Enron Was Big Player in Texas
There is just somethin' bout texas....and they can say what they like about Davis in California who was put under the texas bowie knife of collusion....so his settlement for long term contracts didn't work....it worked in the immediate action of saving the state from the hyenas of the Cheney ILK.....those whom he 'worked' with on the entire energy policy of the US based on crooks and thieves.....
By KELLEY SHANNON
Associated Press Writer
January 20, 2002, 2:42 PM EST
AUSTIN, Texas -- In the company's high-flying days, Enron Corp. employees
and their political action committee stuffed the campaign coffers of Texas state
officials in nearly every top post, from the governor to justices on the highest
civil court.
Gov. Rick Perry has received more than $227,000 in campaign donations from
Enron Corp. officials since 1993, second among state politicians only to George
W. Bush during his campaigns for governor.
Executives and employees of the now-bankrupt Houston energy giant gave
more than $1 million to state officeholders in Texas over the past decade. That's
along with at least $477,000 donated over 12 years to Texans in Congress.
Political donations by large corporations, especially in the energy field, is
tradition in Texas, said Daron Shaw, an associate government professor at the
University of Texas.
"What you try to pay for is access, and people will hear what you have to say,"
Shaw said. However, it is "the scope and the amount of money they have to
pay that's sort of unusual," he said of Enron.
Donations to Perry's campaigns for state office since 1993 include $138,000
given by Enron's chief executive, Kenneth Lay. That includes $25,000 given the
day after Perry named former Enron executive Max Yzaguirre to be chairman of
the Public Utility Commission last June.
Yzaguirre resigned Friday amid the political storm surrounding Enron's dramatic
downfall, in which it became the largest corporation in U.S. history to file for
bankruptcy.
Perry, a Republican, was agriculture commissioner and lieutenant governor
before ascending to governor a year ago when Bush resigned to become
president.
For his two gubernatorial campaigns, Bush got $312,500 from Enron officials, according to Texans For
Public Justice, a nonprofit group in Austin that tracks money in politics. During his race for the
presidency, Bush received nearly $114,000 from Lay and Enron.
Enron benefited while Bush was governor with passage of electric deregulation and enactment of tort
reform laws, and under Perry when Yzaguirre was chosen to lead the Public Utility Commission, said
Andrew Wheat, research director of Texans For Public Justice.
"When you look overall at political influence, this is one of the most influential corporations that we have.
For a corporation to have one of its own people as chairman of the PUC regulating its industry is an
extraordinary coup d'etat," Wheat said.
Other leading Texas politicians who received Enron campaign contributions were Attorney General John
Cornyn, a Republican who got $188,000; Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander, a Republican who got
$71,500; and former Texas Supreme Court Justice Greg Abbott, a Republican now running for attorney
general who received $12,600 in past campaigns.
Abbott has returned his contributions, and Rylander plans to donate hers to a fund to help Enron
employees, their spokesmen said.
Enron's executives and its PAC have contributed $134,058 to state Supreme Court justices since 1993,
according to Texans For Public Justice.
Among Democrats, gubernatorial candidate Dan Morales said he is giving $8,250 in Enron PAC
contributions, received when he was attorney general, to an Enron employees assistance fund.
Former Comptroller John Sharp, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, received $7,500 and is
donating it to help Enron employees.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Ken Bentsen of Houston received $42,750. He said he will donate $2,000 to a fund
to assist Enron workers.
Cornyn has not taken any Enron-related money in his bid for U.S. Senate. He isn't giving his state
contributions up because they were made legally, said spokesman Dave Beckwith.
Perry said Friday he will keep his Enron contributions.
I BET HE WILL!
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