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WASHINGTON, D.C. --
Leaders in the Green Party of the United States urge Congress to extend
its investigation of Enron to the company's ties to the Bush
administration, in the wake of revelations that Enron cheated employees
and misled energy consumers and investors as the company went bankrupt
in late 2001.
"Enron represents the
exercise of corporate power at its worst," said Anita Rios, a
member of the party's national steering committee and an Ohio Green
activist. "On one hand, President Bush and his advisors and
supporters preach privatization of Social Security and converting it
into personal investment in Wall Street securities. On the other
hand, his leading corporate backer, Enron, allegedly bilked its own
employees out of their invested retirement money and defrauded
investors."
As the Houston-based energy
company collapsed in 2001, Enron's employees and retirees with 401K
plans, who had been prohibited from selling their Enron stock, lost
their life savings. At the same time, the upper hierarchy of company
officials dumped about $1 billion of their own stock as Enron filed for
bankruptcy on December 2, 2001.
"Advisors to President
Bush who have connections with Enron have helped engineer economic
policy, based on the principle that deregulation, tax breaks, tort
reform and other handouts for wealthy citizens and corporations are good
for America," said Ben Manski, a Wisconsin Green who is also a
steering committee member. "It's more than a case of undue
influence from energy lobbies over the White House. With the Bush
presidency, the petrochemical corporations run the White
House."
Greens cite the following
reasons for expanding the investigation by the Senate's governmental
affairs committee:
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Enron chairman Ken Lay --
President Bush's principle financial backer since he first went into
politics -- and Enron have donated $2 million to George W. Bush
since 1993; a company memo in 2000 shows that Enron pressured
employees to donate heavily to the Bush campaign. Enron donated more
than any other energy firm to the Bush campaign. Mr. Lay's wife
donated $100,000 for Bush Inauguration festivities. Mr. Lay was the
only energy executive to meet alone with Vice President Dick Cheney
while the latter was drawing up a new national energy policy in
secret. According to a New York Times article in May 2001, Mr. Lay
"had access to the team writing the White House's energy
report, which embraces several initiatives and issues dear to
Enron." (Mr. Lay also sits on the board of directors of
pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, along with President Bush's father.)
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Karl Rove, Bush's top
political strategist, sold over $60,000 (perhaps as much as
$250,000) in Enron stock in 2001 after exposure for conflict of
interest. Mr. Rove and Mr. Lay are known to have frequently
discussed energy policy. Enron paid Lawrence B. Lindsay,
President Bush's top economic adviser, $50,000 in consulting fees in
2000. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick went straight from
Enron's payroll to his federal job; Army Secretary Thomas White Jr.
is a former Enron executive and has held an estimated $50-$100
million in Enron stock.
-
Enron, a power broker in
natural gas, wholesale electricity, water, and other needs and
services, has lobbied extensively for utility deregulation,
especially the right to price-gouge customers and to profit from the
volubility of energy stocks. The California legislature is currently
investigating whether Enron and other companies deliberately
manipulated the state's electricity supply during the recent
California energy crisis in order to drive up prices.
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Enron persuaded Texas
Governor Bush to exempt energy firms from regulation, and to corral
support for export credit agencies that would ensure financial
handouts and bailouts when U.S. companies undertake risky
international projects in developing nations.
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According to Enron
investigator Senator Carl Levin, Enron engaged in a "massive
shell game with multiple layers of conflicts of interest. One
such conflict which apparently triggered the collapse was the fact
that debt was transferred to paper partnerships in which Enron
officials had personal financial interests to make Enron look
financially better." The accounting firm Arthur Anderson may
have played a role in concealing such practices during audits. The
Green Party insists that the public also deserves to know how much
Bush Administration officials may have known about these
improprieties.
All Americans should be
outraged at President Bush's disdain for executive accountability,"
said Tom Sevigny of Connecticut, another steering committee
member.
"The President's Enron connections, his refusal to comply with the
General Accounting Office's demand for information on how the
administration crafted its Energy Plan, his invocation of executive
privilege to block a congressional subpoena necessary to investigate FBI
abuses, his decision to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-ballistic Missile
Treaty without consulting Congress, his pressure on Congress to grant
the President 'Fast Track' authority to determine trade policy with no
Congressional or public oversight, the gutting of constitutional
protections by Attorney General John Ashcroft -- these are attacks on
the checks and balances that are supposed to make the U.S. a democracy.
What's equally shameful is the willingness of many Republicans and
Democrats to indulge this power grab."
Since 1990, Enron has made $5.8 million in contributions to both
Republican and Democratic politicians, according to the Center for
Responsive Politics.
Contacts:
Nancy Allen, Media Coordinator, 207-326-4576, nallen@acadia.net
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, scottmclarty@yahoo.com
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