How close can they get to GWB...US Sen May Seek Subpoena For White House Data On Enron
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON (AP)--Sen. Joseph Lieberman said Friday he'll try to subpoena the White House for information on officials' contacts with Enron unless the administration promises to provide the material by the end of the month.
Lieberman, D-Conn., who heads the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, has been in a push-and-pull with the White House since requesting the information in late March as part of the panel's Enron investigation.
In a letter to White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, Lieberman wrote, "More than seven weeks have passed ... and the committee has received virtually no information from you."
He said the only material the White House had provided was copies of letters responding to other congressional inquiries and a transcript of a press conference by U.S. President George W. Bush.
In contrast, Lieberman said, the federal agencies which the committee had asked for information - including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Labor Department - had provided "detailed responses" within three to four weeks.
Lieberman said he would ask his committee Wednesday to vote on authorizing a subpoena unless Gonzales assures the panel he will take steps to broaden the search for information and to provide the material by the end of May.
White House spokesmen weren't immediately available for comment.
Houston-based Enron was among Bush's biggest campaign contributors. The administration disclosed in January that former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay made a series of telephone calls to members of the Bush Cabinet, including U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Evans, as the company spiraled toward collapse last fall.
The energy-trading company entered the biggest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history Dec. 2.
The General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative arm, sued U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney in February to force release of the names of Enron and other industry figures who met with his energy task force.
The Senate panel has been looking into why federal regulators didn't raise warning flags about Enron's questionable business practices and intervene.
In response to Lieberman's request, Gonzales April 29 asked dozens of staffers to fill out a questionnaire.
On Tuesday, Gonzales asked White House staff members to answer two more questions in response to Lieberman's request for information on their contacts with Enron in the months leading up to its collapse.
The new questionnaire asks the staffers whether they had communications with Enron on any public policy issue affecting the company, or whether they had any discussion about Enron with any official of any executive branch.
The possible responses in the survey are "yes," "no" and "I'd like to discuss."
Updated May 17, 2002 3:38 p.m. EDT |
