Bush: 'shady' company practices let down America
>>With his own corporate behavior and that of some top aides -- including Vice President Dick Cheney -- under scrutiny, Bush railed against accounting scandals that have hurt workers and undermined faith in the U.S. economy and said his administration was "investigating, arresting and prosecuting" errant executives.<<
By Arshad Mohammed
MADISON, Miss., Aug 7 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush said companies with "shady" practices had let down the people of Mississippi and the nation as he campaigned on Wednesday for a Republican congressman near bankrupt WorldCom Inc's (Other OTC:WCOEQ.PK - News) hometown.
With his own corporate behavior and that of some top aides -- including Vice President Dick Cheney -- under scrutiny, Bush railed against accounting scandals that have hurt workers and undermined faith in the U.S. economy and said his administration was "investigating, arresting and prosecuting" errant executives.
"Here in Mississippi you know what I'm talking about. You know what it means to be let down by shady corporate practices," Bush told a boisterous crowd of several hundred people packed into Madison Central High School's gym.
With the Nov. 5 congressional elections approaching, Bush touted the law he signed last week quadrupling prison time for corporate fraud as he sought to insulate himself and his fellow Republicans from the wave of accounting scandals that have caused mass layoffs at some firms and sent stock prices reeling.
WorldCom's former Chief Financial Officer Scott Sullivan and former Controller David Myers were arrested last week for their role in the telecom company's $3.85 billion accounting scandal that ended in the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.
Bush spoke after meeting Lisa McAdams -- a former WorldCom employee whom the White House said was laid off in late June without severance and whose family is now two months away from losing their home and declaring bankruptcy.
"They lost their jobs and a good portion of their retirement funds because there was corporate malfeasance .... cooking the books," Bush said, without mentioning WorldCom by name. "People who dedicate their lives to building a company that hired them deserve better."
"WORKING VACATION"
In a wide-ranging speech, Bush also criticized malpractice lawsuits that he said are driving doctors out of the profession in Mississippi and elsewhere and, without mentioning Iraq by name, he promised to be patient and deliberate and consult with Congress and U.S. allies over how to deal with Baghdad.
Bush was later expected to raise $1 million for Republicans including Rep. Charles "Chip" Pickering, a three-term lawmaker forced into a tough race against incumbent Democrat Rep. Ronnie Shows when Mississippi lost one of its congressional seats.
Leaving his Crawford, Texas, ranch less than 24 hours after he got there for a 25-day "working vacation," Bush's visit took him within hailing distance of WorldCom's headquarters in Clinton, Mississippi.
The struggling economy and the fallout from the accounting scandals could prove a weapon for Democrats in the elections, which Bush hopes will allow the Republicans to keep control of the U.S. House of Representatives and retake the Senate.
Bush sought to cast the sputtering economy, which shrank for the first three quarters of 2001 -- meeting the technical definition of a recession -- as a problem that he inherited.
FEAR AND THE ECONOMY
"When I took office our economy was ... beginning a recession," Bush said. "Then our economy was hit by terrorists. Then our economy was hit by corporate scandals. But I'm certain of this: we won't let fear undermine our economy and we're not going to let fraud undermine it either."
Bush plans to use his 25-day vacation to make a series of political appearances for Republicans across the country and to stress, particularly in an Aug. 13 economic forum in Waco, Texas, that he is doing everything he can to create jobs.
The president, who spent most of his vacation last August resting up at his 1,600-acre (650-hectare) ranch, is sensitive to suggestions that he is taking it easy at a time of war and economic uncertainty.
"I have moved my office to Crawford," Bush said, seeking to combat the notion that he is loafing at the ranch. In fact, he will be quite busy, visiting 15 cities during his vacation to help Republican candidates and promote his domestic agenda.
In addition to Mississippi, Bush plans to visit Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, Oregon, California, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Michigan and Pennsylvania before he returns to the White House around Labor Day on Sept. 2.
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