posted on February 10, 2007 09:12:06 AM
Published on Wednesday, April 7, 2004 by TomPaine.com
Bush And Lay
It's Time the Press Revived the Investigation Into the History Between Enron and the President
by Steve Cobble
Four years ago this Wednesday, George W. Bush was taking time out from the campaign trail against Al Gore to travel to Houston to take in a game.
Where was he? Enron Field.
His host was Ken Lay. This was a big day for "Kenny Boy," as George W. once affectionately tagged him. One year earlier, Lay's Enron Corporation, one of the seemingly great economic stories of the 1990s, had agreed to pay more than $100 million over 30 years (!) for the naming rights to the new Houston baseball stadium.
On one level, Enron Field was a strange place for George W. Bush to be in April of 2000. Having already vanquished his main GOP primary rival, John McCain, an observer schooled in politics might have expected that Bush would be directly engaging Vice-President Gore in hand-to-hand political combat in a swing state. After all, both Florida and Ohio have baseball teams.
But Texas was never a battleground state, and Houston was never a place where W's presence was required for political reasons. So if George W. just wanted to take in a ballgame to relax, why not a visit to his old team, the Texas Rangers, the Sammy Sosa-trading/eminent domain-wielding/sales tax-increasing corporate juggernaut that allowed him to turn a mere $600,000 (mostly in loans) into $14 million faster than you can say "Hillary Clinton cattle futures".
Ah, but there is a reason. You see, according to Opensecrets.org, Enron bossman Ken Lay was well on his way to building the Enron family into the soon-to-be-President-Select's number one lifetime donor—and for a mere $736,800, a pittance compared to that $100M for the naming rights to Enron Field.
Of course, as Kevin Phillips has pointed out, the actual investment the Enron crowd made in the Bush family is much higher—maybe not as much as a stadium name, but quite a bit more substantial than $736,800.
In the Nation magazine, Phillips argued that, "most of the Washington press corps has been content to leave alone the much larger story—the apparent seventeen-year connection between the Bush dynasty and Enron. Even without such information, it seems clear, counting campaign contributions, consultancies, joint investments, deals, presidential library and inaugural contributions, speech fees and the like, that the Bush family and entourage collected some $8 million to $10 million from Enron over the years, which is more than changed hands in Harding's Teapot Dome scandal. Depending on some still-unclear relationships, it could be as high as $25 million."
What Phillips pointed out almost two years ago remains uninvestigated today.
Why does it matter? Well, not only did Lay and his corporate minions outdo all the other Pioneers to take home the George W. Number One lifetime donor crown, Ken Lay and Enron contributed to the "successes" of the early Bush administration in many ways before the corporation imploded. Enron's corporate tentacles ran deep, and have never been fully exhumed. My own personal favorite is this little tidbit: not only did Ken Lay, Linda Lay and Jeffrey Skilling each donate $100,000 to George W's inaugural fund, but, according to Arianna Huffington, Enron provided the corporate jet that flew his parents in for the show. Now that's service.
Ken Lay involved Enron in White House personnel decisions, especially in the selection of new energy regulatory heads; and in policy-making, including the infamous Dick Cheney energy task force meetings, which are still secret today. Several key administration officials had strong ties to Enron, owned large amounts of Enron stock or had taken Enron campaign contributions in earlier races. And Enron lobbied hard to keep the Bush administration on the sidelines during the California energy crisis.
Despite all these links, when Enron began to go down the tubes, George W. acted like Bill Clinton in the early days of the Monica Lewinsky crisis. As several wags pointed out, W's extremely lame—and misleading—comments, suggesting that he had inherited Ken Lay's support from Ann Richards, and implying that 1994 was ". . . when I first got to know Ken and worked with Ken, and he supported my candidacy" was not only just flat out wrong, it was the moral and economic equivalent of "I did not have business relations with that man!"
(And when Bill Clinton lied, no one's pensions were fried.)
These were not exactly the comments of an honest man. Not the reaction of a man with nothing to hide. And not even close to the truth, given what we know about George W. Bush and "Kenny Boy" Lay.
