What part is not correct? Anyone know?
A story in yesterday's editions incorrectly reported that Enron Chairman Kenneth L. Lay as a campaign contributor stayed in the Lincoln Bedroom of the White House during the Clinton years. The information was first reported by the Chicago Tribune, which acknowledged yesterday through a spokesman that it was incorrect, although the newspaper has not printed a retraction. (The ChiTrib printed a retraction on Feb. 24.)
The correct information:
Lay apparently golfed with Clinton, and stayed at the White House during the George H.W. Bush administration.
March 13, 2002
Inside the Beltway
John McCaslin
Political tidbits and other shenanigans from around the nation's capital.
Vacancy
No, the Enron chairman was not a repeat overnight guest at the Clinton White House, although that's what incorrectly appeared in a list of Enron-Clinton connections circulated by one political observer and reprinted in this column.
Enron's higher-ups certainly rested their feet on numerous occasions in the Clinton White House, although that's not to say they ever stuck around to watch a movie or spend the night.
In 1995 and into 1996, for instance, President Clinton suggested a series of energy-related meetings — that ultimately lasted more than nine months — between Enron officials and his former chief of staff, Thomas F. "Mack" McLarty, who remained in the White House as a key adviser to the president.
Even as recently as last year, Enron representatives met six times with Vice President Richard B. Cheney or his aides, mainly to discuss the nation's energy policy, according to the vice president's office.
As for actual overnight visitors, there have been, over the centuries, more White House sleepovers than you might have ever imagined. However, our current commander in chief is nowhere near the slumber-party-kind-of-guy his predecessor was.
During the first term of the Clinton administration, in fact, there were 938 Lincoln (and other) Bedroom visitors, according to the White House register. And in one 13-month period between July 1999 and August of 2000, an astounding 404 Clinton guests spent the night at either the White House or Camp David — 98 of the sleepyheads being big contributors to Hillary Rodham Clinton's Senate campaign.