Posted on 07/10/2002 10:16:00 PM PDT by jumpstartme
5 out of the top ten US House Recipients of contributions (1989- 2001) from Arthur Andersen are democRats. Their names and the amounts are listed below. And, according to dim logic, they are guilty by association and should have their names shining in the bright lights of Reuters, AP, Drudge, The Washington ComPost, and more. After all, this is a hit piece. Here you go, Klayman, chase this ambulance too!
Other Rats also receiving Andersen dirty money include: Rick Boucher (D-Va) $18,000; Edolphus Towns (D-NY) $17,668;Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md) $16,850; Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo) $16,750; Gary Ackerman (D-NY) $2,500 and more.
Accounting Industry ~ written by Open Secrets.org
With Enron’s spectacular demise and Arthur Andersen’s bungled audit of the energy company raising questions about the validity of independent auditors, the accounting industry will have to replay a regulatory battle it fought—and won—two years ago.
In 2000, Arthur Levitt, who was then chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, spotted a potential conflict of interest brewing in the accounting industry. The “Big Five” accounting firms (Arthur Andersen, Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers) had managed to increase their income by offering consulting services to the same companies they audited. Levitt, concerned that the firms would compromise their credibility when they had to audit their own services, proposed an SEC rule that would bar accountants from also acting as consultants. But when the accounting industry heard about the rule, Levitt became the target of what he later called an “intensive and venal lobbying campaign.” The accounting industry got 46 members of Congress to call or write personal letters to Levitt questioning the proposed rule. Some lawmakers reportedly threatened to withdraw funding from the SEC. Withering under the assault, the SEC eventually curtailed Levitt’s proposal.
Among the Senators who wrote such letters to Levitt include: Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.); and Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.). Schumer is the top recipient of money from the industry, taking in more than $57,000.
DemocRat Senators receiving Andersen dirty money include: Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn) $54,843; Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) $38,584; Ron Wyden (D-Ore) $33,590; Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass) $26,750; John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WVa) $24,475; John Kerry (D-Mass) $20,550; Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) $18,950; Robert G. Torricelli (D-NJ) $18,500; Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) $18,400; Ernest F. Hollings (D-SC) $16,960; Max Baucus (D-Mont) $16,000; Evan Bayh (D-Ind) $15,750; Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md) $15,250; Harry Reid (D-Nev) $15,000; and Kent Conrad (D-ND) $14,250.
Source is opensecrets.org **Based on FEC data downloaded 1/2/02. Totals include contributions from Andersen's PAC and its employees.
This falls into the trap of dim logic.
Donations to the accounting industry aren't illegal. The point is that democrats keep crying wolf with smear campaigns while having no clean slate themselves. If it was wrong for Cheney to say good things about an Andersen audit while at Halliburton, then it is wrong for Torrecelli and Shumer to lobby against changes at the SEC, which is the greater sin, BTW. Especially in light of today's facts.
Look, nobody's saying the Pubbies are angels, but it is the DemocRats who want to castigate the Pubbies as evil somehow while putting themselves out there as the guardians of the small people.
It's hogwash!
Hey look, the Wilson/Plame/Leak-o-matic group all in one tiny pack.
Wow, (almost) all of my favorite scumbags on one convenient list.....
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