COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate Dick Gephardt demanded Saturday that front-runner Howard Dean release records of meetings and phone calls about tax breaks given to corporate villain Enron.
Gephardt alleged that Dean, while Vermont's governor, ``met regularly with the corporate chiefs who benefited from the tax windfall he created for them. A chief beneficiary of his tax cuts for corporate special interests was Enron.''
Dean has faced questions about corporate tax breaks enacted during his 11 years as governor. Enron set up a special insurance subsidiary in Vermont in 1994, a year after the Dean-supported tax break to the insurance industry took effect.
Dean insists he never gave tax breaks to Enron, the Houston energy-trading company whose 2001 bankruptcy cost thousands of employees their retirement accounts.
``Just more desperate distortion and negative attacks from Dick Gephardt,'' Dean spokesman Jay Carson said. ``He would rather desperately attack governor Dean than talk about his record.''
Carson said Enron had given $176,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee at a time when Gephardt was the Democratic House leader. Gephardt said Saturday the campaign committee raised money from a lot of people, and the reason the Dean campaign knows about it is because the records are open to the public.
Dean has come under heavy fire from his rivals since former Vice President Al Gore endorsed him on Monday.
``I call on Howard Dean to release all records of meetings, phone calls or negotiations between him, or representatives of his administration, and Enron executives regarding this tax break,'' Gephardt said.
Carson said releasing any records was not the issue.
``In 1994, know one knew that Enron was a bad company,'' Carson said. ``This is like punishing a bank because a tax cheat has some of his money in a savings account there.''
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