Unfortunately, just as we were beginning to find out more about their true relationship, the Iraqi WMDs coincidentally leaped to the top of the public agenda, right before the 2002 election, and just in time to drive all the Enron/Worldcom/Tyco corporate corruption off the front pages. The national media at that point gave up trying to look into what George W. Bush and "Kenny Boy" Lay really had in common.
But now we know that the WMDs were hyped. Now the world understands that the war with Iraq was "a war of choice" rather than necessity—and the timing was deliberately chosen to influence the 2002 elections. Now it should be clear to everyone that this administration is not the truth-telling, straight-talking group that they projected in their 2000 campaign.
So, maybe it's time for another look at Enron. Maybe this fourth anniversary of George W's visit to Enron Field can be the occasion for some investigative reporting about the history of this company and this family.
After all, Martha Stewart's been convicted, but Kenny Boy is still at large. After all, Enron's corruption was not just another low-grade Arkansas money-losing land deal. After all, W's lame response about his relationship to Ken Lay is a strong indication that Bush himself felt the need to mis-lead.
Kevin Phillips once again sets the standard for investigation: "The most interesting Bush family involvement is with Enron. Over the twentieth-century emergence of modern government ethics, no presidential family has had a parallel relationship. . . However, the only way a chronicler can seriously weigh the Enron-Bush tie is by a yardstick the American press has never really employed: the unseemliness of a sixteen- or seventeen-year interaction by the members of an American political dynasty in promoting and being rewarded by a single U.S. corporation based in its home state."
Here's an idea—maybe Ken Lay could do a public interview, tell the truth about his relationship with the Bush family, let us all know all the schemes and tricks that Enron came up with, and then, having relieved his tortured conscience, throw himself on the mercy of the public. Sometimes the truth actually works—it did for John Dean.
Or here's another one—maybe Paul O'Neill could come clean about what Ken Lay and Enron really asked for when they called the Bush administration, right before they collapsed. After the nasty treatment the Bushies gave Secretary O'Neill because of his last book, I can imagine that an O'Neill Enron essay now might be very interesting.
Steve Cobble is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy.
posted on February 10, 2007 09:42:11 AM
Enron and Bill Clinton
Charles R. Smith
Thursday, Feb. 28, 2002
Trade Trips to Russia, India, Bosnia and Indonesia
I must admit to an error in my most recent article on the Enron scandal. Lovers of ex-President Bill Clinton will be overjoyed to find that Enron's top exec Ken Lay did not stay at the White House 11 times.
However, the bad news for those who still worship Mr. Clinton is that Enron not only donated $100,000 to Clinton's 1993 inauguration but, according to the records, also added an additional $25,000 to the Clinton 1993 celebrations.
The documented evidence shows that Enron did make it into the Clinton White House by special invitation. Senior Vice President Terrance H. Thorn had coffee with Bill Clinton on March 5, 1996.
Many of the other attendees of the Clinton White House coffee sessions also make up a long list of convicted criminals, arms dealers and bagmen for illegal DNC contributions.
For example, Wang Jun had coffee with Clinton in 1996. Wang is also the president of Poly Technologies, the largest arms trading firm owned by the People's Liberation Army. Poly Tech is currently banned from doing business in the United States after several of its top executives conspired to smuggle machine guns into the U.S. for sale to a major drug dealer – who later turned out to be a Customs agent posing as a gangster.
Charlie "Yah Lin" Trie, who was later convicted of illegally passing hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Clinton/Gore re-election campaign, brought Wang into the White House. Trie also gave an additional $645,000 to the Democratic National Committee, and most of this money was from illegal foreign sources.
Trip to Russia
Enron's association with the Clinton White House comes even closer to home when you consider the many corporate foreign trade trips paid for by your tax dollars. In 1994, Enron's CEO Ken Lay surfaced on a list of attendees wishing to travel to Russia with Ron Brown.
One person who did make the trade trip to Russia was Roger Tamraz. Interpol then wanted Tamraz, a Lebanese oil financier, for embezzling nearly $80 million from a Middle Eastern bank. Tamraz, who made most of his money selling Libyan oil, would later give more than $300,000 to the DNC after having coffee with Bill Clinton in the White House.
