Enron Gave to Nearly Half of Congress
Reprinted from NewsMax.com
David Thibault, CNSNews.com
Saturday, Jan. 12, 2002As Congress prepares to launch hearings into the financial collapse of the energy giant Enron, most members of the Senate, including Democrats, will be hard-pressed to distance themselves from the company.
The Center for Responsive Politics, citing Federal Election Commission records, indicates 71 current senators and 187 current House members received political contributions from Enron between the years 1989 and 2001.
Bipartisanship Triumphs
The top recipients, in the Senate and House, are from Texas, where Enron is headquartered. Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison got the most, $99,500, and her Texas Republican colleague, Phil Gramm, received the second highest amount, $97,350, according to the FEC data.
Among the 10 House members who received the most money from Enron, six are Democrats, including Rep. John Dingell, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. That panel is among those with jurisdiction over the Enron case.
The FEC says Texas Democrat Rep. Ken Bentsen got more money from Enron than anybody else in the House, $42,750. Fellow Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee was second at $38,000.
Even campaign finance "reform" advocate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., received $9,500 from Enron.
The Enron scandal, involving the bankruptcy of America's seventh largest corporation, has some in the media wondering how much the Bush administration knew about the company's financial problems and what, if anything, it did to help the company, which had contributed big money to Bush's 2000 presidential campaign.
The Bush administration confirms that Enron Chief Operating Officer Kenneth Lay discussed his company's financial problems with Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and with Commerce Secretary Donald Evans, but the White House says Enron received no favors or offers of a bailout.
Copyright CNSNews.com
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