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Enron Probe Crosses Many Political Borders
FOXNews.com / AP contributed ^
| January 10, 2002
| Staff
Posted on 01/10/2002 7:38:27 PM PST by Uncle Bill
Edited on 04/22/2004 12:32:08 AM PDT by Jim Robinson.
[history]
WASHINGTON
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: michaeldobbs
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To: OKCSubmariner; Askel5
New GOP Chairman Marc Racicot Mixes Politics and Profits - January 8, 2002Novak's right: Racicot should go. An Enron lobbyist as RNC chair? Forget it!RNC, at Urging of Bush, to install Eisenberg, a liberal, pro-abortion activist, as RNC Finance Chair
Lewis Eisenberg - Social Network Diagram
Bush Rebuffs Warning by Abortion Foe
Conservatives Warn Bush on Tilt to Abortion Rights
"It's Up To Her"
From here:
"Lewis M. Eisenberg, who will be awarded a doctor of laws degree, was elected chairman of the board of commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on November 9, 1995. Prior to his election as chairman, he was a commissioner on the agency’s board, having been nominated by Governor Christine Todd Whitman. The Port Authority is a bi-state, $3 billion agency with 7,200 employees. It operates major transportation facilities in the region including the World Trade Center, Newark, LaGuardia and Kennedy airports and interstate tunnels, bridges and marine terminals.
In addition to being chairman of the board of commissioners, Mr. Eisenberg is founder and co-chairman of Granite Capital International Group, an investment firm. He is also on the board of directors of Granum Communications, Inc., a national radio broadcasting company. Prior to founding Granite Capital, Mr. Eisenberg was a general partner and co-head of the equity division of Goldman, Sachs & Co."
#57
Lewis Eisenberg, a former general partner at Goldman, Sachs and founder of the Granite Capital International Group, has donated $26,000 to Pataki since last year.
The Money Chase
Enron CEO Unloads Aspen Homes
Andersen Knew of Enron's Worries in Feb., Memo Shows
Probe Raises Stakes on Energy Task Force Records - Some Bush Advisers Favor Releasing Information to Limit Damage From Enron Investigation
Most Texas politicians to keep Enron money
Most Texas Politicians to Keep Enron Money Company gave $900,000 to state's candidates
Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
By ARMANDO VILLAFRANCA
Jan. 16, 2002
AUSTIN -- Enron Corp. has been a generous benefactor to Texas politicians and most intend to keep the money, despite the company's collapse that cost 4,500 people their jobs and many more their retirement savings.
Since 1989, Enron has given more than $900,000 to statewide candidates and Houston's congressional delegation. The figure does not include the numerous donations made to state legislators or to lower-profile offices such as the Houston City Council.
Nationally, Enron donated nearly $6 million to hundreds of candidates since 1990. About three-quarters of the money went to Republican candidates, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Most Texas politicians said they do not intend to return the money, and their explanations for their decisions vary. Some say they've already spent the money. Others say the money came from Enron's rank-and-file employees, not the company or its top officials.
"These contributions were legal and legitimate contributions from individuals, and he doesn't intend to return them," said Kathy Walt, spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry, who received $212,000 from Enron, including a $25,000 donation from CEO Ken Lay in June.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Morales plans to return the money he received from Enron during his previous campaigns for state attorney general. Morales said he last received a contribution from the Enron political action committee in 1994. Morales said the contribution was either $2,500 or $5,000.
"We will give it back to the bankruptcy trustee so it can be used by the employees," Morales said.
Laredo businessman Tony Sanchez, who is challenging Morales in the Democratic Primary, has not received contributions from Enron.
Sanchez spokesman Glenn Smith said Perry should join Morales in returning Enron money.
Since 1989, Enron -- through Lay, other top officials or its political action committee -- donated $329,250 to Republican Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Phil Gramm and to the seven congressional members who represent portions of Harris County, according to the center.
Of that amount, only $8,750 has been pledged toward relief efforts for former Enron employees who lost their jobs and their 401(k) retirement accounts, which were laden with Enron stock.
Hutchison has said she will donate to an employee fund any Enron money remaining in her campaign account.
The Center for Responsive Politics said Hutchison received $99,500 from Enron. Spokeswoman Lisette Mondello said the senator is still researching how much she accepted from Enron.
Gramm spokesman Larry Neal said the outgoing senator has returned more than $275,000 raised for a re-election bid he is no longer seeking but he could not say how much of that came from Enron employees or the company's political action committee.
"We have no way of separating it out," said Neal. He said money contributed to past campaigns will not be returned.
Of state office candidates, Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander, a Republican, said she will return $71,500 she received from Enron.
"(Rylander) has instructed staff that if there is a vehicle set up to benefit Enron employees, that's where the money will go, but she hasn't found one yet," said spokesman Mark Sanders.
Rylander received $25,000 from Lay in June.
Republican Texas Attorney General John Cornyn, who recused himself last week from the state's investigation of Enron, said he intends to keep the $193,000 he received from Enron. Spokesman Dave Beckwith said Cornyn has not received any donations from Enron for his race to replace Gramm in the U.S. Senate.
Former Texas Supreme Court Justice Greg Abbott, who is running as a Republican for Texas Attorney General, has returned $12,600 he received from Lay, Enron's political action committee and employees while he was on the bench from 1995 to 1998. He has not received anything from Enron since then.
Supreme Court Justice Wallace Jefferson returned two $100 checks he received from the Enron PAC. Justice Xavier Rodriguez received a $1,000 contribution pledge from Enron but never received the money.
None of the remaining justices said they intend to return contributions received in past campaigns. The contributions include $33,908 for Harriet O'Neill, $25,000 to Nathan Hecht, $12,250 to Chief Justice Tom Phillips, $8,600 to Priscilla Owen, $7,000 to Deborah Hankinson, $6,000 to Craig Enoch and $4,600 to James Baker, according to Texans for Public Justice.
Former Comptroller John Sharp, a Democrat running for lieutenant governor, said he will return the $7,500 he received from Enron. His Republican opponent, Land Commissioner David Dewhurst, said he too will return the $2,000 he has received from Enron since 1998.
Only one Houston congressman said he will return every penny he received from Enron. Two others said they plan to return recent contributions totaling $3,000.
"I'm more than happy to put that into a fund that would help build up a 401(k) for the employees," said U.S. Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston, of the $5,750 he has received from Enron.
Of Houston's congressional delegation, U.S. Rep. Ken Bentsen, who is running as a Democrat for Gramm's Senate seat, received the most money from Enron.
Bentsen has received $42,700 from Enron through its PAC and individual contributions. Of that amount, Bentsen said he plans to return $2,000 received during the current election cycle. He said his staff is searching for a fund for former Enron employees where he can send the money.
Bentsen said he can't give back more money.
"It would be one thing if you just carried huge campaign balances from one election to the next; that's not the case," Bentsen said. "We spend all the money we raise and sometimes we go into debt."
Bentsen also said the bulk of the money came from Enron employees, many of whom are in his district, who either contributed or worked for him in past campaigns. Bentsen also said the contributions were made long before Enron's fall.
U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, also said she will donate Enron's most recent contribution of $1,000 to an employee relief fund. Jackson Lee has received $38,000 from Enron since 1989 when she was on the Houston City Council.
Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, received $27,900 from Enron. He does not plan to return it. Nor do the other Republicans from the Houston area's delegation to Congress. Reps. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, and John Culberson, R-Houston, each have received $13,000.
"At this point I do not plan to return the (contributions) that Enron gave to me because it came from its employees through their political action committee," Culberson said.
Nick Lampson, D-Beaumont, has received $4,000. His office did not return phone calls.
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
Bracewell Patterson - Houston-Based Law Firm, Partners Not Immune to Enron Scandal
Houston Baseball Team's Dilemma Shows Perils of Naming Contracts
Comment #142 Removed by Moderator
To: Black Jade
To: OKCSubmariner
Patrick, if you haven't, read this.
