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Enron & The Bush Administration

  
 
Foxxy Feminist Fury
18:50 / 05.12.01
Damn damn damn I will NOT be able to listen to NPR's article on "the cozy relations between failed company Enron and the Bush Administration!"

I've been following the downfall of Enron coverage and am amazed that *NO* news source I've read has mentioned Enron's connection with W and Dick Cheney.

If YOU can listen to NPR and relay the gist for me, please let me know.

Also don't forget John Ashcroft's defense of his recent civil liberties stripping will be aired LIVE tomorrow on NPR!

[ 05-12-2001: Message edited by: Foxxy Feminist Fury ]
 
 
grant
19:15 / 05.12.01
www.npr.org archives almost everything, you know. in real audio format.
 
 
grant
17:16 / 06.12.01

SHOW: Morning Edition (11:00 AM AM ET) - NPR
December 6, 2001 Thursday
LENGTH: 608 words
HEADLINE: Attorney General John Ashcroft to testify before Senate Judiciary Committee

ALEX CHADWICK, host:

Attorney General John Ashcroft is the sole witness today at a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing. Democrats on the committee want Mr. Ashcroft to provide more details on President Bush's executive order that creates military tribunals to try accused terrorists. NPR's David Welna reports from the Capitol that there are likely to be plenty of other questions about the administration's counterterrorism measures.

DAVID WELNA reporting:

Although the Senate Judiciary Committee is charged with oversight of the Justice Department, Attorney General Ashcroft has appeared before the committee only once, and then for barely an hour, since the September 11th attacks. Democrat Patrick Leahy, who chairs the committee, says he and his fellow senators hope to have Ashcroft at the disposal for at least several hours today. Senator PATRICK LEAHY (Democrat, Vermont; Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman): There are a lot of questions, and we're looking for the answers. We want to make sure that everybody's rights are being protected. We have a lot to be proud of in our country, in our whole judicial system, both our system of military justice and our civilian system; we want to make sure that's upheld.

WELNA: Leahy has complained publicly that neither Ashcroft, nor President Bush, consulted with Congress about authorizing military tribunals. The letter Leahy sent Ashcroft asking him to testify was also signed by the committee's top Republican, Orrin Hatch. But Hatch is much more inclined to give the administration the benefit of the doubt.

Senator ORRIN HATCH (Republican, Utah): I am strongly in favor of congressional oversight, but we should remember that the purpose of oversight is to make sure the administration is doing its job. At some point, too many partisan hearings and too much hysteria only make it more difficult for the administration to do its real job.

WELNA: And while a top aide to Leahy says today's hearing won't necessarily be combative, New York Democrat Charles Schumer, who's a member of the panel, says many aspects of the military tribunals require further discussion.

Senator CHARLES SCHUMER (Democrat, New York): What standards of evidence are most appropriate? What burdens of proof should be used? Should a conviction require the decisions of a unanimous jury? How do we ensure that defendants receive effective assistance of counsel? Is there a right to appeal?

WELNA: The larger question looming over today's oversight hearing is whether Congress even has the right to second guess the president's actions. Republican Hatch says it doesn't.

Sen. HATCH: In a state of war, the president does have the power to do what he's doing, and he has the power to do it without any interference of Congress or any action of Congress.

WELNA: But another Republican on the committee, Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter, says Congress does have a say.

Senator ARLEN SPECTER (Republican, Pennsylvania): The Constitution gives the authority to the Congress to establish military tribunals.

WELNA: Some committee members say military tribunals would have far more credibility if they did have congressional authorization. But not one lawmaker has introduced such legislation. Senator Evan Bayh, an Indiana Democrat, says Congress has been relatively quiet about the tribunals.

Senator EVAN BAYH (Democrat, Indiana): One of the reasons you haven't seen more detailed criticism is that we just don't know the specifics. We don't know if the tribunals will actually be set up, actually be used, who will be brought before them, what the procedural protections will be, all those sorts of things. So I think there's a willingness to suspend criticism for the time being waiting to see what the particulars are and then, if it appears that the administration has gone too far, to take action at that time.

WELNA: But another Democratic senator, Robert Torricelli of New Jersey, says congressional tolerance is running out.

Senator ROBERT TORRICELLI (Democrat, New Jersey): For the first time after all the national harmony about how we responded to September 11th and some of the rather extra-constitutional means that were taken to deal with it, we're now finding a fissure point in the national government as we deal with constitutional issues.

