THAT IS IT .. those are the deals I was thinking of
More Enron Ties to Clinton, Gore, Lieberman, Rubin
Even as dismayed Democrats still fail to show any improper aid from the Bush administration to Enron Corp., evidence mounts regarding the disgraced company's ties to the Clinton administration.
Former Enron chairman and Clinton golf buddy Kenneth Lay offered a seat on the company's board in 1999 to Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and lobbied Rubin and his successor on issues affecting Enron, documents obtained last week by the Associated Press show.
This is the same Robert Rubin being paid a whopping $40 million a year by Enron creditor Citigroup.
"The notes and letters," obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, "show that Lay pressed Enron's interests to Clinton administration officials," AP reported.
Lay wrote to Rubin on May 14, 1999, after Rubin announced he was leaving his post, "Given the way Enron has evolved, not only do we badly need a person with your experience and insights ... but also I think you would find serving on our board intellectually and otherwise interesting."
Though Rubin did not join the board, he joined Citigroup Inc., which lent hundreds of millions of dollars to Enron. He "called Treasury's undersecretary for domestic finance, Peter Fisher, last Nov. 8 to seek his intervention on Enron's behalf."
Lay also wrote a note that May 14 to Rubin's successor in the Clinton administration, Lawrence Summers, promising to be available "if there is anything at all I or Enron could do for you or the department."
Dropping Rubin's name in an Oct. 8, 1999 letter to Summers, Lay mentioned that he had spent time with him in China - that best friend of the Clinton administration - the previous week and that "he looked more relaxed than I have seen him in years." He also "indicated he was prompted to write by a speech by a treasury assistant general counsel, that federal regulators might be considering regulation of the huge global derivatives market that exists outside of commodities exchanges," AP said.
"Larry, hopefully the comments made by John Yetter were just a misunderstanding," Lay wrote. "I would very much appreciate receiving a call or note from you if in fact there is any reason that we should be concerned about this occurring."
AP reported: "Summers responded on Nov. 22, noting that Yetter and another treasury official, Assistant Secretary Lee Sachs, had met with several Enron executives to discuss the company's concerns and that Sachs spoke on the phone with Lay about the issue."
http://www.montco-pa.com/docs/news/observer/html/body_national_pg.5.html