Posted on 01/10/2002 5:29:16 PM PST by Roscoe Karns
Edited on 04/29/2004 1:59:56 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Nevertheless, there does seem to be a McLarty pattern. At Clinton's request, he met with international oil consultant ROGER TAMRAZ and asked the Energy Department if the Administration could not be more supportive of his Caspian Sea pipeline proposal (Tamraz' contribution: $200,000). It was McLarty who directed a White House lawyer to query the Justice Department about a case protested by VANCE OPPERMAN, head of a legal publishing house (contribution: $350,000). The counselor arranged a White House meeting for Miami computer executive MARK JIMENEZ to discuss political unrest in an important Latin American market (contribution: $325,000). And last week the Washington Post reported that McLarty helped get a Clinton audience for Federal Express chairman FRED SMITH and his concerns about Japanese trade practices. Contribution: $525,000. Davis says McLarty acted "appropriately" in every case.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Godspeed
Widening Probe of Texas-Based Enron Could Dog Bush as Whitewater Plagued Clinton An AP News Analysis
By Tom Raum Associated Press Writer
Published: Jan 10, 2002WASHINGTON (AP) - The expanding investigation into the collapse of Enron Corp. and the company's close ties to the Bush administration could quickly turn into a consuming political liability for President Bush in spite of his currently high approval ratings. And Democrats are pressing hard for just that.
At this point, no one is alleging wrongdoing by Bush or top members of his administration in the bankruptcy of the Houston-based energy trading company, a failure that cost thousands of jobs and ravaged the retirement savings of many employees.
But such investigations tend to take on a life of their own. And Democrats, sensing a congressional election-year opportunity, are working hard to turn up the heat.
Some Democrats are likening the probe to the Whitewater and campaign fund-raising investigations that plagued former President Clinton.
"The reason this is so potentially devastating to Bush is that it brings to life in very real terms the notion that when push comes to shove, he's for the big business special interests and not for the little guy," said former Clinton press secretary Joe Lockhart.
The controversy deepened on Thursday with the disclosure by the White House that Enron Chairman Kenneth L. Lay, a longtime friend of the president, called two of Bush's Cabinet officers - Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and Commerce Secretary Don Evans - before the company filed for bankruptcy late last year.
The disclosure came a day after the Justice Department announced it was opening a criminal investigation of the energy company's collapse, including whether it defrauded investors by deliberately concealing information about its finances.
Attorney General John Ashcroft, who received campaign contributions from Enron executives during his failed 2000 senatorial bid, stepped aside from the investigation.
The collapse, the largest corporate bankruptcy ever, is also being probed by the Labor Department and by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is looking into the company's destruction of possibly key financial documents; and by five congressional committees.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., leading one of those inquiries, is promising "a search for the truth, not a witch hunt."
But some Republicans - including White House spokesman Ari Fleischer - used just that term, "witch hunt," on Thursday in describing the widening investigation.
"There's not even smoke here, let alone a fire," said Charles Black, a veteran GOP consultant.
"They can keep it going in terms of probing Enron, looking into what happened to those people who lost their pensions, what happened to the accounting. All those are legitimate issues," said Black. "But there's no evidence that any elected officials did anything for Enron."
Bush, a former Texas oilman himself, on Thursday told reporters, "I have never discussed with Mr. Lay the financial problems of the company." And Fleischer said that no one in the administration offered to intervene on Enron's behalf.
"This is hardly going to be a scandal that brings down President Bush, but it will be a nagging problem for the Bush administration for some time to come," said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist.
But Sabato said it has all the ingredients to become all-consuming "because the Bush administration is so laden with corporate types and people with ties to the energy industry. It's understandable to the American people. It's the big boys versus the little guys who got hurt."
"These things can be an enormous distraction. But by the end of the Clinton administration, we learned that the best thing to do is assign a team to disclose everything, and to keep everyone else out of it," said Paul Begala, a former Clinton political adviser.
Lanny Davis, who was special counsel to Clinton from 1996 to 1998, urged Democrats to not take the same low road he claims Republicans took in pursuing the Whitewater and related inquiries.
He said so far he sees nothing in the Enron case to link Bush administration officials to the collapse other than innuendo. "Let's go after the serious stuff," including why Enron employees were prevented from unloading their Enron stock in their 401(k) retirement plans as the share prices plunged from over $80 to under $1, Davis said.
---
EDITOR'S NOTE - Tom Raum has covered national and international affairs for The Associated Press since 1973.
AP-ES-01-10-02 1859EST
"Lanny Davis, who was special counsel to Clinton from 1996 to 1998, urged Democrats to not take the same low road he claims Republicans took in pursuing the Whitewater and related inquiries.
He said so far he sees nothing in the Enron case to link Bush administration officials to the collapse other than innuendo. "Let's go after the serious stuff," including why Enron employees were prevented from unloading their Enron stock in their 401(k) retirement plans as the share prices plunged from over $80 to under $1, Davis said."
Lanny says, let's not look too close at Enron......
Oh, you take the high road
And I'll take the low road....
Heheheh.
Lanny Davis ... giggle, giggle, giggle ! How is he going to spin this ?
Are you kidding??
Half of them still have no idea who Gary Condit is (or, if they do, they are keeping it quiet).
Thanks for the ping, Howlin.
You misunderstand. The "Enron Scandal" didn't begin until January 25, 2001.
Anything that may have happened before is beyond the Journalistic Statute of Limitations (i.e., Attention Span).
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