]

How about the Enron "E" logo a shading on the drop?

[InvisibleChurch]

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman's most potent political weapon - his moral authority

anyone who uses 'moral authority' as a weapon has none

[RJCogburn]

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman's most potent political weapon - his moral authority

Lieberman is a sanctimonious phony, but he has his routine down to a smooth dance. He anguishes oh so well over these moral issues and decisions he makes, and after his public anguish, ends up just where one would have predicted, but all sweaty and weak from the wrestling match with moral issues.

He's a phony, but for those who are not watching carefully, he's awfully good at it.

[spycatcher]

Yeah, a large drop of oil with the Enron "E" and oil coating his name and election chances.

[2Trievers]

An aside on Enron from this morning's HC ... State Probe Sought Of Accounting Firm's Role

State Probe Sought Of Accounting Firm's Role

By JON LENDER
Courant Staff Writer

January 18 2002

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said Thursday he wants the State Board of Accountancy to investigate the Arthur Andersen accounting firm's role in Enron Corp.'s financial collapse - and if wrongdoing is found, he said Andersen could lose its permit to practice in Connecticut.

Blumenthal this week asked the state board for "a prompt investigation into evidence of potential legal and ethical breaches by Arthur Andersen that may merit suspension or revocation of its permit to practice in Connecticut."

The board, which licenses and regulates accounting professionals in Connecticut, has "opened a file" and will decide how to proceed on the matter, a spokesman said. Blumenthal said he expects his office will work jointly in the probe.

Blumenthal cited allegations that, as Texas-based Enron's independent auditor, Andersen had "concealed liabilities and losses, overstated Enron's financial condition and destroyed documents." He called those charges "strikingly similar" to those he had investigated a decade ago during the Colonial Realty scandal, in which more than 6,000 investors lost $300 million.

As with Enron, Andersen "inexplicably destroyed an unknown number of documents and electronic files relating to Colonial's real estate ventures." In both cases, he said, the accountants apparently "received benefits and fees that compromised their independence and objectivity."

"These tragic events, their devastating impact ... and the apparent pattern of abuse of the public trust merit a full investigation," he said.

Andersen has two offices in the state, with hundreds of employees and 48 partners, state records show. The firm did not return a call for comment.

Blumenthal said if Andersen committed misconduct on the Enron case nationally, the firm could be sanctioned here even if the misconduct did not specifically involve Enron's failed contract with the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority.

Under that contract running until 2012, Enron was to buy power generated at the authority's trash-to-energy plant in Hartford. Enron took Connecticut Light & Power's place in the contract that CL&P dropped because of a state deregulation initiative.

In order to promote the state's solid waste disposal objectives, that contract required the payment of above-market rates for the trash-to-energy plant's power. To compensate for the above-market payments, Enron received $220 million in state funds up-front - and now those funds appear to be lost because of Enron's Dec. 2 filing for bankruptcy.

The deal with Enron has been questioned by Democrats, who want legislative hearings on it. Authority officials defend it, saying Enron had a top credit rating and countless others dealt with it.

Blumenthal's office already has a separate probe under way into allegations of irregularities and improprieties in the trash authority's deal with Enron.

____________________________________________________________

Looks like Anderson is in deep dodo! Hope some of it sticks to the Dems ... but I have a feeling that with the public's short memory, this will all blow over before elections.

[PogySailor]

Lieberman countered that his motives for convening his committee, and publicizing his investigation all over the media, are simply to learn the facts about a disturbing problem.

Sure thing Joe, whatever you say. 

[wny]

This clymer doesn't have "moral authority"

[LoneGOPinCT]

2T, good to see you back. Figures I was running a search just before I posted this too. :-) Good ol' joe. You can take joe out of CT, but you can't take the LIE out of LIEberman.

[2Trievers]

Hi Lone ... thanks!

Who are we going to put up against Unc Joe? Giordano? *L*

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The Dems' attempts to stick the Enron debacle on W will become the great caroom shot of 2002.

[LoneGOPinCT]

Who are we going to put up against Unc Joe? Giordano? *L*

Not nice, not nice at all. I was cleaning out the garage last week and came across some Giordano lawn signs. I should have suspected something right away when they were purple. Live and learn, eh?