Bush: Execs Will Be Held Accountable
Fri Jun 28, 1:40 PM ET
By RON FOURNIER, AP White House Correspondent
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush ( news - web sites), hoping to avoid political fallout over a string of corporate scandals, pledged Friday that his Justice Department ( news - web sites) will "hold people accountable" for mismanaging their companies through deceit and corruption.
"Corporate America has got to understand there is a higher calling than trying to fudge the numbers, trying to slip a billion here and a billion here and ... hope nobody notices," Bush as he headlined a $500,000 fund-raiser for Rep. Connie Morella ( news, bio, voting record), R-Md.
It marked the third day in row Bush has pledged to crack down on corporate irresponsibility, a reflection of internal Republican polling that shows he and his party are vulnerable on the topic.
WorldCom Inc. said this week it hid $3.8 billion in expenses. The disclosure, which has propelled the former telecom giant toward bankruptcy, follows the collapse of Enron, an energy giant that was run by a longtime Bush associate, and other corporate failures.
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said the string of disclosures "threatens our economy to the core" and accused the White House of not backing adequate reforms. He mentioned Halliburton Co., which is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission ( news - web sites) for its accounting practices in 1998, while Vice President Dick Cheney ( news - web sites) was its chief executive.
"It's time to abandon this laissez-faire attitude and take action," the lawmaker said in a written statement.
Bush will dedicate his weekly radio address Saturday to the topic of corporate irresponsibility. Democrats, sensing a weakness in Bush's otherwise high approval ratings, plan to discuss the same issue in their address.
The president also plans to go to Wall Street July 9 to deliver a speech on accountability, and aides are preparing a series of initiatives to go along with it.
"You have a responsibility to this country to always be above board," Bush said in his message to corporate America at the fund-raiser. He promised to enforce laws against corporate wrongdoing.
"Our Justice Department will hold people accountable," he said.
The SEC is investigating the WorldCom case.
Morella, 71, faces the toughest race of her career in a district that added than 100,000 new voters in Democratic areas of the Maryland suburbs around Washington as the result of redistricting.
"She's an independent soul," Bush said at the fund-raiser. "She is a highly intelligent person who is with you if she thinks you're right and she is gracious enough to explain to you when she thinks you're wrong."
Arguably the most liberal Republican in the House, she votes for abortion rights, supported campaign finance legislation that the GOP leaders battled, and voted against all four impeachment charges that Republicans filed against President Clinton ( news - web sites) in 1998.
She pays careful attention to her district with frequent appearances at community events, joking recently that she'd "go to the opening of an envelope." |