DynCorp Disgrace
Dyncorp - 1991 Army Indemnification for Dyncorp subsidiary to produce Anthrax vaccine
According to an official document from the US Drug Enforcement Administration obtained by The Observer, on 12 May last year Colombian police intercepted a parcel sent from Dyncorp's Colombia offices to its base in Florida. The police found two small bottles of a thick liquid which, when tested, was found to be laced with heroin worth more than $100,000. A Dyncorp spokeswoman said the company had investigated the issue and found no evidence of wrongdoing.
Dyncorp - Privatizing War
Somebody has to help bring the cocaine into the country
Dyncorp - U.S. Launches Covert Program to Aid Colombia
Virtual Truth Commission
DynCorp-State Department Contract
The First Thing You Know Old Jed's A Millionaire
Power Scam
On the Enron corporate website, one of the Board of Directors, Herbert S. "Pug" Winokur, Jr., is described as Chairman and CEO of Capricorn Holdings, Inc., and Former Senior Executive Vice President, Penn Central Corporation.
As the Insiders' Insider, "Pug" Winokur has been such a permanent fixture in the Washington Old Boy Network that he's even mentioned in a 1978 book by Daniel Guttman called "The Shadow Government."
Historically Winokur's Capricorn Holdings was used as an investment vehicle in NHP, an apartment management firm headed by Roderick Heller III.
In turn, NHP's assets included oft-purloined and defaulted HUD Section 8 subsidy housing, a notorious and well-known vehicle for fraud and money laundering.
Winokur was also on the Board of Directors of Harvard Endowment Fund, which purchased 50 percent of NHP, making the prestigious Harvard a prototypical, but very low-profile, slum landlord. (See Bushwhacked: HUD Fraud, Spooks and the Slumlords of Harvard" http://www.conspiracydigest.com/bushwhacked1.html)
It should also be noted that George Bush Jr. attended Harvard Business School. Later, after Bush joined Harken Energy Corp and became a director, the largest stock position and seat on the board was acquired by Harvard Management Co.
Ironically, from 1988 to 1997, Winokur was also the Chairman and CEO of DynCorp, one of the government's largest contractors in data acquisition and management.
Since DynCorp had a contract from the Department of Justice, Winokur would have profited from the DoJ Asset Seizure Program, as well as HUD's Operation Safe Home seizures which targeted low-income tenants and mortgage holders in the inner cities.
In addition DynCorp is one of the lead contractors for the new phony War on Drugs in South America called "Plan Colombia," another tax-payer supported scam to bring monies into DynCorp's coffers.
Now there's a guy who understands that the only way to do a deal is to get it rigged from the very beginning.
Enron's Son of a Spook
Enron dealmaker Frank Wisner, Jr. muscled the company into lucrative overseas contracts, most notably in India and the Philipines.
Enron's deal to manage a power plant in the Philippines was due largely to Wisner's efforts. Based in Subic Bay, a former US military outpost, the power planet was taken over by Enron in 1993, two months after the last US troops left the base.
Wisner is also credited with helping Enron win a $2.8 billion deal in India, building a power plant near Bombay. Now the project is under heavy fire for being over-priced, and the deal continues to simmer with allegations of bribery.
Wisner Jr. must have learned his tradecraft from his father Frank Wisner Sr., one of the CIA's prime operatives.
Wisner Sr., who worked at CIA from 1947 until just before his "suicide" in 1965, was involved in 1) the 1954 CIA coup in Guatemala, toppling the goverment of Jacobo Arbenz for United Fruit Company, 2) the 1953 overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq, and 3) the secret operations against Indonesian President Sukarno.
Unlike his spooky father, Frank Wisner Jr., however, was a former Pentagon official before his job at Enron.
Enron's Ken Lay and the Bush Boys
Enron Founder and Chairman Kenneth Lay also worked in the Pentagon for the Nixon administration during the Vietnam War.
Lay is a close friend of George Bush, Sr. In fact, his Houston home in River Oaks is near the Tanglewood residence of the former President and CIA Director.
Although there have been no published reports of Bush Sr. doing favors for Lay, three of the Bush Boys have used their father's name to get contracts for Enron.
According to an article by Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker, Neil and Marvin Bush tried to influence government officials for an Enron bid to rebuild Shuaiba North power plant in Kuwait.
Ironically this power plant was destroyed in George Bush's Persian Gulf War. Enron abandoned the bid a year ago.
In 1988, then Texas governor George Bush Jr., reportedly telephoned Rodolfo Terragno, Argentina's Public Works Minister, to ask him to award Enron a contract to build a pipeline from Chile to Argentina.
"He assumed that the fact he was the son of the president would exert influence. I felt pressured. It was not proper for him to make that kind of call," Terragno told The Nation.
"Finally, when Carlos Menem, another Bush Sr. crony, became president of Argentina, Enron won the bid.
Neil Bush, director of the failed Denver-based Silverado Savings and Loan, created a subsidiary of his oil company to conduct business in Argentina in 1987.
Argentina finally got so fed up with the Bush Boys, they formally had a parliamentary investigation regarding their so-called "business dealings.
Booze over babes
Sex, Lies, Videotape, Teenagers, Drugs, Blackmail, and Death
For The Children
To: Uncle Bill
Still digesting all the info in reply #144.
I can only read so much of this stuff before I start feeling very ill.
Wish more would be done about this. You have to wory that someday this all is coming home to roost. When it does I hope innocents will be protected and will not be hurt.
Congress and both political parties must be asleep, corrupt, wilfully ignorant or just plain doesn't care or all the above.
To: Uncle Bill
Bump for great freeping.
To: OKCSubmariner; Anochka
Jeb Bush To Attend Fundraiser hosted by former Enron president - Richard KinderRichard D. KinderRichard & Nancy Kinder
Enron Axes Andersen Accounting Firm
Enron puts the brakes on free rein of business
Most Texas politicians to keep Enron money - Company gave $900,000 to state's candidates
Report: Enron Avoided Paying Taxes
Enron - The real scandal
Sticky Fingers Hillary Stiffing Enron Victims
Note: Hillary's Enron Moment
Enron Avoided Income Taxes In 4 of 5 Years
Deals That Helped Doom Enron Began to Form in the Early 90's
Enron’s Ken Lay saw Kyoto treaty ‘green’ only as the color of money
Enron's Chief Sold Shares After Receiving Warning Letter
Enron scandal poses challenge for Houston Jewish community
The Enron-Andersen debacle: John Doggett blasts company executives for damaging America
Paul Krugman Takes Enron for $50,000
Florida's last-minute Enron stock buys probed
House asks Andersen for more Enron data
Enron and the Clinton administration
JUDICIAL WATCH SUES BUSH ADMINISTRATION OVER ENRON DOCUMENTS
An Inconvenient History - The Russian Money Laundering Pyramid - Links
Russia - Links
The Harvard Boys Do Russia
CLINTON ADMINISTRATION AIDS KGB IN COVER-UP OF COMMUNIST PARTY LOOT
Bank of New York and The Heist of the Century
LUCY EDWARDS FORMER SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF THE BANK OF NEW YORK
"From late 1995 until 1999, as a vice president of Bank of New York, I agreed with my husband, Peter Berlin, and other people and entities to set up accounts at the Bank of New York for three entities, Benex, BECS and Lowland, for various purposes which were illegal under United States law. I did so to facilitate the movement of funds into and out of Russia, and to accomplish a number of objects which either knew were unlawful or deliberately closed my eyes to that I had reason to know was unlawful activity. I personally undertook various acts in order to further this illegal agreement... In these transactions, I acted to benefit myself and my husband, and to develop more Russian business for the Eastern European Division of the Bank of New York..." (Edwards' admissions to money laundering crimes in Manhattan Federal Court) Edwards pleaded guilty to money laundering, unlicensed banking activity and immigration fraud, but was never sentenced.
All 33 Energy Billionaires By Net Worth
Ten years after the putsch that overthrew President Mikhail Gorbachev and ultimately led to the downfall of the communist Soviet Union, post-Soviet Russia is now a place that eight of the world's billionaires call home. Four of them--Khodorkovsky, Potanin, Viakhirev and Alekperov--are returning to our list. The other four--Bogdanov, Fridman, Abramovich and Chernomyrdin--are making their debuts. With a combined net worth of $12.4 billion, all eight have accumulated at least part of their wealth from that country's oil or natural gas industries. Four are returning to the list, and four are making their debuts among the world's richest."
