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Non-Tech : The Enron Scandal - Unmoderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GUSTAVE JAEGER who wrote (2377)	7/26/2002 12:28:46 PM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3602

Morris: Clinton False on Corporate Reform Blame Claim Thursday, July 25, 2002 12:18 p.m. EDT newsmax.com Ex-president Bill Clinton was flat-out wrong on Wednesday when he blamed Republicans for blocking his attempts to implement corporate reforms that might have prevented the recent stock market slide, his former top political adviser Dick Morris tells NewsMax.com exclusively. While touring the site of his presidential library in Little Rock, Ark., Clinton told the New York Times, "Arthur Levitt, my Securities and Exchange commissioner, tried to stop the Enron accounting issues - using the same accounting company being consultant and accountant - and the Republicans stopped it." Later Clinton argued that since Republicans had fought Levitt's effort, they deserved the blame. "[Bush SEC Commissioner] Harvey Pitt was the leader trying to stop us from ending those kind of abuses," he complained. "That is a matter of record." But ex-Clinton adviser Dick Morris reveals that the former First Prevaricator is up to his old tricks again. "This attempt by Clinton to blame the Republicans for the override of his veto of the securities bill is totally phony," he told NewsMax Thursday. "It was Democratic Senator and Democratic National Committee Chairman Chris Dodd of Connecticut who led the effort to override Clinton's veto." In fact, said Morris, without Dodd's efforts to round up Democratic support for the bill, Clinton's veto would have been sustained. The former White House political adviser said the legislation Clinton vetoed proposed sheltering accountants and other professionals from lawsuits for corporate fraud. Morris said the bill "created a 'safe harbor' where over-estimates of future profitability would not be grounds for lawsuits by stockholders, provided certain boiler plate language was added." Under the law passed by Dodd and his fellow Democrats, "accountants and other professionals like lawyers could only be assessed for their 'proportionate liability for the fraud' rather than 'jointly and severally' held liable for the entire fraud," he said. "The effect was to shelter firms like Arthur Andersen from liability for the entire Enron scandal and to limit the firm's liability to just a portion of the fraud [leaving investors without recourse because Enron is bankrupt]," Morris explained. "Arthur Andersen bought Dodd's support [and that of Republican Phil Gramm of Texas] by making them the two largest recipients of Andersen and accounting industry campaign contributions in the U.S. Senate," the former White House insider said. "Dodd paid back that support by the override of Clinton's veto." Newspaper reports at the time back up Morris' account in spades. "Dodd Gets Senate to Override Veto of Securities Reform Bill" was the headline of the December 1995 Hartford Courant story detailing Democrat efforts to shield the corporate buccaneers. "The Senate voted 68-30 Friday to override a President Clinton veto for the first time in his three-year-old presidency," the paper said, "with old Clinton friend and Democratic Party Chairman Christopher J. Dodd leading the charge. As a result, consumers will find many changes in how they can legally confront and seek restitution from unscrupulous securities firms." The Courant even quoted Dodd taking credit for loosening the regulations Clinton wanted to keep in place. "I have great respect for the president of the United States," he said at the time. "And I know that when he calls people, it can be very persuasive, but I called everybody too." In fact, Morris himself detailed Dodd's role in blocking the reforms in his own New York Post column earlier this year. "Dodd's connections with Arthur Andersen and his vigorous efforts on their behalf are proving a bit of an embarrassment to Democrats bent on pinning the Enron Scandal on Bush and the Republicans," he wrote. In a separate transaction, Clinton SEC Chairman Levitt was considering issuing a ruling prohibiting auditing firms from providing consulting or other accounting services to companies they audited, Morris told NewsMax. "But Dodd led a group of Senators who pressured Levitt into not issuing such a ruling during Clinton's second term," the ex-White House insider said. Again the record backs Morris up, with the Washington Post reporting in Oct. 2000 that that "a handful of influential members (of Congress) including Senators Phil Gramm (R-Tex), Senator Chris Dodd (D-Ct) and Congressman W.J. 'Billy' Tauzin (R-La) began acting as intermediaries to push both sides to reach a compromise" on the Levitt proposal. The compromise killed the accounting reform plan, Morris said. The savvy political advisor may not be the only one who saw through the ex-president's bogus attempt to shift blame to the GOP. The story by New York Times reporter David Halbfinger covering the erroneous Clinton claims first appeared on the Times' Web site late Wednesday. But a completely different report on Clinton's Little Rock visit, in which Halbfinger dropped the incendiary quotes, appeared in the newspaper's print edition Thursday morning. Learn the latest revelations about the former First Prevaricator straight from Dick Morris himself.