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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: surfbaron who wrote (4928)	8/20/2002 7:09:56 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 89467

<<...Enron was the largest industry contributor to President George W. Bush's campaign with donations of 2.3 million dollars, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a group that tracks campaign donations...>> Enron had friends in the Clinton administration as well Monday August 19, 12:24 PM WASHINGTON (AFP) - Now-bankrupt energy giant Enron -- whose ties with the administration of President George W. Bush have generated controversy -- had input on energy policy in the administration of former president Bill Clinton as well. Before Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force met with Enron officials, Enron had already been working with Clinton's energy team, according to Time Magazine due on newsstands Monday. Enron had input in a 1995 plan to help facilitate cash flow and credit for energy producers. Energy staffers were asked to "rework the proposal to take into account the specific comments and suggestions you made," Clinton deputy energy secretary Bill White wrote to an Enron official in documents obtained by the weekly magazine. Hazel O'Leary, Clinton's energy secretary, also included Enron officials on trade missions to India, China, Pakistan and South Africa. To show its gratitude Enron donated an undisclosed sum of cash in O'Leary's name to a charity called "I have a Dream," and gave 100,000 dollars to Clinton's re-election campaign, according to the magazine. On the other hand, Enron was the largest industry contributor to President George W. Bush's campaign with donations of 2.3 million dollars, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a group that tracks campaign donations. The company filed for bankruptcy -- the largest in US history at the time -- last December amid reports that executives exaggerated profits and hid losses.

To: surfbaron who wrote (4928)	8/20/2002 10:35:00 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

<<...The plea is the first outward sign of progress in the Enron investigation. Other major companies under investigation, including WorldCom, Arthur Andersen and Adelphia, all have seen executives charged. Ken Johnson, spokesman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said Kopper is just the first of many executives who will be charged. "Clearly this is just the first shoe to drop, based on the information our committee has in its possession," said Johnson, who works for committee chairman Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La. "We have a wealth of information in our possession suggesting a number of people at Enron took part in fraudulent activities."...>> <<...When Houston-based Enron declared bankruptcy last December, it was the largest such filing in U.S. history. Millions of investors lost money and thousands of current and former Enron workers lost the great bulk of their retirement savings. It also led to the unraveling of Arthur Andersen LLP, the auditing firm convicted of shredding documents to obstruct a Securities and Exchance Commission investigation of Enron's accounting practices. Former Andersen auditor David B. Duncan is awaiting sentencing for obstruction of justice, and the firm itself has lost hundreds of clients and is shutting down its auditing practice at the end of this month. Enron's collapse put the Bush administration in an awkward position. President Bush ( news - web sites) has received more than $550,000 from Enron, its employees and their relatives during his political career — the most from any source. He is also a friend of former chief executive Ken Lay. Attorney General John Ashcroft ( news - web sites) also received significant campaign contributions from the company over the course of his career. Ashcroft has stepped aside from the investigation. Enron's partnerships were largely financed with Enron stock, even though they were supposed to be independent. An internal Enron investigation concluded that some of the partnerships, created by Fastow, were used to hide debt and inflate Enron's profits by more than $1 billion, misleading investors. Government investigators are looking into whether Enron managers, from former chairman Kenneth Lay on down, knew that the network of partnerships was being used to conceal huge debts...>> story.news.yahoo.com