All 33 Energy Billionaires By Net Worth
LOUIS FREEH SAYS RUSSIAN MAFIA POSES NO THREAT
Andersen Head Office 'Discussed Enron Purge'
Financial Times
By Adrian Michaels in New York and Peter Spiegel in Washington
January 17 2002
Officials at Andersen's head office in Chicago took part in regular conference calls and discussed destroying documents with the firm's Enron auditors in Houston in the weeks leading up to the controversial purge, congressional investigators have learnt.
The discussions threaten to ruin attempts by Andersen to contain the Enron damage to a few people in its Houston office. Investigators are focusing on high-level regular contacts among David Duncan, the lead Enron auditor fired by Andersen this week, members of his team and senior staff in Chicago.
Enron on Thursday fired Andersen from its position of company accountants.
Mr Duncan told investigators that from mid-September, sometimes two or three times a week, there were conference calls involving up to eight people, half of whom were based in Chicago.
The group referred to itself as the "expanded review team" and discussed matters relating to the now-discredited accounting at Enron.
Enron filed for the largest corporate bankruptcy in US history on December 2. Its downfall has led to a criminal investigation by the Justice Department and inquiries by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Congress.
Andersen said when it fired Mr Duncan on Tuesday that he had organised the destruction of thousands of Enron documents. It said the destruction was "undertaken without any consultation with others in the firm".
According to people close to the investigations, Mr Duncan has described detailed communications with Andersen's head office.
Nancy Temple, an in-house lawyer in Chicago, was often on the calls, Mr Duncan said. She sent a memo to Houston on October 12, after a number of conference calls had already taken place.
The memo directed the auditors to the company's document retention policies. Investigators have also been told that John Stewart, the director of accounting principles in Andersen's Professional Standards Group in Chicago, took part in some of the calls.
Andersen staff in Chicago did not return calls. Staff in the Houston office referred inquiries to Andersen's head office, which also did not return calls.
Joining Mr Duncan on the calls from Houston were some staff put on leave or stripped of responsibilities by Andersen this week, according to those close to the investigations.
On Thursday a federal judge granted shareholders of Enron an extraordinary hearing for next Tuesday to hear arguments about the document disposals.
Harvey Pitt, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, on Thursday attacked the accountancy profession over audit failures. He proposed a new regulatory body that would have powers to ban individuals and firms from auditing public companies.
Separately, Citigroup, the US's largest financial services group, on Thursday gave the first official assessment of its Enron losses when it took a $228m (£157m) charge against its fourth-quarter earnings.
Additional reporting by Peter Thal Larsen in New York.
To: Black Jade; Uncle Bill
Bookmarking this baby, thanks.
148
posted on
01/18/2002 5:10:36 AM PST
by
Slyfox
To: OKCSubmariner
Cheney Spoke to Indian Officials on Enron ProjectCheney Spoke to Indian Officials on Enron Project
Reuters
January 18, 2002 12:00 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney spoke to Indian government officials last year about Enron Corp.'s investment in a $2.9 billion power project, administration officials disclosed on Friday.
The White House said Cheney's outreach on behalf of Enron, President Bush's biggest political patron, was justified to minimize the exposure of American taxpayers to potential losses. The Dabhol power project was financed in part through the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a U.S. government agency that provides "political risk" insurance to help U.S. companies invest in developing nations.
"The United States taxpayers have an exposure to risk and loss through OPIC," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters. "It's not uncommon for (companies) to have exposures which do require contacts between American officials and government officials in other countries to minimize those risks to taxpayers," he added.
[End of transcript]
Click photo:
"Under the guidance of Richard Cheney, ..Halliburton Company over the past five years has emerged as a corporate welfare hog, benefiting from at least $3.8 billion in federal contracts and taxpayer-insured loans."
One of these loans was approved in April by the U.S. Export-Import Bank. It guaranteed $489 million in credits to a Russian oil company whose roots are imbedded in a legacy of KGB and Communist Party corruption, as well as drug trafficking and organized crime funds, according to Russian and U.S. sources and documents."
Comment #150 Removed by Moderator
To: Uncle Bill; OKCsubmariner; Askel5
To: Senator Pardek
Nice catch Senator. "No blood on our hands."
Federal Government and Congress To Lower Boom On Enron - Criminal, Fraud, Waste, Accounting Methods
(Enron) CEO SELLING TWO OF HIS ASPEN HOMES
Enron Lavished Cash on Democrats
Veep Tried to Aid Enron/ Key role in India debt row
What to do About Enron? Bush Team Can't Satisfy Critics
With Image Under Attack, Lieberman Defends Enron Probe
(Enron) A System Corrupted
Army Secretary Thomas White - Army Secretary Said Working On Response To Inquiry About Enron Ties
The Real Enron Scandal
Enron Won't Hurt Bush, Says A Devout Leftie
NY Times Writer Took $50,000 "Consultancy" From Enron To Give Them "Cover"
Liddy Dole Donates Enron/Ken Lay Money to Broke Families
Sen. Clinton to donate Enron campaign contributions to charity
Hillary To Donate Her Enron Cash To Charity
Hillary Copies Liddy Dole, Will Give Enron Cash to Charity
Enron is a Democratic problem too
Enron Gave Big Bucks to Democrats, Backed 'Global Warming' Scam
Bush's Failing Enrongate Strategy (This is a battle to stop impeachment ) By Carl Limbacher
Myths About Enron
JUDICIAL WATCH LAWSUITS AGAINST BUSH ADMINISTRATION SEEK ALL CONTACTS BETWEEN BUSH ADM AND ENRON
If Enron isn't a political scandal, nothing is
Riding the Global Gravy Train - Power Play: A Study of the Enron Project
Common Myths About Enron
The Democrats' Enron Problem
Bush can't put Enron behind him
Enron association game continues unabated
Enron's End Run
Bozell: Throwing Elbows Over Enron
Bush's Inevitable Enron Guilt
Cheney's outreach on behalf of Enron, President Bush's biggest political patron, was justified to minimize the exposure of American taxpayers to potential losses. The Dabhol power project was financed in part through the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a U.S. government agency that provides "political risk" insurance to help U.S. companies invest in developing nations.
Corporations, Accountants Reconsider Commitments to Arthur Andersen After Enron
Clinton Enron Nexus - Procured Financing, Used CIA Resources for Enron ~
Clinton Enron Nexus
Clinton Administration Procured Credit for Enron, Used CIA as Resource for Enron
As I see the usual suspects in the media trying to manufacture a scandal over Enron involving the Bush administration based solely on association, I have to laugh. Clinton and his administration were intimately involved with Enron and Enron CEO Ken Lay during the Clinton years.
Lay acted as a political ally for Clinton, collaborating with him to try and pass Fast Track (they failed) and on implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. Lay turns out to be an old friend of close Clinton aid Mack McClarty.
The Clinton Commerce Department under Ron Brown accompanied Enron officials on various overseas junkets and trade missions. The Commerce Department was an active partner with Enron in acquiring overseas contracts for Enron, in India and China for example. The Clinton administration was instrumental in lining up credit for Enron in these deals and used CIA resources to assess project risk and analyze the strategies of Enron's competitors.
Here are some citations and quotes. Keep this and shut up all the democrats and leftists screaming about this pseudo scandal.
August 1993. New President Bill Clinton takes his first vacation, a ski weekend to Vail, Colorado.
Who shows up to visit with Clinton? Ken Lay, Enron CEO.
The Houston Chronicle
August 16, 1993, Monday, 2 STAR Edition SECTION: A; Pg. 5 HEADLINE: Clinton takes real vacation
BYLINE: GREG McDONALD; Staff
DATELINE: VAIL, Colorado
(excerpt)
A tired-looking Clinton, off on his first real vacation since becoming president, seemed reluctant Saturday morning to admit to reporters that he was having a good time. He kept mumbling stuff about health care being the next big ticket item on his domestic agenda. But by evening, he'd had such a good time on the local links with Ford, golf legend Jack Nicklaus and Houston's own Ken Lay, chairman of the Enron Corp. and one of George Bush's best pals, that he decided to stay over until today. Clinton, his face sunburned but beaming, told reporters that he and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and 13-year-old daughter Chelsea were having too good a time to leave Sunday as planned.
