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Conservatives (Judicial Watch) turn on Bush over Enron
The Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | 01/12/2002 | Ben Fenton

Posted on 01/11/2002 4:26:46 PM PST by Pokey78

THE White House response to the collapse of Enron, a Texas-based energy company with strong links to the Bush administration, has "shades of Bill Clinton", a conservative watchdog said yesterday.

Judicial Watch, a legal group that pressed Mr Clinton in the latter years of his presidency by investigating every aspect of his personal and professional life, called for a special counsel to investigate the Enron case.

Tom Fitton, the group's president, said: "The White House has a nice little scandal on its hands with Enron and they have only themselves to blame. Their reaction certainly has shades of Bill Clinton." The criticism is an indication of the potential risks of the Enron controversy.

Judicial Watch would normally support a conservative president such as Mr Bush. Enron applied for bankruptcy protection last November after overstating its profits by more than £400 million by hiding huge debts in the accounts of subsidiaries.

Its board is being investigated over allegations that 29 current or former members sold their shares for a total of £785 million in the months before the collapse. Thousands lost jobs and money when the Enron share price collapsed from almost £65 to only a few pence in less than a year.

The Houston-based company has close links to the Bush White House. Kenneth Lay, its chairman, is a friend of both President Bush and his father and was one of the principal fundraisers for the Bush-Cheney election campaign in 1999-2000.

Dick Cheney, the vice-president, had close contacts with Mr Lay when Halliburton, another Houston-based energy company of which he was formerly chief executive, built a baseball stadium for Enron.

Two senior members of the administration, Larry Lindsey, the President's chief economic adviser, and Robert Zoellick, the US trade representative, worked as consultants with Enron before Mr Bush recruited them.

The White House said on Thursday that Mr Lay called on Paul O'Neill, the treasury secretary, and Don Evans, the commerce secretary, to help the company in the days before it collapsed, but added that they had turned him down, despite his close links to the president and his party.

But Mr Fitton yesterday called on the White House to be more open. "Conservatives are very uncomfortable about the relations between the Bush White House and Enron and I doubt you will see many coming forward to defend the conduct, at least so far."

He was particularly critical of Mr Cheney's efforts to prevent the release of the minutes of meetings he and his staff held with Mr Lay and other Enron executives in the process of formulating the administration's energy policy.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: michaeldobbs
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To: poet
Since I make a tidy fortune as a hedge fund manager,I feel qualified to state that if people pay attention to market signals, they would see when a stock isn't acting right, and Enron has been weak since December 2000, so that any news item was going to go in the direction of the trend.Plus, you're in the teeth of the nastiest bear marktet since 1981-'82, and people somehow think their stocks won't get hit?? Its a cruel world at times for investing, but the market knows more than any Federal regulator ever will, nor any cabinet member, too.
81 posted on 01/11/2002 7:11:01 PM PST by habs4ever
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Comment #82 Removed by Moderator

To: jamesbond
Let me ask you this, if Judicial Watch is so "non-partisian" in it's approach, how in the world would this reporter get the idea that they are conservatives? And what about this quote,

"Mr. Fitton: "Conservatives are very uncomfortable about the relations between the Bush White House and Enron and I doubt you will see many coming forward to defend the conduct, at least so far."

Now, I expect to see a press release come out that Judicial Watch was unfairly smeared by the leftist UK Telegraph.....however, I'm not holding my breath.......

83 posted on 01/11/2002 7:14:38 PM PST by A Citizen Reporter
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To: poet
My, my, my how we throw around words like "corruption". Whose "corruption"? Bush's? How so?

You must not mean Enron's since none of the employees could sell or trade their stock for only a brief period when the company was in the middle of changing and reorganizing their 401k carriers. It's all in their filings.

Maybe you mean Wall Street's "corruption" for creating and maintaining the hysterical atmosphere that surrounded the Enron phenom.

The truth is, when Mr. Daschle killed the Energy bill, that killed Enron because they became energy brokers with no product to broker and that took down the poor, tragic investors your heart breaks for. So you must mean the Democrat's "corruption" for destroying the 7th largest company in the country in order to get George Bush.

