Among Congressional Investigators, Almost All Got Money From Enron or Accountant
The New York Times
January 25, 2002
By DON VAN NATTA Jr.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 - Of
the 248 senators and
House members serving on the
11 Congressional committees
that are investigating the Enron
collapse, 212 have
received campaign contributions
from Enron or its accounting
firm, Arthur Andersen, according
to an analysis of campaign
contributions.
Donations from both companies
are so pervasive on Capitol Hill
that each of the top 20 Senate
recipients of Enron donations are
serving on at least one committee
investigating Enron, according to
the analysis, which was
conducted by The New York
Times and the
Center for Responsive Politics.
The Senate's top 20 recipients of
Andersen's contributions are also all serving on at least
one investigatory committee.
As two of the committees embarked today on the first of
many Enron hearings this year, some critics have called
for all members of Congress who received campaign
contributions from Enron or Andersen to remove
themselves from the investigations.
"Who should recuse themselves from the Enron
hearings?" asked TomPaine.com, a public interest group
and Web site, in a newspaper advertisement published
this week. "The question is: Who shouldn't?"
In recent weeks, many politicians have scrambled to erase
any financial connection to Enron, donating the energy
trading company's contributions to charitable causes or to
a fund established to assist former Enron employees.
Among the most aggressive to cut previous financial links
to Enron and Andersen have been senators who face
re-election this fall. Today, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of
Illinois joined the growing list of lawmakers to declare he
would give his Enron contributions to the fund for former
employees.
While campaign finance reform advocates have applauded
the renunciation of Enron contributions, they said that a
recusal was too much to ask of a member of Congress, if
only because it would be impractical.
"There won't be anyone left to conduct the investigation,"
said Scott Harshbarger, the president of Common Cause.
In the past four years, Enron's political action committee
has donated nearly $2 million to senators and House
members, but the generosity was even more pronounced
among the members now investigating the company's
collapse and filing for bankruptcy protection. Forty-three
of the 57 members of the House Energy and Commerce
Committee have received money from Enron, the analysis
shows. And 52 of the committee's 57 members have
received donations from Andersen, the analysis shows.
For most critics of money in politics, the Enron case is the
most extreme example of how business is conducted in
Washington, particularly because there are thousands of
Enron employees and others who lost millions of dollars
in retirement savings.
They say the public's confidence in the impartiality of the
system will be further eroded by Congressional inquiries
conducted by Enron beneficiaries, even if many of them
have chosen to forward those contributions to charitable
causes.
"Unfortunately, this is a stark example of a problem that
regularly exists in Washington, where members of
Congress are making judgments about interest groups
that have provided substantial financial support for their
campaigns," said Fred Wertheimer, president of
Democracy 21, a group that advocates overhaul of the
political finance system
"Go back and look at the judgments that Congress was
making about the telecommunications industry, or the
financial industry - or, more precisely, the accounting
industry - while they had received huge sums of money
from the very interests they were making judgments
about," Mr. Wertheimer said. "This is a way of life in
Washington."
Representative Dick Armey, the Texas Republican who is
the House majority leader, said the question of whether
members of Congress should recuse themselves if they got
money from Enron was "a personal judgment." But he
contended that the idea that members of Congress were
"for sale or for rent is grotesquely exaggerated."
Only Senator Phil Gramm, the Texas Republican who is
the ranking minority member of the Banking Committee,
has recused himself from investigating Enron, but he said
the decision had nothing to do with the $101,350 his
campaign has received from Enron, its employees and its
political action committee since 1989.
Senator Gramm attributed his decision to his wife's
service on the Enron board. He said he planned to take
part in the Banking Committee's general inquiries into
accounting standards and investor protection issues.
"He will not participate in any hearings conducted in his
committee, the Banking Committee, which propose to be
backward looking to inquire into in effect with what went
wrong with Enron or assess blame," said Larry Neal, Mr.
Gramm's press secretary. "In terms of forward- looking
committee business in terms of national policy, he will be
fully engaged. The campaign contributions did not have
an influence over his decision in either case."
No one in the House received more money from Andersen
than Representative BILLY TAUZIN, the Louisiana
Republican who is chairman of the House Committee on
Energy and Commerce, which was one of two committees
holding Enron hearings today.
Mr. Tauzin's campaigns received $57,000 in contributions
from Andersen since 1989. He refused to return any
money, and his staff said the contributions had hardly
impeded Mr. Tauzin's aggressive inquiry.
"He is not recusing himself," said Ken Johnson, a
spokesman for Mr. Tauzin's committee. "To return the
money or to recuse himself would be to indicate that he
had acted improperly in the first place by accepting the
donations. People who contribute to Billy's campaign may
get an autographed photograph, but no one is entitled to
a free get-out-of-jail pass."
Attorney General John Ashcroft recused himself from the
Justice Department's criminal investigation because he
received Enron money for his Senate campaigns. And the
entire United States attorney's office in Houston has
recused itself because of its staff's web of financial and
personal relationships to Enron employees.
Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, the ranking
Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, called on
Wednesday for the appointment of a special counsel,
saying the Enron case presented the Bush administration
with an "irreconcilable conflict of interest."
Mr. Conyers criticized "the massive campaign donations
from the parties subject to the investigation and the Bush
administration and the overlap between individuals in
Enron's direct or indirect employ and the administration."
In a letter to Larry D. Thompson, the deputy attorney
general who is heading the Enron inquiry, Mr. Conyers
wrote: "To my knowledge, never in the nation's history
have parties under criminal investigation given as much
money on an ongoing basis as has been the case in the
Enron matter."
Brian Sierra, a Justice Department spokesman, said
lawyers there were reviewing the letter.
Several weeks ago, the national party campaign
committees returned soft-money donations which came
directly from Enron's political action committee. The
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the
national Republican Congressional Committee have each
pledged to donate $100,000 in Enron contributions to a
fund for Enron employees who have been laid off.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee's ranking
minority member, John D. Dingell of Michigan, has
decided to donate $10,000 in Enron contributions to a
fund which is being set up by the Greater Houston
Community Foundation for Enron employees who lost
their jobs and savings.
"Given the circumstances of Enron's collapse and the
effects on the employees," a spokesman for Mr. Dingell
said, "the congressman felt it was appropriate to give the
money to this fund."
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