Russia was not the only target of Enron wheeling-and-dealing with the Clinton administration. Enron execs traveled on a profitable trade trip to India with Ron Brown, landing a major contract for a power plant. The India power plant deal later fell apart with allegations of illegal payments and bribery.
Trip to Bosnia
Enron also traveled in 1997 to Bosnia with Commerce Secretary Kantor in hopes of landing a U.S. taxpayer-backed energy deal in the war-torn state. According to the Chicago Tribune, Enron made a $100,000 donation to the DNC just days prior to the trade mission to the former Yugoslav province. Commerce Department documents clearly note that Enron was interested in the "Zagreb" portion of the trip.
Even in the last days of Bill Clinton, Enron execs were on the go. Enron traveled to South Korea with Commerce Secretary William Daley in 1999. Daley would go on to run Vice President Al Gore's failed bid for the White House in 2000.
Trip to Indonesia
The most damning evidence linking Bill Clinton and Enron to corruption is the documentation that shows Enron received U.S. taxpayer monies in order to finance a corrupt deal with Indonesia.
P.T. East Java Power Corp., which was then 50.1 percent owned by Enron, wanted to conclude a deal for a 500 megawatt power plant in East Java, Indonesia. The 20-year deal was later signed by Enron with P.T. PLN Persero (PLN), Indonesia's state-owned electric utility, which agreed to purchase the power from the natural-gas-fired plant.
According to Enron, the natural gas for the project was to be provided by Pertamina, Indonesia's state-owned oil and gas company. Commerce Department documents noted that Pertamina stalled the project with excessive demands for gas prices.
"Enron is now engaged with Pertamina over access to natural gas. These discussions may prove difficult," states a 1994 Commerce Department advocacy document.
"Enron is registered for OPIC (Overseas Private Investment Corporation) insurance," states the document, noting that the giant corporation obtained U.S. taxpayer-backed insurance if the Indonesian deal fell apart.
Ron Brown Letters for Enron
Ron Brown personally sought approval for the Enron electric power plants inside Indonesia. According to a personal letter directed to the Indonesian Minister for Trade and Industry, Brown endorsed two Enron deals for gas-fired power plants with the corrupt Suharto regime.
"Enron power, a world renowned private power developer, is in the final stages of negotiating two combined cycle, gas turbine power projects," wrote Brown in his 1995 letter.
"The first, a 500 MW plant in East Java, should bring commercial power generation by the end of 1997 if it can promptly negotiate a gas supply Memorandum of Understanding with Pertamina. The other project, a smaller plant in East Kalimantan, also awaits a gas supply agreement.
"I urge you to give full consideration to the proposals," concluded Brown to the Indonesian minister. In October 1995, Brown wrote another letter, this time to Hartarto Sastrosurarto, Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Trade and Industry, pressing him to conclude the Enron power plant deals.
"I would like to bring to your attention a number of projects involving American companies which seem to be stalled, including several independent power projects. These projects include the Tarahan power project, which involves Southern Electric; the gas powered projects in East Java and East Kalimantan, which involves Enron," wrote Brown.
"Your support for prompt resolution of the remaining issues associated with each of these projects would be most appreciated," concluded Brown.
On Nov. 18, 1996, Enron CEO Ken Lay announced that the deal with Suharto was complete. According to Enron's public statement, the U.S.-led energy company had finally won the East Java Power project.
Corruption, Collusion and Nepotism
Yet the Enron success was clouded by allegations that the power plant deals were filled with kickbacks for the Suharto family. In October 1998, U.S. Ambassador J. Stapleton Roy wrote a diplomatic cable that he had recently met with Indonesian Director General of Electricity Endro Utomo Notodisoerjo.
"Commenting on corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN), Endro said that in the past there was no separation between 'power' (not electric but former first family power) and business. 'All the IPP's (Independent Power Projects) have a relation with power, and it is still going on,' added Endro."
According to State Department documents, Enron signed on to a deal filled with "corruption, collusion and nepotism." One State Department cable included an entire section titled "Dealing with unwanted partners" that detailed corruption inside the two Enron power plants at East Kalimantan and East Java.
