Enron affair:
It helps to have friends in high places

Feb 4, 2002

President Bush would like to distance himself from his old buddy Ken Lay and the Enron scandal. But the media is just not cooperating: it keeps publishing the details of who in the administration had which ties to Enron.

The secretary of the army, Thomas White, was a senior Enron executive for 22 years. The chairman of the Republican National Committee, Marc Racicot, made thousands lobbying for Enron. Bush’s economic adviser, Lawrence Lindsey, got $100,000 just in 1999 and 2000 as a paid consultant of Enron. The U.S. Trade Representative got $50,000 in 2000 as a member of the Enron advisory board. The current head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Harvey Pitt, used to represent Arthur Andersen as a lawyer helping Enron argue that the SEC should not change the rules which allowed Enron to hide where their money was going. The Attorney General, John Ashcroft, received $57,499 from Enron in his 2000 Senate race. Spencer Abraham, the current Energy Secretary, even received Enron money for his 2000 Senate race in Michigan – which he lost.

And then there is Vice President Cheney and his meetings with Enron while the Bush administration was formulating its energy policy. There’s the Enron corporate jet that Mr. Lay lent for the 2000 campaign to George W.

Finally, there are all the Bush Administration figures, starting with senior adviser Karl Rove, who sold their stock just before Enron’s difficulties became public knowledge.

It’s nice that during the coldest part of the winter, some of the scumbags in Washington are feeling a little heat.