Posted on 10/23/2002 4:03:22 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - While President Bush (news - web sites) served on Harken Energy Corp.'s board more than 10 years ago, it engaged in complex trades with Enron Corp., a watchdog group said on Tuesday.
Enron's relationship with Bush has become a political issue since its collapse in December amid a widening financial scandal. The company was one of Bush's biggest campaign contributors.
Administration officials say Bush did nothing improper.
The documents, released by the Center for Public Integrity, showed that one of Harken's partners in commodities trading was Enron. A June 1990 memo from Harken Marketing, a Harken subsidiary, listed a $363,000 letter of credit with the now bankrupt energy trader.
White House officials had no comment on the transaction. Harken officials were not immediately available to comment.
The nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity said other documents showed that Bush was paid $80,000 in 1987-88 to consult for Harken even though he was working full time for his father's presidential campaign.
Bush flew to Texas and to New York to attend Harken board meetings. These trips were paid for by his father's campaign, and reimbursed by Harken, the Center said, citing Bush campaign receipts and Harken documents.
White House officials said there was nothing improper about Bush simultaneously working for Harken and his father's campaign.
Bush served on Harken's board from 1986 until 1993.
Former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay was a longtime Bush ally and a generous donor to his political campaigns. He was part of an elite group known as the "Bush Pioneers" who gathered at least $100,000 in donations for Bush's 2000 run for the presidency.
High-level members of the Bush administration said Lay called asking for help while he fought to keep Enron out of bankruptcy, but they said they did nothing and that the president knew nothing about it.
I mean, is this the best the rats can come up with?
The odds are darn good. If a politician says he wants to raise minimal wage, he wants to sue one industry after another, he wants to increase environmental standards, etc.... it all hurts businesses. A business would be crazy to think that guy is its friend. So when a business pays a rat a contribution, it is either due to zealot liberal ideology at the risk of job loss, or more likely, a bribe.
I see now. You are a campaign finance reformer. I used to be one, myself. It was a phase I went through when I was no longer a liberal and still suspicious of the GOP. Please bear this in mind. Remember when the formerly 'dominant' media kept asking Bush if he ever used cocain? It had some people here very upset that Bush would not answer the question. Nothing ever came of that, did it? The left has trouble finding really bad coverups by conservatives and has to throw out innuendoes or even slanders in order to discredit them.
If you want campaign finance reform, we would follow the same path as England. We would become a socialist state. We would be disarmed. Major legislation would be ramrodded through right after a major tragedy, such as the sniper incident, recently. However, this danger is beginning to wane.
Cash is counting for less-and-less with each election. Ideas and character are counting for more-and-more. That is because we are in the Information Age. This new age will make things better, not worse. We must not have too much tampering with campaign finance-- it is particularly vital right now.
And it was illegal.
Too bad the GOP hadn't accepted enough 'bribe money' to get the word out to the American people what was happening.
The Ken Star so-called investigation was legitimat when they were investigating White Water after that they became an anti-American attack on the office of the Presidency , not Clinton.
Starr was a powderpuff, according to very valid newspaper quotes. We were screaming our heads off about it at the FR. He promised to investigate the same way Fiske investigated. Did you ever read 'The Strange Death of Vince Foster' by Chris Ruddy? It's available at many libraries now.
But something that takes much less reading is the strange Ron Brown plane crash. You can see the photos, etc. It's at newsmax.com in the archives. The matter I'm looking into right now is the Tainted Blood Scandal that infected 42,000 Canadians with tainted prison blood.
Despite repeated warnings from the Food and Drug Administration, Arkansas kept its prison plasma program running until 1994, when it became the very last state to cease selling its prisoners' plasma.
In a year when Arkansas scandals dating back to his governorship have returned to haunt Clinton, this one nearly toppled the government -- of Canada. Arkansas' prison-blood business created a health crisis in Canada that nearly brought down the Liberal Party government last spring. At least 42,000 Canadians have been infected with hepatitis C, and thousands more with the HIV virus, thanks to poorly screened plasma. Some of it has been traced back to the Cummins prison in Arkansas. More than 7,000 Canadians are expected to die as a result of the blood scandal. [OVER TWICE THE DEATH TOLL OF THE TWIN TOWERS!!!!]
http://www.salon.com/news/1998/12/cov_23news.html
BTW, Clinton had promoted the Salon web site for years. I guess even Salon couldn't defend him after being bombarded with facts.
If Bush begins a war the DAY before an impeachment vote, out of the blue, without the traditional military reviews, I would accuse him of wag-the-dog myself! Until you can mention such peculiar timing, I bristle at your ad hominum attempt to make Bush to be a clone of the worst citizen this nation ever had ever produced.
The GOP traditionally supports any war effort led by any president. I challenge you to find anything that remotely resembles a wag-the-dog accusation made by more than a tiny handful of GOP elected officials on any other rat president other than Clinton.
You mentioned Chinagate yourself. How can anyone trust Clinton after Chinagate? After treason like that, it is downright obvious that you must question every action, especially military action. After the Cox Report, Clinton should have resigned. He was found to be a traitor, and was unfit to lead. To NOT question the actions of a traitor is to be a traitor yourself.
My sediments, exactly. Remember that phone call Rubin sent to the Bush administration? Bush said no. That means that Bush is wearing the white hat, yet again, while the Clintonista continue to wear black.
The cocaine issue is not part of this discussion. How does it relate to bribery ? I don't care if Bush did cocaine or not. Almost no one did.
Lack of bribery means socialism and disarmament ? What ?! that is kookoo.
Major legislation ( like the farm bill )...is ramrodded through Because of bribery.
Soft money is bribery. That is why we still kiss a** to China among thousands of other stupid things.
Cash is counting for less-and-less with each election. Ideas and character are counting for more-and-more.
that is completely false.
I agrre that we shouldn't tamper with bribery. We should eliminate it.
Is it truth that dominates the web ? No
I've never tried to find a liberal discussion forum. My guess is that it would be boring.
If they are as successful with newspaper quotes of painting the GOP the way we nailed Clinton, I'll eat my hat.
And just how did "we" nail clinton ? He got away scott free even better than free. It hepled him.
Then you start talking about brown and lane crashes etc. I'm not sure what you are getting at. Clinton was a turd ? Yes ; I agree ? soft money was a big broblem then as well ? yes ; I agree.
you seem to be making my point. We need to get rid of soft money bribery. I agree.
Did Clinton attack Bin Laden the day before the impeachment vote as you suggest ? I wasn't aware of that but Bin Laden needed to be attacked reguardless and it didn't change the impeachment vote reguardless.
The GOP traditionally supports any war effort led by any president
That is the main reason that I am a republican. It was very disapointing to see Republicans turning their backs on their country just because we had a turd in office.
How can anyone trust Clinton after Chinagate?
I don't know how anyone could have trusted him before Chinagate. Keep in mind that Clinton's and Bush's policies toward China are virtually identicle.
After treason like that, it is downright obvious that you must question every action, especially military action.
Were you against attacking Bin Laden after he blew up our embassies because of Chinagate ?
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