Clinton Rips Bush on 90's Fraud
Sun Jul 28, 3:48 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AP) - Former President Clinton ( news - web sites) says the bull
market of the 1990s bred corporate corruption but that President Bush ( news - web
sites)'s laying blame on his predecessor twists the truth.
"There was corporate malfeasance both before he took office and after," Clinton told
a Washington television reporter. "The difference is I actually tried to do something
about it, and their party stopped it" in Congress.
"And one of the people who stopped our attempt to stop Enron accounting was
made chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission ( news - web sites),"
Clinton said. "That is a fact; an indisputable fact."
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel would not respond Sunday to Clinton's
specific comments but said: "There is a long-held tradition of former presidents
acting in the national interests, not their own partisan interests. That long-held
tradition has served the nation well, and President Bush is looking forward, not
backward."
Clinton's interview was aired Friday on WJLA-TV Channel 7.
Bush was asked at a July 8 news conference whether Clinton had contributed to
corporate excesses of the 1990s that have shaken the stock markets and slowed
the nation's economic recovery. "No," Bush said. Asked later about controversies
surrounding his new SEC commissioner, Bush said: "I think Harvey Pitt was put in
place to clean up a mess."
Other White House officials have criticized the Clinton administration for letting
underhanded corporate practices flourish.
Clinton also noted that Bush had blamed his effort to push Israel and the
Palestinians into an overall settlement for violence that began in September 2000
and has become steadily worse.
"These people ran on responsibility, but as soon as you scratch them they go
straight to blame," Clinton said in the interview. "Now you know, I didn't blame his
father for Somalia ... I didn't do that.
"And I think that's not a real mark of leadership, and it's the wrong thing to do. But in
this case, it's factually wrong."
Clinton said he began warning in 1998 about a gathering problem with corporate
accounting practices, and when his SEC "tried to stop the Enron accounting practice
of accountants being the consultants, the other party stopped us. And their main
lobbyist was Harvey Pitt."
On the Middle East, Clinton said: "We had seven years of progress toward peace in
the Middle East, and they tried to blame me for trouble in the Middle East. That's just
what they do. Republicans have always done that. But it's bad form, and it's bad for
America, and they should stop it."
The interview was taped after Clinton attended an observance to commemorate the
10th anniversary of passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. |