"Unocal executives told resources officer that the firm is close to reaching a deal with its partner, PT Nusamba (controlled by former President Soeharto crony Bob Hasan) to sever ties in two production sharing contracts (PSC) in East Kalimantan and East Java," notes the State Department cable.
Eventually, the Indonesian economy collapsed and Suharto was overthrown. The resulting economic mess forced Indonesia to default on its payments for the Enron power plants. The U.S. taxpayer using its insurance, however, paid off Enron. One such policy for Enron was obtained through the World Bank Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency or MIGA.
"In June of this year, MIGA paid $15 million to Enron Java Power Co. for its investment in P.T. East Java Power Corporation in Indonesia," states the 2000 official public release from the World Bank.
"The venture was one of many suspended by the presidential decree of September 20, 1997, issued in response to the country's economic crisis," noted MIGA officials.
--------
Dancing Around Bill Clinton’s Enron Deals
The three broadcast networks’ evening newscasts — the ones that shrugged their shoulders over Whitewater because it was a complicated business story with a lot of numbers — have pumped out 198 Enron stories since January 9 without any evident boredom. Enron’s bankruptcy seems actually to excite reporters like CBS’s Bob Schieffer who champion it as a parable about money and politics.
"Reformers say embarrassment over the nearly $6 million that Enron has lavished on Congress may be what it finally takes to force [campaign finance] reform," Schieffer exulted on the February 13 CBS Evening News, inadvertently explaining his network’s above average focus on Enron (71 stories on Evening News, 10 percent more than World News Tonight’s 64 and NBC Nightly News’s 63).
But even as they use the plight of Enron shareholders to lecture about the corrupting nature of campaign dollars, the networks have shown a double standard. While trumpeting the GOP’s ties to the bankrupt energy firm, the Big Three have been muted about the benefits Enron bestowed upon former President Bill Clinton and the assistance the company received during his eight years. Indeed, only six of those 198 stories (3%) hinted at Clinton’s Enron connection, even as the evidence builds:
-- Lots of Enron money found its way to Clinton’s accounts. "During the Clinton years, Enron contributed more than $1 million to the Democratic Party, including $600,000 to the Democratic National Committee," the Washington Times’s Patrice Hill recounted on February 21. That’s not as much soft money as was given to the GOP (more than $2 million), but it’s more than enough to get corporate chiefs the "access and influence" that self-appointed reformers find so revolting.
-- Clinton’s administration loaned taxpayer money for Enron deals. Back in the ‘90s, Clinton officials boasted of a foreign policy which focused on getting deals for select U.S. businesses, including Enron. (See box.) Now bad deals, like Enron’s worthless power plant in Dabhol, India, are plaguing taxpayers. Two federal agencies — the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Export-Import Bank loaned campaign contributor Enron $1.2 billion during the Clinton years, most of which ($964 million) Enron hasn’t paid back yet, according to a February 21 New York Times story.
-- Former Clinton officials pleaded Enron’s case. Clinton’s chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Elizabeth Moler, joined Enron’s payroll as an anti-regulation lobbyist in 1999. That same year, former Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin turned down a seat on Enron’s board, but he called Bush officials on Enron’s behalf last November as the company’s financial woes mounted. Treasury under-secretary Peter Fisher turned Rubin down.
-- Network coverage: Rubin’s role was a secret on ABC and CBS, although NBC mentioned it on January 12, and no newscast covered Moler’s trip through the revolving door. Only CBS’s Bill Plante on January 18 and NBC’s Lisa Myers on February 25 detailed Clinton’s use of tax money to back the Dabhol plant, while ABC’s Jackie Judd (January 14) merely mentioned Enron’s access "to overseas trips with the Clinton administration." As for campaign money, only Plante, Myers, CBS’s John Roberts (January 11) and ABC’s Linda Douglass (January 10) mentioned Enron’s Democratic donations, although Douglass — too busy documenting Bush’s ties to Enron — limited herself to a single sentence.
By their own standards, the networks should be salivating at the combination of soft money, rewards for the company and bad deals for taxpayers. Why aren’t they interested in the details of Clinton’s deals with Enron? -- Rich Noyes
---------
"When I talk to liberals, I don't expect them to understand my positions on various issues. I spend most of my time trying to help them understand their own." —Mike Adams
