Ken sure got around! CEO tied to Kerrys, too
news.bostonherald.com
By David R. Guarino
Friday, July 9, 2004
President Bush may know indicted ex-Enron boss Ken Lay as ``Kenny Boy,'' but Sen. John F. Kerry [related, bio] and his millionaire wife also have past financial and personal ties to Lay's shamed energy firm, documents show.
Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry reported more than $250,000 in Enron stock ownership before the firm's 2001 collapse. Kerry also was forced to return a campaign contribution from an implicated Enron executive.
And Heinz Kerry served on a charity board with Lay, even after he was implicated in the alleged fraud, records show.
Kerry has railed against the Bush administration's handling of the Enron scandal on the campaign trail.
The Kerry campaign said the senator's meager ties pale in comparison to Bush's longtime friendship with and financial backing from Lay.
``George Bush and Ken Lay worked together for years, Ken Lay defrauded consumers and collected profits from it and George Bush collected a half-million dollars from Enron,'' Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan said. ``We received one check from an employee that was accused of wrongdoing and we returned the check. That speaks volumes.''
Kerry's campaign took $1,000 from an executive of Enron Wind in November 2001, a check he returned a few months later. He also took $250 from an Enron accountant in May - a check he won't return, Meehan said, because that donor hasn't been implicated in the alleged fraud.
A Heinz family trust bought between $250,000 and $500,000 of stock in December 1995, just days before Heinz Kerry announced Lay would serve as a member of the Heinz Center philanthropy, Kerry's Senate financial disclosure documents show.
The stock brought between $5,000 and $15,000 in dividends in 1996 before it was sold in 1997, the disclosure forms show.
Lay stayed on the board after Enron's collapse and a Heinz Foundation spokeswoman defended Lay in news reports amid the fraud accusations as having ``a good reputation in the environmental community.'' |