WELNA: But public opinion in this debate still backs the president, who vows he made the right decision on military tribunals. David Welna, NPR News, the Capitol.

LOAD-DATE: December 6, 2001
 
 
grant
17:18 / 06.12.01
and, more pertinently, on the Enron tip:


National Public Radio (NPR)
SHOW: All Things Considered (9:00 PM ET) - NPR
December 5, 2001 Wednesday
LENGTH: 374 words

HEADLINE: Cozy relationship between Enron and the Bush administration

ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

Enron shares closed up today, if you can call $1.01 up in any meaningful way. Stock in the Houston-based energy giant was worth more than $80 a year ago. Enron filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday. A day later, it laid off 4,000 employees. The big question now, says NPR news analyst Daniel Schorr, is how much Enron's troubles will rub off on the Bush administration. DANIEL SCHORR:

In the wake of the crash of Enron, arguably the biggest bankruptcy in history, federal agencies and Congress will be probing the company's dealings with auditors, bankers and stockholders. What remains to be investigated is the deeper issue of Enron's close ties with the Bush administration, and how they may have influenced national energy policy to Enron's benefit. It has long been evident that Enron--whose officers and employees gave almost $2 million to the Bush cause since 1993--was close to this administration, and CEO Kenneth Lay personally close to George W. Bush.

Secretary of the Army Thomas White had been an Enron executive. Lawrence Lindsey, the president's economic adviser, had served on an Enron advisory board for pay. Members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission were chosen with Lay's endorsement. Several White House officials owned Enron stock, which ironically they disposed of before the house fell in to avoid a potential conflict of interest.

Seeking favorable regulatory policies, Enron found an open door when Vice President Dick Cheney was named to lead the president's task force on energy policy. Cheney and Lay had an unusual one-on-one meeting, and then the Enron staff stayed in close touch with the commission staff. When Cheney filed his report, the hometown newspaper, the Houston Chronicle, said he unveiled a national energy strategy very much to Enron's liking.

What happened in all those close encounters, whether Enron gave any hint of trouble brewing in the company, Cheney will not say. The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, has threatened an unprecedented lawsuit to force disclosure, but has put the suit on hold for the duration of the war situation.

Henry Waxman, ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, has written the vice president saying that continued secrecy from the White House will only compound public concerns. But the Democrats, as a minority, do not have the power to schedule hearings or issue subpoenas. And so what we have yet to learn is whether White House arrangements with a major energy corporation involved a conflict of interest at the public expense. This is Daniel Schorr.

 
 
grant
17:20 / 06.12.01
more on Enron...

National Public Radio (NPR)
SHOW: Morning Edition (10:00 AM ET) - NPR
December 4, 2001 Tuesday
LENGTH: 737 words
HEADLINE: Ken Lay, CEO of Enron

BOB EDWARDS, host:

CEO Ken Lay took Enron to the top of the energy trading business. With bankruptcy reorganization and multibillion-dollar lawsuits, he's trying to bring it back from the bottom. NPR's Emily Harris reports on the man behind Enron.

EMILY HARRIS reporting:

Fans of Enron chief Ken Lay still believe in him. Take Chase Untermeyer, director of government affairs for Houston-based Compaq, where Lay is a board member. Untermeyer also knows Lay through political, civic and philanthropic activities. He says Lay exemplifies Houston's can-do spirit. Mr. CHASE UNTERMEYER (Compaq): And in the past decade, it's also been a 'Ken-do' attitude, where people turn to Ken Lay to take on leadership of an effort to build a baseball stadium or pass a bond issue or lead a campaign of one sort or another.

HARRIS: But Lay's leadership abilities also appear to have helped build a company's self-image of invincibility that contributed to its downfall, and people on the losing end of Enron's deals say Lay is no angel. Democratic California State Senator Steve Peace says Enron's high-flying growth won Lay undeserved faith in his vision of trading energy like pork bellies.

State Senator STEVE PEACE (Democrat, California): Lay was sort of the mullah of competition, and he had a very extremist view. It was sort of, in my view, kind of a strange sort of combination of intelligence, sophistication and naivete, because I really think he believed in what he was pitching.