1994 - 1995 Clinton Administration "makes a sale" for Enron. Enron and the administration work together to win Enron the contract for a power plant in India.
Clinton uses resources from the CIA to assess risk and analyze the strategy of Enron's British competitor. The administration is instrumental in procuring $400 million in financing from the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
The New York Times
February 19, 1995, Sunday, Late Edition - Final SECTION: Section 3; Page 1; Column 2; Business/Financial Desk
HEADLINE: How Washington Inc. Makes a Sale
BYLINE: By DAVID E. SANGER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
(excerpt)
For 18 months, the Indian power-plant deal has floated near the top of the list of 100 or so big infrastructure projects around the world that the United States Government desperately wants American firms to win. It is the first of eight big power generation projects in India, and if the American consortium could close this one, it would create a precedent likely to give other American companies an advantage in billions of dollars of follow-on deals. In years past, American officials would have offered some modest help, but only as a sideshow to bigger foreign policy concerns, from containing Communist influence in South Asia to keeping India and Pakistan from accelerating their nuclear arms race. But that was another era in American foreign policy, before the Commerce Department built what Jeffrey E. Garten, the undersecretary of commerce for international trade, calls "our economic war room."
From that Washington war room, the negotiators for the Enron Corporation, the lead bidder in the American consortium, have been shadowed and assisted by a startling array of Government agencies. In a carefully-planned assault, the State and Energy Departments pressed the firms' case. The American ambassador to India, Frank G. Wisner, constantly cajoled Indian officials. The Secretary of Energy, Hazel O'Leary, brought in delegations of other executives -- including some last week -- to make the point that more American investment is in the wings if the conditions are right.
To sweeten the pot, the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation put together $400 million in financing. And working just behind the scenes, as it often does these days, was the Central Intelligence Agency, assessing the risks of the project and scoping out the the competitive strategies of Britain and other countries that want a big chunk of the Indian market.
The big push by Washington Inc. paid off last month when the Indian government awarded the power plant project to the American consortium.
October 1995. Bill Clinton recruits Ken Lay to act as a point man for Clinton in drumming up support for Fast Track legislation. Lay just happens to be an old friend of Mack McClarty.
Journal of Commerce
October 10, 1995, Tuesday SECTION: FOREIGN TRADE, Pg. 3A HEADLINE: OUTSIDERS CALLED IN TO END LOGJAM ON TRADE AUTHORITY
BYLINE: JOHN MAGGS; Journal of Commerce Staff
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
(excerpt)
Two distinguished political doctors have been brought in to try to revive a nearly dead bill allowing President Clinton to secure new trade agreements with other nations.
Bill Frenzel, a former Republican member of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Ken Lay, chief executive of natural-gas giant Enron Corp., have been called in to break a year-long impasse that has blocked meaningful progress on trade pacts with Chile, the rest of Latin America, and the Pacific im.
Both men are well known to one player in that dispute - Ways and Means Chairman Bill Archer, R-Texas, whose district includes Enron's headquarters in Houston. The two also have connections to the Clinton administration. Mr. Frenzel served as a special adviser to Mr. Clinton to lobby his former colleagues on the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mr Lay has been a friend of Clinton adviser Thomas "Mac" McLarty since Mr. McLarty's time as head of Arkansas' largest natural-gas utility.
August 1997 Clinton hosts Ken Lay at White House to discuss upcoming meeting in Kyoto, Japan concerning greenhouse gas.
The Houston Chronicle
August 6, 1997, Wednesday, 3 STAR Edition SECTION: BUSINESS; Business Digest; Pg. 1
HEADLINE: BRIEFCASE; White House warms to BP exec
BYLINE: Staff
(full text)
The Clinton administration, when calling business leaders to the White House to discuss what the United States' bargaining position on global warming should be at upcoming negotiations in Kyoto, Japan, chose John Browne of British Petroleum to represent the oil industry. But Browne is British, head of a London-based company. And Britain's new Labor government has blasted the United States for failing to go far enough to reduce greenhouse gases. So why was a Brit asked to participate? Browne has broken ranks with other oil executives to concede a buildup of carbon dioxide gases may be changing the Earth's climate. BP also happens to be the United States' largest crude oil producer with 13,000 employees in this country, company officials pointed out. Enron Corp.Chief Executive Ken Lay, who also was at the Monday meeting, said Clinton sounded Browne out on his opinions of the policies being pushed by the Europeans. Nobody seemed to worry the United States was tipping its hand. ""This is kind of early in the process,'' Lay said.
October 2000 Near end of Clinton's Presidency, but prior to the November election, a Clinton Assistant Treasury Secretary takes a position at Enron as vice president for federal government affairs. Observers call it a slap in the face to George Bush.
The Washington Post
October 12, 2000, Thursday, Final Edition SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A23; SPECIAL INTERESTS
HEADLINE: Enron Hire Faces Some Partisan Fire
BYLINE: Judy Sarasohn
(excerpt)
Enron announced yesterday that Linda Robertson, assistant Treasury secretary for legislative affairs and public liaison, will join the Houston energy company in early November as vice president for federal government affairs. She will replace Joe Hillings, who earlier announced his retirement.
Ken Lay, chairman and chief executive of Enron, has given more than $ 290,000 of his own money to the Republican Party this year to help elect Bush, his longtime friend, president. But that didn't insulate Enron from criticism in some Republican quarters on Capitol Hill. "Enron has just slapped George W. Bush across the face. It just makes little sense," a GOP leadership aide said yesterday.
States suing Enron and eyeing Andersen, as more than $1 billion lost from public retirement funds
Max Yzaguirre - Former Enron exec quits Texas Public Utility Commission
Bankrupt Enron fires Andersen
Enron's Lay Hypes Stock in Sept
"My personal belief is that Enron stock is an incredible bargain at current prices and we will look back a couple of years from now and see the great opportunity that we currently have,"
Enron's Lay Touted Shares to Employees
Enron's Lay Told Employees to Buy Stock, Called 3rd Qtr `Great'
``My personal belief is that Enron stock is an incredible bargain,'' he said. ``We will look back a couple of years from now and see the great opportunity we currently have.''
ANDERSEN RECOVERS MISSING ENRON FILES
Andersen recovers missing Enron files
Former Enron Corp. lobbyist Marc Racicot took over as chairman of the Republican party on Friday
Gramms regulated Enron, benefited from ties
Will democrats seek to exploit Enron?
Enron losers sue Andersen
Sperry joins Rita Cosby on Fox: To discuss Enron ties to Clinton administration
Enron bet on the wrong horse: Henry Lamb says company doomed by alliance with government
Kyoto: Down in flames: Gordon Prather says global-warming pact should kamikaze, Enron-style
American Taxpayers May Get Bill/Tab from Enron meltdown could exceed $1B
Enron's Fall Threatens Houston
Andersen recovers missing Enron files
Judge OKs revival of Enron's trading operations
Enron employees aren't blameless for the bath they took
White House: Clinton's Cabinet Helped Enron Too
A CASE STUDY: Enron. Another Teapot Dome?
The Democrat's Enron Problem
Campaign finance bill's chances grow with Enron collapse
Cheney, Bush Aides Contacted India on Enron Plant
The United States of Enron
Republican bosses can't escape from Enron glare
Evidence Indicates That Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill Helped Enron "Hide" Financial Condition
Federal Government and Congress To Lower Boom On Enron - Criminal, Fraud, Waste, Accounting Methods
The Securities and Exchange Commission didn't do a thorough review on Enron Corp.'s annual reports for at least three years
To: OKCSubmariner; golitely
ENRON'S NEW 5 BILLION DOLLAR BLACK HOLEBritish Banks Face Heavy Losses Over Enron Collapse
Two of Britain's three biggest banks, were believed to have a combined exposure of almost one billion pounds to Enron
December 03, 2001, 10:45 AM
LONDON (AFP)
British banks face losses running into more than one billion dollars from the seemingly unstoppable slide into bankruptcy of the US energy trader Enron, British newspapers reported Sunday. The Sunday Telegraph said two of Britain's three biggest banks, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays, were believed to have a combined exposure of almost one billion pounds (1.45 billion dollars) to Enron.
