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To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (46472)	1/15/2002 3:04:37 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 65232

The Nixonizing Of George Bush From: News and Views \| Opinion \| By: Zev Chafets Sunday, January 13, 2002 nydailynews.com Enron. The name itself means nothing and reveals nothing. Big corporations like General Motors and General Electric not only advertise their businesses, they award themselves military rank. But from its inception in 1985, the Houston-based firm wanted to be Private Enron. For 15 years, it worked. Enron grew to be America's seventh-largest corporation without anyone really knowing how it made its money. Something to do with brokering energy. Even now that Enron has crashed, its business is still obscure. But the picture of its financial practices is familiar to "Sopranos" fans. Allegedly, Enron set up off-the-books partnerships into which it dumped losses. That kept its value and credit rating high. Investment capital rolled in. Then, when the partnerships started to give way, Enron capos cashed in and declared bankruptcy. They left shareholders and employees holding the bag. When the mob does this, it is known as a bustout. If Enron's bosses thought they could get away with it, they were very mistaken. Reputations are going to be made at the Justice Department on this case and the related investigation into why Arthur Andersen, Enron's accountant, trashed corporate financial documents. Some heroes of American capitalism will probably wind up with bigger numbers on their backs than in their bank accounts. But the Enron affair is more than just a business debacle. The Democratic Party intends to turn it into a major political scandal. Partisans have started calling it "a cancer on the presidency" and "worse than Whitewater." But so far, all the Democrats have come up with is guilt by association. President Bush received a lot of campaign money from Enron. So did his father. Both men have personal ties to Enron executives. Without a doubt, Enron has been the sort of successful energy entrepreneur that embodied Bush Family Values. The question is, so what? Bush never made a secret of his connections to Enron. He had no reason to. Enron was the biggest corporation in Texas during his tenure as governor, and it enjoyed national prestige. Was Bush friendly to its interests? Of course. The governor of Texas — especially a pro-business Republican governor — is supposed to help his state's biggest employers and corporate taxpayers. The only way Bush can get hurt is if he did something illegal or ethically awful on the company's behalf. And so far, there's no proof — or even an allegation — he did. Last fall, when Enron CEO Kenneth Lay realized he was about to go down, he reached out to Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and Commerce Secretary Donald Evans. Reportedly, the two Bush lieutenants slapped his hand away and let him sink without so much as an adios. Bush may call Lay Kenny Boy, but he is not about to pull a Tammy Wynette for Lay's benefit. The Justice Department has been similarly cold-hearted. Attorney General John Ashcroft received campaign contributions from Enron. He could have argued that this was legal and that lots of pols in both parties took Enron money. Instead, he recused himself from the investigation, effectively preempting charges of favoritism and putting Enron in the hands of professional prosecutors. This doesn't mean that Bush is in the clear. Only he knows what his dealings with Enron actually amount to. But so far, he's accused of nothing more than being a Texas Republican, and Nixonizing him won't be easy. The President has a reputation for probity. He also enjoys the goodwill of the country — most voters don't want a crippled wartime White House. That's something the Democrats, intent on turning the Enron bustout into Enrongate, had better take into account. ____________________________________ E-mail: zchafets@aol.com