HARRIS: Lay retained faith in his company as questions about off-the-books debt and unusual financial arrangements began to surface this summer. He told an analyst conference call he had full confidence in one top executive just a day before that person was fired. Professor Steve Currall teaches corporate governance at Rice University in Houston. He says Enron's board and Lay's underlings must at least share the blame.

Professor STEVE CURRALL (Rice University): CEOs don't actually do the work, they hire the people who do the work, and they coach them and mentor them and evaluate them and oversee them and so on. It appears that that whole system had broken down to some degree, because I think the true poor decisions that got Enron in this situation appear to be made by folks below Ken.

HARRIS: Some details apparently overlooked by Enron's CEO may not be crucial. For example, Lay's entry in Who's Who for the past 10 years has listed him as receiving a prestigious Guggenheim fellowship. Information for Who's Who is provided by the people listed. No Guggenheim Foundation has such a record. But other oversights could affect a variety of investigations. Last week, a New York Times report quoted Lay saying, "You're getting way over my head," when pressed last August on details of confusing off-the-books partnerships.

What exactly Lay knew about company affairs is of great interest to Fred Isquith, a lawyer working on one of multiple fraud-related lawsuits seeking damages from Enron and its executives, including Lay.

Mr. FRED ISQUITH (Attorney): There's really no distinction between him personally and him as CEO. It's his role as CEO that makes him personally responsible. Over the course of the good times, Mr. Lay and senior management seem to have done very, very nicely, making tens of millions of dollars. I don't imagine that it's all been frivoled away.

HARRIS: Lay has spent part of his considerable fortune on generous political contributions. He's a close friend of President Bush. Craig McDonald is president of Texans for Public Justice, a political influence watchdog group.

Mr. CRAIG McDONALD (Texans for Public Justice): Clearly we haven't yet heard the words that Enron is too big to fail coming out of the White House, but it might play out as the Enron demise plays out over a longer period of time. There are some SEC investigations under way, and there may be more.

HARRIS: When he was meeting with Vice President Cheney last spring to discuss energy policy, Lay seemed like a man on top of the world. Writer Mimi Swartz of the Texas Monthly thought she saw a different picture at a press conference three weeks ago, when Lay and Dynegy's CEO, Chuck Watson, appeared together to announce a now-cancelled merger.

Ms. MIMI SWARTZ (Texas Monthly): Chuck Watson got up there and he was talking about this wonderful merger that was going to happen, and then he turned to introduce Lay, and Lay bent over and pulled up his socks, and it was this sort of--it was a humbling moment. I mean, I'm not even sure he was conscious of how it telegraphed, but he had been, you know, one of the most powerful men in the world.

HARRIS: The classic Texas energy entrepreneur picks up and rebuilds after even colossal failures. For now, Lay will be busy with years of court cases, starting with the fight to keep his beloved company alive. Emily Harris, NPR News, Washington.

 
 
grant
17:22 / 06.12.01
one last one....

National Public Radio (NPR)
SHOW: Morning Edition (10:00 AM ET) - NPR
December 4, 2001 Tuesday
LENGTH: 342 words
HEADLINE: Enron's collapse leaves shareholders holding the bag

BOB EDWARDS, host:

When Enron filed for bankruptcy protection on Sunday, thousands of current and former employees became less likely to recover any of the money they lost in the company's collapse. As shareholders, they will have to take their places behind a long list of creditors. NPR's Jack Speer reports. JACK SPEER reporting:

In Enron's bankruptcy filing, there are 54 pages of creditors, all of whom will likely be paid before Enron shareholders see a dime. Bob Knudsen(ph) lives in Omaha, Nebraska. He and his wife are both former employees of the company and received company stock as a benefit.

Mr. BOB KNUDSEN (Former Enron Employee): We're small-time investors and a middle-income family. We didn't have a lot, but again, what we did have is going to have an impact on what happens to us in the future.

SPEER: From a high of $90 a share last year, Enron has fallen to penny stock levels. Eli Gottesdiener is one of several lawyers who filed class-action lawsuits on behalf the company's retirement plan participants. On Monday, he expanded his suit to cover not only Enron, but also the firm that administered Enron's pension plan and the accounting firm that audited its books, Andersen.

Mr. ELI GOTTESDIENER (Attorney): We go after who we can go after, and who we can go after right now include Andersen, include Northern Trust, include the administrative committee, the individual members, many of whom themselves harvested tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars in insider deals. So they've got plenty of money, and I know that our clients would be happy to receive some of that.