Meanwhile, Enron's British subsidiaries owe more than 600 million pounds to banks in Britain, the Sunday Times added.
As well as Royal Bank of Scotland (a gross exposure of 600 million pounds) and Barclays (300 million pounds), other British institutions are also facing heavy losses.
The Sunday Times estimated the total for all creditor banks could be up to 8.4 billion pounds (12.2 billion dollars).
Enron, which earlier this year was ranked seven on the Fortune 500 list of US firms, is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The meltdown came this week as a life-saving merger plan disintegrated and its credit rating was slashed, requiring billions of dollars to be repaid with little hope of getting new loans.
If Enron files for Chapter 11, having already demanded creditor protection in Europe, it would be the biggest US bankruptcy in history.
The money owed to British banks by Enron's subsidiaries in this country is linked to project finance deals on a gas-fired power station half-owned by the company in northeast England.
Abbey National, another British bank, said Friday it was planning to write off 95 million pounds of a 115-million-pound loan it had advanced to Enron.
"If you ever wondered whatever happened to the people in the former Soviet Union who used to run things there and now are permanently out of work, the answer is they're all in the Clinton administration, and they're running the banking authorities of this country,"
Phil Gramm, a Texas Republican who chairs the Banking Committee, in a speech on the Senate floor.
Source
The Power Elite: Enron and Frank Wisner
CorpWatch
by Vijay Prashad
November 16, 1997
On 28 October 1997, Enron Corporation announced the entry of Frank G. Wisner Jr. onto its board of directors. Most of the business press did not find this untoward and it certainly did not emerge as part of the US discussions on corruption at the highest level. Frank Wisner, as we know in India, was the US Ambassador from 1994 until this year and his entry into Enron must be seen in light of the scandal of Dabhol. Enron, like most US corporations, uses its close association with the state (both its elected and bureaucratic arms) for its own ends. US campaigns are financed by corporations whose money not only enables politicians to win elections, but it also buys businesses the state's power both for domestic subsidies and for the use of US power in the international arena.
Frank Wisner, Jr. was a big catch for Enron Corporation. His lineage is impeccable, since his father, Frank Wisner Sr., was a senior CIA official (from 1947 until his suicide in 1965) who was involved in the overthrow of Arbenz of Guatemala (1954) and Mossadeq of Iran (1953). Wisner Junior was well-known in the CIA and he worked as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and Under Secretary of State for International Security Affairs; his current boss, Kenneth Lay, Chief Executive Officer of Enron Corporation, also worked for the Pentagon during the US war in Vietnam. With "economic espionage" as a task for the CIA (see PD, 12 October 1997), there is little doubt that Wisner used this instrument during his long-tenure as Ambassador in Asian nations. A Wisner staffer told InterPress Services this year that "if anybody asked the CIA to help promote US business in India, it was probably Frank".
When Wisner was US Ambassador to the Philippines (1991-92), Enron was in the midst of negotiations to manage the two Subic Bay power plants. When Wisner left Manila in July 1992, Enron won the deal and began to manage the plant in January 1993. During Wisner tenure in India, he fought long and hard to secure various deals for Enron. He went so far as to boycott the "India Power '96 -- Beyond Dabhol" summit, despite being scheduled to give an address (this was part of a US advisory to companies to avoid India for six-months, a pressure tactic on India during the winter of 1995-96). Wisner left India earlier this year only after it seemed like Enron's place was secure.
Enron, like most monopoly corporations in the US, uses money as a means to buy influence and power. To gain access to a lucrative contract to rebuild the Shuaiba power plant in Kuwait, Enron hired former US Secretary of State James Baker as a consultant who travelled to the oil kingdom to negotiate with his Gulf War allies for his new employer. The sons of George Bush also helped Enron win this contract despite a lower bid from Deutsche Babcock, a German firm. The Bush brothers also helped Enron in their deal to win a contract to build a pipeline from Chile to Argentina in 1988. Finally, Wendy Gramm (wife of Senator Phil Gramm) joined Enron's Board of Directors in 1993 after she resigned from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. This Commission, just days after Gramm's resignation, deregulated energy futures, thereby allowing Enron to earn 10% of its profits by adventures on the financial markets. Beside all this evidence, it appears hypocritical for Rebecca Mark, Chairperson of Enron Development Corporation, to declare that "Enron's reputation is being attacked, and we do not do business under the table".
The story does not end there. In 1991-92, Enron donated $28,525 to the Democratic Party and in 1993-94, it gave $42,000. These monies enabled Enron to send its executives on international tours with the late Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown in January 1995 (when Kenneth Lay came to India) and in March-April 1994 (when Chief Executive Officer of Enron International, Rodney Gray came to Russia). In the former, Enron was in negotiation for the Dabhol plant among other things (such as the $1.1 billion offshore holdings) and in the latter, Enron was interested in the marketing of Russian gas in Europe. President Clinton noted that Brown's trips resulted in "expanded opportunities for American business in [the USA] and abroad". The "pay to play" project of US "democracy" is once again in evidence. The example of Enron and Wisner proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the US state is not a neutral actor in world affairs and that US transnational corporations are part and parcel of the corruption within the US Empire. The hearings in Washington on "campaign finance reform" do not bother with this level of corruption, for most of those who are running the investigation are beholden to business interests. Enron, for instance, will not be a part of the investigation, since it is deemed to be a patriotic US entity out to create jobs for US workers and to accumulate wealth to defer the costs of the US's mercenary army.
Vijay Prashad is Assistant Professor of International Studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.
Source: People's Democracy, 16 November 1997
TITLE III--INTERNATIONAL MONEY LAUNDERING ABATEMENT AND ANTI-TERRORIST FINANCING ACT OF 2001
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999
To: OKCSubmariner; Askel5; Elle Bee; Donald Stone
Enron: 'crimes were committed' - "The deeper we dig, the uglier this gets."A KEY investigator into the collapse of Enron, the US energy trading company, has told The Sunday Telegraph that "crimes were committed" at the company and Andersen, its auditor, as senior figures tried to conceal the true state of the company's finances." 
ENRON CORP. ELECTS PAULO V. FERRAZ PEREIRA AND FRANK SAVAGE TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Press Release:
ENRON CORP. ELECTS PAULO V. FERRAZ PEREIRA AND FRANK SAVAGE TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, October 12, 1999 HOUSTON – The Board of Directors of Enron Corp. announced today the election of Paulo V. Ferraz Pereira and Frank Savage to the Board, effective immediately. Ferraz is president and CEO of Meridional Financial Group. Savage is chairman of Alliance Capital Management International, a $321 billion investment management subsidiary of The Equitable Companies Incorporated.
“We are pleased to welcome two individuals with a wealth of experience in the financial and banking industries. Their expertise will prove very valuable as Enron continues to grow our business around the globe,” said Kenneth L. Lay, Enron chairman and CEO. “Paulo has tremendous experience in international investment banking, and his dynamic approach to business will lend a valuable perspective to our Board. Frank has a distinguished 33-year career in international banking, corporate finance and global investment management, and his expertise will also be an asset to our Board.”
Both Ferraz and Savage were elected to the Board’s Finance Committee. In addition, Ferraz was elected to the Audit and Compliance Committee, and Savage was elected to the Compensation and Management Development Committee.
As president and CEO of Meridional Financial Group, Ferraz oversees the group’s holdings, which include Banco Meridional do Brasil; Banco Bozano, Simonsen; Bozano, Simonsen Seguros; and Bozano, Simonsen Leasing. Ferraz also is executive director of Companhia Bozano, Somonsen (CBS), a large diversified Brazilian Holding Group, of which Meridional Financial Group is the core business. In addition, Ferraz is a board member of various companies in which Bozano, Somonsen Group has a current or previous shareholding. Previously, Ferraz was vice president in charge of Treasury, Corporate Finance, International Area and Products for Meridional Financial Group. Ferraz also served as president and CEO of State Bank of Rio de Janeiro.
