Enron's ties with the Bush administration

AP | 1/11/02

[Native American Female Vet]

Enron's ties with the Bush administration:

By Associated Press, 1/11/2002 13:07

Enron's ties with the Bush administration:

Bush raised nearly $114,000 in political action committee money and individual donations from Enron during the presidential campaign. Enron also gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to Bush's two gubernatorial campaigns in Texas. Independent analyses show that Enron employees donated almost $800,000 from 1999 to 2001 to Bush, members of Congress and both parties. Most went to GOP causes.

Bush said he saw Kenneth Lay, Enron's chief executive, twice last year, but they did not discuss Enron's financial problems.

Lay met with Vice President Dick Cheney or his aides six times last year before release of the administration's energy plan. A Cheney spokeswoman said he last talked with Lay in June, and never about Enron's financial status.

Peter Fisher, the Treasury Department's undersecretary for domestic finance, spoke with Enron President Lawrence ''Greg'' Whalley six or eight times in late October and early November, according to a Treasury Department spokeswoman. Whalley asked Fisher to call bankers with whom the company was negotiating for an extension of credit but he did not make the calls, she said.

Lay called several administration officials including Commerce Secretary Don Evans, Bush's chief political fund-raiser and confidant, and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, as well as Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. Enron said the calls were to alert them about the company's problems.

Attorney General John Ashcroft's 2000 Senate campaign received thousands of dollars from Enron. Ashcroft has disqualified himself from the Justice Department's criminal inquiry into Enron's conduct.

Senior Bush adviser Karl Rove owned Enron stock at the beginning of Bush's term but sold it because of federal ethics rules. Economics adviser Larry Lindsey earned $50,000 from Enron for serving on a company board last year.

Marc Racicot, whom Bush has appointed chairman of the Republican National Committee, was a lobbyist for Enron last year. Racicot said he will do no more lobbying work after he takes the GOP's top job.

[jimkress]

FLASHBACK: CLINTON OFFICIAL MET WITH ENRON CHAIRMAN; $100,000 CASH DONATION TO DEMOCRATS TIMED TO PLANT APPROVAL
TIME MAGAZINE
SEPTEMBER 1, 1997

On Nov. 22, 1995 President Clinton scrawled an FYI note to chief of staff Mack McLarty, enclosing a newspaper article on Enron Corp. and the vicissitudes of its $3 billion power-plant project in India.

McLarty then reached out to Enron's chairman, Ken Lay, and over the next nine months closely monitored the project with the U.S. ambassador to New Delhi, keeping Lay informed of the Administration's efforts, according to White House documents reviewed by TIME magazine.

In June 1996, four days before India granted final approval to Enron's controversial $3 billion power-plant project, Enron's gave $100,000 to President Clinton's party.

Enron denies that its gift was repayment for Clinton's attention, and White House special counsel Lanny Davis says McLarty acted out of concern for a major U.S. investment overseas, TIME's Michael Weisskopf reported.

****

DRUDGE NOTE: McLarty was later hired by Enron. Lay also played golf with President Bill Clinton and slept in the Clinton White House. A master of political manipulation of both parties, Lay served as an adviser to the Clinton White House on energy issues. The Clinton administration, in turn, helped Enron get a contract for a gas pipeline in Mozambique and other projects, according to reports.

END

[eureka!]

OK Clymeriated Presstitutes, let's see the same article for the 'Toon and the Rats....

[angkor]

Enron's Campaign Contributions, 1989-2001- Senate & House

[isthisnickcool]

The headline is inaccurate. Many of the items describe ties to the bush CAMPAIGN". Which is not the Bush administration.

[steve50]

I've heard reports of Enron using threats of withholding US aid and loan packages to "sweeten" some of their overseas dealings. I bet that doesn't get much air time.

[Slyfox]

Let Us Never, Ever Forget

[Pete]

Here it is one more time.

Leiberman's biggest contributor in recent years is Citigroup. Citigroup is also Enron's largest unsecured creditor to the tune of $3 billion.

Leiberman is now investigating a company that owes his biggest contributor $3 billion. Someone needs to ask Senator Leiberman what conversations he has had with Citigroup about Enron.

[hflynn]

I hate to tell you but Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman has accused the Bush administration of doing nothing in response to Enron calls to the White House. Doing nothing? How does doing nothing make the Bush administration guilty of something? I hope you read post #2. Drudge is killing the Demos.LOL!!!!!

[Salvation]

Most went to GOP causes

Since when are Clinton,
Gore,
Daschle,
Gephardt,
HRC, and many other dimocrats----------
members of the GOP?

[deport]

Pete do you have a link for that tidbit.... I'd appreciate it.

[steve50]

I think that argument is approaching "it depends on what the meaning of "is" is".

Let them do a complete investigation. With Anderson destroying documents the justice department should have some serious leverage on some good ole boys there, lets see if they use it. If not, it's a coverup, or more likely a protection racket.

[Salvation]

Indexing

[RooRoobird14]

Kenneth Lay called Don Evans and Paul O'Neill eleven days after the 9/11 attack to inform them in general of Enron's financial troubles. Lay did not go into detail, did not ask for a bail-out, and was not offered ANYTHING by either Secretary. Why? Because according to Paul O'Neill, there is nothing the federal government can do nor should do in a situation like this--Enron has do deal with their own financial problems just like O'Neill had to when he was a CEO.

Neither Evans nor O'Neill informed President Bush about these phone calls until last week. Why? It was only 11 days after the WTC/Pentagon attacks, andPresident Bush was in the process of launching a war. The Secretaries took Lay's calls, listened, offered nothing, and that was the end of the matter.

This is all SoreLoserman-style flatulence by left-wing reporters (is there any other kind?), egged on by embittered Dumbocrat operatives like Paul BUG ala, James, CarVILE, and (no doubt) Senator Cottage Cheese Ankles.

[Wyatt's Torch]

And? So what? is hiring people that were once associated with a company that is now bankrupt illegal? Again, what is the issue here?

[deport]

.......Most went to GOP causes. ........

Darn and they still went belly up.... Does that mean the democrats are selling out too cheap.

Cheney meetings did you say....... Well lets see.

Matalin Details Cheney-Enron Meetings

[paul544]

I guess the upside is that this seems to be the whole of it. If this is the worst of it, then this is nothing.

[paul544]

I guess the upside is that this seems to be the whole of it. If this is the worst of it, then this is nothing.

[KansasConservative]

guess the upside is that this seems to be the whole of it. If this is the worst of it, then this is nothing.

Yes, pretty lame. I don't think the public is going to care much either. They would need an intern, a cigar and a blue dress to garner more interest. It's all a big YAWN!

[Pete]

Pete do you have a link for that tidbit.... I'd appreciate it.

Actually, I figured it out myself. Here is the documentation.

The following quote is from this article.

Enron reported in its court filing yesterday that Citigroup's Citibank unit is its largest unsecured creditor, with two loans totaling $3 billion.

Leiberman's campaign contributions can be found at opensecrets.org. Click here and search on Lieberman

2002 Race for Senate: Citigroup $112,546 top contributor - (next was United Tech at $62000
2000 Race for Senate: Citigroup $59,296 top contributor - (next was United Tech at $36,000)
1998 Race for Senate: Citigroup $54,350 top contributor - (next was Goldman Sachs at $30,350)

The first time Citigroup shows up is in 1998 and, since then, they have been the top contributor.