You seem to be jumping to conclusions you know nothing about, but you sure seem to have absorbed the exact information the Democrats wanted you to. Imagine that!

I suggest you spend more time hanging out on some of the financial web sites or CNBC during the trading day. The best is "Your World" on FOX. Of course you might come into contact with facts...scary stuff.

84 posted on 01/11/2002 7:17:12 PM PST by Deb
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To: Deb
I heard that if California paid Enron what it owes it, there would be plenty of money for the employees, have you heard that?
85 posted on 01/11/2002 7:18:44 PM PST by Howlin
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To: poet
The point is that all the 401(k) investors did not have a heads-up so they could sell their shares.

January 1st: $82.00

October 15th: $13.00

That's a headsup for your A$$.

86 posted on 01/11/2002 7:20:21 PM PST by Howlin
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To: Howlin
I heard that if California paid Enron what it owes it,

Oh say it ain't so. California is short of cash right now. Just ask Gov Davis. Are you trying to put pressure on the powers that be to raise my taxes or something?

87 posted on 01/11/2002 7:21:01 PM PST by Torie
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To: Patriot76
Bush is good friends with those creeps.

Is that what he's being officially *charged* with?

88 posted on 01/11/2002 7:22:05 PM PST by Howlin
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To: Miss Marple
Woohoo !!!!!!!! Good letter Miss M.
89 posted on 01/11/2002 7:23:05 PM PST by Southflanknorthpawsis
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To: denydenydeny; ratcat
Even in this article, there isn't a word about Enron, is there, or did I miss something?
90 posted on 01/11/2002 7:24:00 PM PST by Howlin
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Comment #91 Removed by Moderator

To: Deb; Miss Marple
As I saw somebody else say today, two things that have returned since Bush took office:

Homelessness

Investigative reporting

92 posted on 01/11/2002 7:26:58 PM PST by Howlin
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To: Pokey78; gopcapitalist; grlfrnd
I never thought of Klayman as conservative. I always thought of him as non-partisan...he was going after Slick while Slick was in office, now he's going after Bush since Bush is in office. Many Republican party loyalists will turn on Klayman like they have on Drudge. My complaint with Klayman is that he seems to have about 2,000 lawsuits filed right now and they never seem to turn into anything.
93 posted on 01/11/2002 7:27:46 PM PST by BUSHdude2000
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To: willyone
Honestly, you are so ill-informed, I hope you DO vote for the Dems.

Amnesty for illegals

A lie.

food stamps for illegals

Another lie.

94 posted on 01/11/2002 7:28:47 PM PST by Howlin
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To: jamesbond
Judicial Watch watches for injustice and tries to right the wrongs done to America.

You know, Klayman said something very close to that when he introduced himself in Judge Sauls' courtroom during the recount.

I bet those people are STILL laughing.

95 posted on 01/11/2002 7:31:08 PM PST by Howlin
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To: A Citizen Reporter
I doubt you will see many coming forward to defend the conduct, at least so far."

Fitton must not have a TV. ALL the GOP is defending Bush!

96 posted on 01/11/2002 7:33:01 PM PST by Howlin
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To: jamesbond
" They are conservatives. They say that on the air all the time. That's different from being partisan."

Newsflash! Because they say it, doesn't make it so. Try reading the entire thread again.

97 posted on 01/11/2002 7:34:03 PM PST by A Citizen Reporter
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To: Torie
No.........No.............but that's what I heard!
98 posted on 01/11/2002 7:34:08 PM PST by Howlin
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To: Howlin
Yep, that's what even the regulators out here have said. When it's all said and done I'll bet Enron will have done nothing wrong. I'd be willing to bet that even the claim their execs took millions while their company tanked will prove wrong.

The Democrats have been trying to sink a really big Texas company or get some Texas related scandal going for two years. If someone did a Google search of the words "Texas/execution/oil/cocaine" since GW declared his plans to run for prez, a series of books could be compiled from the articles.

99 posted on 01/11/2002 7:35:41 PM PST by Deb
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To: Howlin
THAT depends on what your definition of "conservative" is....is....
100 posted on 01/11/2002 7:36:51 PM PST by A Citizen Reporter
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