A resident of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Ferraz holds a bachelor’s degree in metallurgical engineering from Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio de Janeiro and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Prior to heading Alliance Capital Management International, Savage was senior vice president of The Equitable Life Assurance Society and chairman of Equitable Capital Management Corporation, a $35 billion Equitable Life investment management subsidiary, which was merged with Alliance Capital in July 1993. Savage spent the early part of his career with the International Division of Citicorp, serving in the Middle East and Africa. After a brief period as a principal in an international leasing company, TAW International Leasing, he spent several years as an investment officer with Equitable Life, lending directly to U.S. and foreign companies.
Savage serves on the boards of several corporations and not-for-profit organizations, including Lockheed Martin Corporation, QUALCOMM Incorporated, Council on Foreign Relations, and Johns Hopkins University. He is chairman of the Board of Trustees of Howard University.
A resident of Stamford, Conn., Savage holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Howard University and a master’s degree in international relations from the Johns Hopkins Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. He has received an honorary doctorate in human letters from Hofstra University.
Enron is one of the world’s leading electricity, natural gas and communications companies. The company, which owns approximately $34 billion in energy and communications assets, produces electricity and natural gas, develops, constructs and operates energy facilities worldwide, delivers physical commodities and financial and risk management services to customers around the world, and is developing an intelligent network platform to facilitate online business. Enron’s Internet address is www.enron.com, and the stock is traded under the ticker symbol, “ENE.”
2 Enron Roles Raise Questions of Allegiance
The New York Times
By REED ABELSON and KENNETH N. GILPIN
December 7, 2001, Friday
Business/Financial Desk
Late edition - Final, Section C, Page 1, Column 5
Even as many investors were scrambling to sell Enron stock in its downward spiral, Alliance Capital Management was aggressively buying. By the end of September, Alliance had become the largest shareholder, with about 43 million shares.
Sitting on Enron's board was a senior executive and director of Alliance, Frank Savage. Mr. Savage's dual role has raised questions about his allegiances and whether Alliance's position as a money manager was compromised. Many fund companies prohibit executives from sitting on boards of companies in which they invest, though there are exceptions.
"On occasion, fund company executives are involved with other public companies," said Geoff Bobroff, a mutual fund industry consultant based in East Greenwich, R.I. "But by and large, it shouldn't be done."
Alliance said no conflict existed. Mr. Savage was chairman of Alliance Capital Management International, which provides client services in Africa and the Middle East. He was not involved in money management "at all," said a spokesman for Alliance, John Meyers. Mr. Savage's presence on the Enron board, Mr. Meyers said, did not influence Alliance's investment decisions.
"His position on the board was a personal matter, not an Alliance matter," Mr. Meyers said. Alliance has said that it missed the warning signs on Enron, but it has not disclosed the size of its loss. Mr. Savage did not return telephone calls.
But Mr. Savage's two roles may still present something of a conflict. As a board member, he "has an ethical duty to keep corporate matters in the boardroom, but he also has a fiduciary responsibility to Alliance shareholders," said John C. Bogle, the founder of the Vanguard Group. During his tenure at Vanguard, Mr. Bogle sat on several corporate boards, although he noted that Vanguard relies on outside money managers to pick investments.
Mr. Savage's duty to Alliance shareholders and his duty as an Enron director could have clashed, for example, if he had been aware of important information about Enron, like a deteriorating financial situation or a search for a merger partner. As a Enron director, he would have an obligation to remain silent.
Many fund companies have policies prohibiting officers or fund managers from serving as directors. "That would be a direct conflict," said Shelley Peterson, a spokeswoman for Janus Capital, which was also a large shareholder in Enron.
Mr. Savage's presence on the board could be of some concern, said W. Dan Smith, the director of the investment division for the Oregon State Treasury, whose employee retirement fund owned Enron shares in funds run by Alliance. Mr. Smith emphasized that Alliance is a quality firm but said he would probably discuss the matter with Alliance.
Some fund companies allow their executives to hold board positions. Anne M. Tatlock, a vice chairwoman of Franklin Resources, for example, sits on the boards of the American General Corporation, Fortune Brands and Merck & Company.
Other investors dismiss the suggestion that Alliance's portfolio managers would have bought or held the stock because of Mr. Savage's position on Enron's board. Enron was typical of the stock Alliance bought for its clients, said Andy Silton, the state investment officer for the North Carolina Department of the State Treasurer, whose retirement system owned fewer than 300,000 shares in portfolios managed by Alliance. "Alliance has a very well-defined discipline," Mr. Silton said.
Enron shareholders may also have questions about Mr. Savage's role since Alliance is such a large shareholder. In October, Enron's board created a special committee to examine the transactions that are now being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr. Savage was among four directors named to the committee.
"The responsibility of all these directors is to all the shareholders," said Jay W. Lorsch, a Harvard business professor.
Mr. Savage, who was already serving on the boards of Lockheed Martin and Qualcomm, joined Enron's board in October 1999. At the time, Kenneth L. Lay, Enron's chairman, praised Mr. Savage's "33-year career in international banking, corporate finance and global investment management." Mr. Savage serves on the board's finance committee, which "reviewed the financial plans and proposals of management," according to Enron's proxy statement.
In addition to his corporate directorships, Mr. Savage is a trustee of Johns Hopkins University, where he received a master's degree from its School of Advanced International Studies, and of Howard University. He is also a director of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is on the board of Bloomberg L.P., the privately held media company founded by Michael R. Bloomberg, the mayor-elect of New York.
In August, less than a week before Enron's chief executive, Jeffrey K. Skilling, unsettled investors with his resignation, Mr. Savage left Alliance to form an investment company, Savage Holdings. The firm plans to help start a private equity fund to invest in infrastructure projects in sub-Saharan Africa.
Enron's board has been criticized for its numerous conflicts and for allowing management to engage in transactions that eventually led to the company's collapse.
"There just shouldn't be conflicts of interest on the board," said Robert E. Mittelstaedt, a business professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Layoffs at India Plant
Enron's troubled electric power project in India, the Dabhol Power Company, laid off all its nearly 200 remaining employees yesterday, saying it could not pay them.
The power plant has been idle for months because of an extended dispute with its only customer, a state utility, over payments for power. Lenders in India have threatened to seize Enron's 65 percent stake in the project, which Enron has been trying to sell.
In announcing the layoffs, Dabhol Power said that a few employees, including the managing director, K. Wade Cline, would be rehired on contracts to maintain the plant and pursue Dabhol's legal claims, if the company's lenders provide "adequate financing."
"Congress passed the Federal Reserve Act on the 22nd of December 1913, and from that day forward the United States of America ceased to be a Republic."
To: OKCSubmariner; Askel5; Donald Stone; Elle Bee; ratcat; Wallaby; Black Jade; nunya bidness...
Bush Is No Good Trade
By Tom Flocco
© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com
FEBRUARY 18, 2000
According to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission records, on four separate occasions Gov. George W. Bush disregarded federal statutes by failing to file insider stock trade reports on a timely basis, back-dating one trade by some four months. Moreover, one key trade just a few weeks before Iraq invaded Kuwait -- but reported some eight months late after the Gulf War was over -- netted Bush close to $1 million in profit as he sold stock in Harken Energy, an oil company doing business in the Middle East wherein some of his father's largest contributors also maintained substantial positions.
The SEC under President Bush carried out an incomplete investigation of the younger Bush's pre-Gulf War trade in 1991 after key presidential advisor George Jr. claimed that he filed a report, but that the SEC had most likely lost it. (No one has really asked whether the governor bothered to use registered mail to verify receipt of the documents.)
According to an Oct. 28, 1991, Time Magazine report, SEC spokesman John Heine said, "as far as I know, nobody ever found the 'lost' filing." And, strangely, Bush refused comment to Time regarding either the incident or his involvement with Harken.
