More Enron Ties to Clinton, Gore, Lieberman, Rubin
NewsMax.com
Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2002
Even as dismayed Democrats still fail to show any improper aid from the Bush administration to Enron Corp., evidence mounts about the disgraced company's ties to the Clinton administration.
Former Enron chairman and Clinton golf buddy Kenneth Lay offered a seat on the company's board in 1999 to Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and lobbied Rubin and his successor on issues affecting Enron, documents obtained today by the Associated Press show.
This is the same Robert Rubin being paid a whopping $40 million a year by Enron creditor Citigroup.
"The notes and letters," obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, "show that Lay pressed Enron's interests to Clinton administration officials," AP reported.
Lay wrote to Rubin on May 14, 1999, after Rubin announced he was leaving his post, "Given the way Enron has evolved, not only do we badly need a person with your experience and insights ... but also I think you would find serving on our board intellectually and otherwise interesting."
Though Rubin did not join the board, he joined Citigroup Inc., which lent hundreds of millions of dollars to Enron. He "called Treasury's undersecretary for domestic finance, Peter Fisher, last Nov. 8 to seek his intervention on Enron's behalf."
Lay also wrote a note that May 14 to Rubin's successor in the Clinton administration, Lawrence Summers, promising to be available "if there is anything at all I or Enron could do for you or the department."
Dropping Rubin's name in an Oct. 8, 1999 letter to Summers, Lay mentioned that he had spent time with him in China - that best friend of the Clinton administration - the previous week and that "he looked more relaxed than I have seen him in years." He also "indicated he was prompted to write by a speech by a treasury assistant general counsel, that federal regulators might be considering regulation of the huge global derivatives market that exists outside of commodities exchanges," AP said.
"Larry, hopefully the comments made by John Yetter were just a misunderstanding," Lay wrote. "I would very much appreciate receiving a call or note from you if in fact there is any reason that we should be concerned about this occurring."
AP reported: "Summers responded on Nov. 22, noting that Yetter and another treasury official, Assistant Secretary Lee Sachs, had met with several Enron executives to discuss the company's concerns and that Sachs spoke on the phone with Lay about the issue."
Wooing Al Gore
Meanwhile, the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call reported this week about Enron's "Gore 2000 Strategy" to court the Democrats' doomed presidential nominee.
Enron lobbyists planned "outreach to key elected officials who are close to the Vice President, including Sen. Evan Bayh [D-Ind.], Sen. Joe Lieberman [D-Conn.], Sen. Bob Graham [D-Fla.], Sen. Mary Landrieu [D-La.], [then Energy] Secretary [Bill] Richardson, [then Housing and Urban Development] Secretary [Andrew] Cuomo, et al."
Roll Call wrote: "Lieberman, of course, went on to become Gore's running mate, while Bayh and Graham were considered to be on the short list for the vice presidential nomination. Landrieu has been a strong advocate for the energy industry since being elected to the Senate in 1996."
Lieberman's hypocrisy is astonishing. Though Attorney General John Ashcroft has recused himself on matters involving Enron, as Lieberman and other Democrats have insisted, the Connecticut Democrat refuses to step aside as chairman of one of 12 congressional probes into Enron.
But as Roll Call points out, Lieberman got $2,000 from Enron and $17,750 from embattled Enron auditor Arthur Andersen. "Lieberman also garnered significant financial support from the New Democrat Network, a group that he helped found, which in turn received $25,000 from Enron in 2000. Other companies involved with Enron's outside partnerships, including Citigroup Inc., have also given heavily to Lieberman."
Also, "During 2001, Enron hired a former top aide to Lieberman as a lobbyist, and the Connecticut Democrat's staff met on several occasions with the firm's officials."
Enron officials including Richard Shapiro, then managing director of government affairs, gave a dinner for Gore cronies in June 2000.
According to Roll Call, "Shapiro appeared to be going out of his way to cultivate ties to the Gore camp. Enron officials even planned to spend a day at Gore's campaign headquarters in Nashville meeting with senior members of the vice president's team, although whether that visit actually came off is still unclear."
And then there's this: "Shapiro was even at Gore campaign headquarters on election night, as were several other Enron officials."
And this: "Enron also played a high-profile role at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. It hosted a 'Tropical Evening' affair and spent hundreds of thousands on other convention-related activities."
And this: "'Shapiro wanted to make sure there was some effective communication with the Gore campaign in case Gore won,' said a former Enron lobbyist."
Considering how the Clinton administration followed Enron's wishes on the disastrous Kyoto Protocol, no wonder.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Al Gore
Clinton Scandals
DNC
Enron
Presidential Race 2000
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