SPEER: The suit accuses Andersen of knowingly helping Enron to conceal the true nature of the company's finances. However, it would seem there is plenty of blame to go around. Former employee Bob Knudsen says he has little doubt about who he believes is responsible for Enron's woes.

Mr. KNUDSEN: The only thing that we can determine went wrong is bad management. Decisions were made that simply weren't sound business decisions.

SPEER: Those decisions, made by Enron's top managers, are also currently the subject of a probe by federal securities regulators. Last year, Enron was Andersen's second-largest client, paying the firm $52 million in fees for both audit and consulting services. Jack Speer, NPR News, Washington.
 
 
grant
17:24 / 06.12.01
OK, couldn't resist this one:

National Public Radio (NPR)
SHOW: Morning Edition (10:00 AM ET) - NPR
November 30, 2001 Friday
LENGTH: 462 words
HEADLINE: Enron's close connections to Bush administration

BOB EDWARDS, host:

Enron's creditors stand to lose billions of dollars if the company goes into bankruptcy. Two congressional committees are preparing to investigate Enron's collapse. It's just another part of the Enron story that, a few months ago, would have seemed inconceivable. The firm is renowned for its political ties here in Washington, especially with the White House. NPR's Peter Overby reports.

PETER OVERBY reporting:

You couldn't be better connected than Enron. It wasn't just the White House appointees who came to Washington knowing Enron executives and owning Enron stock. The company's CEO, Ken Lay, was an old Bush family friend. He gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to earlier Bush campaigns. Then to bring George W. Bush to the White House, Lay raised at least $100,000 for the campaign and gave another $10,000 for the Florida recount, plus a hundred thousand after that for the inauguration. He met with Vice President Dick Cheney one on one as the administration wrote its energy policy. Yesterday White House spokesman Ari Fleischer brushed off a question of whether the president or anyone else from the administration has talked to Lay recently. Mr. ARI FLEISCHER (White House Spokesman): I don't know the answer to that. The Treasury Department and others are monitoring the events concerning Enron, and you may want to check with Treasury for anything that they have to offer.

OVERBY: A Treasury Department spokeswoman said they're simply watching for market stability. On Capitol Hill, one senator said privately that he'd gotten a feeler from an administration official about some sort of aid, if not for Enron itself, then at least to stabilize the markets. Other lawmakers and lobbyists around the Hill said there was no sentiment for a bailout, even if there was still time for one. As one congressional aide put it, 'Maybe if Enron's pipelines had been blown up by Osama bin Laden but not for a company with funky bookkeeping practices.' If anything, Congress seems more ready to investigate. Here's Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.

Senator TOM DASCHLE (Democrat, Majority Leader): I don't know that anybody knows yet just how this happened and how it happened so quickly. I think we need to find as much information as is possible and to make some assessment about whether it's indicative of energy in a larger context, and if it is, what we ought to do about it.

OVERBY: And by day's end, two committees were gearing up. Democratic Senator Jeff Bingaman said his Energy Committee will look at Enron's collapse and federal oversight of the energy markets.

Senator JEFF BINGAMAN (Democrat, Energy Committee): Whether we need to strengthen that oversight--I assume that there are ways in which it can be strengthened and needs to be strengthened.

OVERBY: At the House Energy and Commerce Committee, lawyers started looking into Enron yesterday afternoon. But down the road, this prosecutorial atmosphere might change, not because of Enron's fabled influence in Washington but because other companies might be hurting. Senator Bingaman.

Sen. BINGAMAN: We don't know what the consequence or what the effect of Enron's collapse is on other companies and whether any of them have any vital role they're playing that could justify any kind of government involvement. I'm not aware of any, but we can certainly hear people.

OVERBY: A lobbyist said, 'Absolutely yes, those kinds of appeals will be coming.' As Enron collapses, though, there's still a quiet echo of its clout. It's tucked into the House-passed bill to stimulate the economy. By the calculations of the liberal group, Citizens for Tax Justice, the bill would give Enron $254 million in rebates of the corporate alternative minimum tax. That's roughly 100 times the amount that Enron and its managers invested in the 2000 campaigns. Peter Overby, NPR News, Washington.

 
 
Foxxy Feminist Fury
18:43 / 06.12.01
grant, THANK YOU!!!!!

I thought I'd lost this thread and no one had given me any info.

But I was wrong!
 
  
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