The governor also did not reveal the blatant conflicts of interest involved, since the chairman of the SEC was Richard Breedon, former lawyer with Houston firm Baker and Botts and deputy counsel to Bush's father when he was vice president. Breedon received his SEC appointment after the elder Bush became president.
The SEC investigation of George W. was led by general counsel James R. Doty who, according to a UPI report, mysteriously neglected to interview any of the Harken directors. Moreover, Doty had previously served as George W. Bush's personal lawyer in the deal involving his Texas Rangers purchase. So, in the end, the younger Bush was cleared of insider trade wrongdoing by his personal attorney and by his father's vice-presidential counsel, a virtual impossibility for the average U.S. citizen.
That the mainstream media has refused to question Bush regarding what voters might consider a mockery of the criminal investigative process is a story in and of itself -- especially considering it concerns how a possible future president might enforce U.S. laws if he had also broken those statutes.
Consider that Americans who currently hold stocks or mutual funds would never -- by virtually no stretch of the imagination -- be able to obtain access to corporate insider information that could turn a million dollars profit. But reporters following Bush have not broached the subject during the campaign.
Stocking Up
Most reports involving Bush's insider oil stock trades refer only to his highly controversial June 22, 1990, million dollar trade made six weeks before Gulf War hostilities broke out in Kuwait -- a trade which was reported eight months later. However, SEC documents between 1986 and 1993 show that Bush acquired 212,152 shares of Harken stock on Nov. 1, 1986, at the time he merged his Spectrum 7 company with Harken. But the future governor did not report the transaction until April 7, 1987 -- more than five months later.
When Bush filed late on April 7,1987, SEC filings show he had purchased another 80,000 shares on March 10, 1987. But strangely, two weeks later, an April 22 filing noted that the 80,000-share purchase was backdated to Dec. 10, 1986. When questioned by the media, Bush's attorney said it was the same 80,000 shares but he could not explain the discrepancy regarding the purchase dates or why Bush even reported the trade two times.
Another SEC filing, this from June 6, 1989, showed that Bush purchased another 25,000 shares of Harken but again waited more than four months to report the transaction.
The Houston Post, recognizing Bush's late SEC filings, noted that he "took eight months to notify the government of his sale of stock in a company on whose board he served" and "also missed the filing deadline for reporting other insider trades involving Harken Energy."
Documents obtained by the Post showed "additional instances in which Bush ... ran afoul of the SEC rule requiring notification." And George W. described himself as a "small, insignificant" Harken stockholder; but news reports examining SEC documents identified Bush as the third largest non-institutional investor.
Bush in Bahrain
In October 1991, Time Magazine questioned why the tiny country of Bahrain would stake so much of its financial future on Harken Energy, which it labeled an "obscure, money-losing company with no refineries and no experience in offshore oil exploration." But the magazine also noted that oil-insiders speculated that Bahrain's rulers saw the arrangement as a way to gain influence with the Bush administration.
Mysteriously, primary reporters have also ignored what could point to a nexus regarding foreign policy and personal financial interests. Interestingly, the Village Voice in January 1991 reported that in 1990 the Bush administration signed an agreement with Bahrain that chose the small country as the permanent principal allied base in the Middle East, although it was some 200 miles away from the hostilities in Iraq and Kuwait.
The military-base deal came after Harken announced its Jan. 30, 1990, joint oil-drilling venture with Bahrain. So President Bush's key contributors and his son George W. were carrying on personal financial business with Bahrain at the same time decisions were being made regarding the possibility of a war in the Gulf.
And neither the president nor his adviser, George Jr., let the press know that Bahrain had been permitted to infuse $7.7 million in foreign cash to hire U.S. public relations firm Hill & Knowlton to lobby Congress and the American people; a stunning variety of opinion-forming devices and techniques were employed to inflame U.S. patriotic passions of war while personal financial interests were on the line.
Jumping Ship
On May 21, 1990, less than ten weeks before Saddam Hussein's troops invaded Kuwait to initiate the Middle East hostilities -- but just four weeks before Bush unloaded the bulk of his Harken stock -- a renegotiated corporate loan agreement featured an unusually high interest rate of 12 percent, less credit for acquisitions, a $750,000 debt fee and even requirements by some of Harken's major stockholders to guarantee $22.5 million in debt, according to Associated Press.
Did Bush know of impending losses when he sold his stock on June 22, 1990, since Federal securities law prohibits corporate insiders from trading "on the basis of" material information that is not publicly known? Bush denied the charge in spite of his positions on the Harken Energy board of directors, audit committee and stock restructuring panel. He added that he had no idea Harken was going to get an audit report full of red ink until weeks after he had made his stock sale.
But U.S. News & World Report said, "there is substantial evidence to suggest that Bush knew Harken was in dire straits. ... Harken's SEC filings make it clear that the company's directors knew radical steps were necessary." The magazine added that "one informed source says Harken's creditors had threatened to foreclose on the company if substantial debt payments were not made." Shortly thereafter, Bush cashed out of Harken.
The April 4, 1991,Wall Street Journal added that "Mr. Bush didn't return their phone calls seeking comment, and the Bush White House said 'it doesn't comment on the activities of the president's children.'"
According to the Washington Post, Harken's audit committee, of which Bush was a member, met with Mikel Faulkner and 
auditors from Arthur Andersen & Co., Harken's accountants, on June 11, 1990 -- just 11 days before Bush sold his stock on June 22. When asked for a copy of the June 11 minutes or permission to inspect them, the company declined to make the records available.
Bush's insider transaction yielding a profit of $848,560 -- some 250 percent profit on the stock's original value -- came a week prior to the end of a quarter in which the company lost $23 million. The quarterly report was released just a few days after Iraq invaded Kuwait and the Harken stock plummeted. However, as reported in a 1992 Mother Jones report, Bush attended a meeting regarding a revised stock offering in May 1990 working with Smith Barney's financial consultants concerning corporate restructuring.
In an Oct. 11, 1994, UPI report, Bush also claimed that he was not aware of Harken's poor financial condition when he sold the stock, but UPI said that the Dallas Morning News reported on the same day that a corporate official who served with Bush on the audit committee at Harken felt otherwise; Stuart Watson told the Dallas paper that he and Bush were constantly made aware of the company's finances. "You bet we were," said Watson. "We were both trying to keep that company on the straight and narrow."
On March 16, 1992, U.S. News echoed Watson's statement, reporting that "according to documents on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, his position on the Harken (restructuring) committee gave Bush detailed knowledge of the company's deteriorating financial condition."
Firewalls Or Stonewalls?
Chuck McDonald, spokesman for Texas Gov. Ann Richards' campaign, said that SEC chief counsel in the Bush investigation -- James Doty, George W.'s former attorney -- never talked to George W., Watson or other Harken officials in its 1991 probe. He said, "Was this a real investigation, or was it a whitewash of an insider stock sale by the son of the sitting president?" UPI, which reported McDonald's statement, went on to note that "while Bush claims the SEC investigation absolved him of illegal insider trading, he has refused to release the investigation files."
Harken founder, Phil Kendrick, noted that the company's "annual reports and press releases get me totally befuddled. There's been so much promotion, manipulation and inside deal making." And even Harken chief executive Mikel Faulkner, an accountant, offered advice for those trying to decipher the financial statements: "Good luck. They're a mess."
Press accounts note that Bush requested a letter from the SEC, issued in October 1993, The letter, signed by SEC Associate Director Bruce A. Hiler, said that "the investigation has been terminated as to the conduct of Mr. Bush and that, at this time, no enforcement is contemplated with respect to him." But the letter also stated that "it must in no way be construed as indicating that the party has been exonerated or that no action may ultimately result."
On Oct. 18, 1993, the Bush administration SEC said it would not bring a case against George W. Bush.
To The Manner Born: A Princeling Legacy?
Gov. Bush speaks about his outstanding business record on the campaign stump; however, in 1989, U.S. News & World Report said, "Harken Energy lost over $12 million against revenues of $1 billion." Harken President Mikel Faulkner said that in addition to Bush's position as a director at $2,000 per meeting, stock options worth $131,250, 5 percent loans and 40 percent discounts on stock purchases, he was also a consultant to Harken for "investor relations and equity placement" at a salary of $80,000 per year from 1986 until 1989, when his salary jumped to $120,000.
The board was equally generous to Bush in 1990 as "the company lost another $40 million and shareholder equity plunged to $3 million -- down from more than $70 million in 1988." Faulkner declined to say what services George W. has performed as a consultant.
In March 1992, U.S. News said that "Despite repeated requests for interviews, George W. declined to discuss Harken or the reason for his stock sale, saying through an assistant that he 'does not want to read about himself.'" But some might ask whether American voters have a right to know whether a possible president would strictly enforce federal statutes or appoint lenient attorneys with suspect ethical standards leading to fixed politically sensitive investigations.
Moreover, should Bush -- a director of the corporation -- be accountable when huge losses are reported over a period of time, especially as a presidential candidate purporting to have an outstanding entrepreneurial business record at every presidential campaign stop? The answers have real implications regarding presidential character, morality and personal ethics.
Author and commentator Kevin Phillips offered a perceptive look at the Texas governor in the February 2000 issue of Harpers magazine when he said, "We can fairly ask whether George W. Bush is anything more than another scion who has made a decent governor during a period of prosperity and easy growth, and whether the United States can afford nominees who are to presidential politics what legacies are to college fraternities."
Attorney General John Ashcroft Picks Arthur Andersen For FBI Review
Enron Probe Crosses Many Political Borders
The Securities and Exchange Commission didn't do a thorough review on Enron Corp.'s annual reports for at least three years
Federal Government and Congress To Lower Boom On Enron - Criminal, Fraud, Waste, Accounting Methods
To: OKCSubmariner
To: Uncle Bill
Enron Is Proving Costly to Economy The collapse of Enron Corp., so far a political, legal and investor crisis, is now imposing widespread costs on the U.S. economy, according to a range of companies, energy experts and bankers.
Electricity and natural gas companies are facing higher costs. Projects to build power plants, pipelines and transmission lines are being put on hold. And in all sections of the economy, companies with high debts are feeling the pinch of tighter credit.
More than $12 billion of investment in new power plants has been postponed in recent weeks as financial markets, unnerved by Enron's sudden descent into bankruptcy, have effectively raised the cost of capital for energy projects. Plans to develop natural gas deposits also are being cut back dramatically.
157
posted on
01/20/2002 2:31:47 AM PST
by
sarcasm
To: Uncle Bill
There ya' go Again! ----
According to the Washington Post, Harken's audit committee, of which Bush was a member, met with Mikel Faulkner and auditors from Arthur Andersen & Co., Harken's accountants, on June 11, 1990 -- just 11 days before Bush sold his stock on June 22. When asked for a copy of the June 11 minutes or permission to inspect them, the company declined to make the records available.
Bringing up embarrassing Stuff!
To: rdavis84
Terrible isn't it?
White House Enron Stonewall?
The administration refuses to answer questions.
National Review Online
By Byron York
January 18, 2002 9:15 a.m.
t midweek, there was growing confidence among many Republicans that the White House had successfully answered many of the questions about the administration's actions during the collapse of Enron. Now, however, it appears some of that confidence might have been misplaced, after a number of less-than-reassuring statements by White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.
On Wednesday, Fleischer was asked, "Is there an informal review underway at the White House and at various agencies, to see if any other individuals talked to Enron executives, to make sure it is reported and out there and made public?" Fleischer said that the president is focused on two things: a criminal investigation of possible wrongdoing by Enron, and a review of the government regulatory policies that allowed the collapse to happen the way it did. Fleischer continued,
If you're asking is the White House engaged in any effort to determine whether or not any contact was made with anybody at Enron for any reason, I suggest to you that there is no hint there of any wrongdoing. If you have any information, any evidence you would like to bring forward about potential wrongdoing, we will do our best to track it down for you. But other than that, I liken it to a fishing expedition — such a broad request, that we will be helpful to provide information about any allegations of wrongdoing. To date, nobody has made any allegations of wrongdoing or has even any suggestions of them.
Later, when Fleischer was asked whether the administration would respond to congressional requests and subpoenas for all contacts between administration officials and Enron during the collapse, Fleischer answered, "I think that depends entirely on something that is just part conjecture and speculation about — on something that has not happened and that is unknown So I don't know how to answer a question like that."
Finally, Fleischer was asked again whether anyone in the White House "is interested in who called Enron in this White House or in the government." Again, Fleischer said that unless someone has an allegation of wrongdoing, the White House will not give out information. "If you're asking if the White House is chronicling any contact with anybody in this administration and anybody at Enron over anything, I think that's such a broad request that it's characterized as a fishing expedition," Fleischer said.
The next day, Fleischer's message was much the same. "If Washington goes down the usual path of partisan fishing expeditions, I think they're going to lose the support of the public," Fleischer said. "The public wants to know that people here in this town are focused on the wrongdoing where the wrongdoing occurs, and not engaging in wasteful fishing expeditions." Much of the rest of the briefing was devoted to Fleischer's defense of Vice President Dick Cheney's decision not to release information about the outside contacts of Cheney's energy task force.
It seems clear from Fleischer's comments that even if it turns out there were more contacts between administration officials and Enron in Enron's last days, the White House will not reveal them — unless reporters first come up with allegations of wrongdoing. Using that standard, it is difficult to understand why the White House last week released information about contacts between Enron and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, Commerce Secretary Don Evans, and a few others, since there were no allegations of wrongdoing surrounding those calls.
Perhaps ominously, Fleischer would not say that the White House would comply with congressional requests, even subpoenas, for information about administration contacts with Enron. It is possible that the White House is bluffing — Fleischer's "they're going to lose the support of the public" line seems intended to scare investigators away from requesting information from the White House at a time when the president enjoys great popularity. But perhaps the administration is serious and in the mood for a confrontation with congressional investigating committees. If that happens, the White House will likely lose.
In addition, Fleischer's comments seem to suggest that there are indeed more contacts between Enron and administration officials than are publicly known. Last week, for example, he said, "I think it should surprise no one that people in the administration receive phone calls from people who are either in business or in unions. It happens every day." If there are more contacts, it is likely that they will ultimately come to light, and even if they do nothing to change the basic the-White-House-did-not-intervene-on-behalf-of-Enron storyline, the administration will face legitimate questions of why it did not reveal the information earlier. And any new revelation will inevitably lead to the question, "What else have you not told us about?"
The White House realizes that people with far more authority than reporters — Democratic senators with the power of subpoena, for example — might soon make inquires about the administration's Enron contacts. And it is possible those inquiries will not meet the White House standard that questioners must come up with allegations of wrongdoing before receiving a White House response. Whatever the case, the administration will have to come up with more complete answers than it has this week.
U.S. and China Sign Infrastructure Deals
Agence France Presse, 31 March 1999
The U.S. and China signed seven infrastructure accords in late March. The accords include a deal signed between the China National Petroleum Corp with Enron International China Pipeline Ltd for the joint development of a 765-km natural gas pipeline to carry gas from Sichuan province to Hubei province. It will be the first onshore pipeline in China built in cooperation with a foreign company. Other accords include projects for monitoring air quality in more than 20 Chinese cities, supplying fertilizer to China's National Chemical Import and Export Corp, generating power, financing for clean energy, housing initiatives and participating in a scheme to halt floods. Source
GOP Folds On Chinagate
GEORGE BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT (Soft on Clinton and China) - Posted By Jim Robinson
US told to make China its No 1 enemy - - "The president was complimentary, he appreciated the policy discussion, and gave the indication that the topics were indeed what he had in mind,"
BREAKING: Bush Grants Permanent Trade Status to China
RED CHINA AND DICK CHENEY
"Whatever the price of the Chinese Revolution, it has obviously succeeded not only in producing more efficient and dedicated administration, but also in fostering high morale and community of purpose.... The social experiment in China under Chairman Mao's leadership is one of the most important and successful in human history."
David Rockefeller, 1973 - Source
Storm clouds brewing over Bush presidency
To: Uncle Bill
jr. has the power to Destroy Wal-Mart!!
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