In this article Enron's CEO Kenneth Lay's deep political connections to Bush and Cheney are discussed and in regard to the Energy Policy Meetings it is stated:
"When the president's advisers debated a new energy policy in the spring, Mr. Lay was the only energy executive to be invited for a one-on-one session with Mr. Cheney, who led the effort. Mr. Lay also worked with Mr. Rove and others to successfully push for appointments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees much of Enron's business."
However, again these "deep" connections are only the tip of the iceberg.
November 29, 2001
Major Business News
Enron CEO's Political Connections
Run Silent During Company's Crisis
By BOB DAVIS
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
For years, Enron Corp. Chairman Kenneth Lay has been George W. Bush's best friend in the board rooms of America's top corporations.
Since 1993, Mr. Lay and Enron have donated nearly $2 million to Mr. Bush's political career, making them Mr. Bush's biggest backers. When Mr. Bush was Texas governor, Mr. Lay, a Houston resident, helped him win passage of a state education-reform plan that brought Mr. Bush national acclaim. During that fight, Mr. Lay got to know aides who became power players in the Bush White House.
Mr. Lay was confident enough of his friendship with Mr. Bush that he even needled him for needing arthroscopic surgery to repair a jogging injury. "I want you to know that at least one jogger [me] got past 50 without that surgery," Mr. Lay scribbled in a note to then governor in 1997.
Still, as Enron faces its greatest crisis, Mr. Lay's influence and personal relationships with the administration have amounted to little. There appears to be no effort by the White House or Congress to bail Enron out of its difficulties, which are widely seen as self-inflicted. The White House had no comment on Mr. Lay's predicament, a spokeswoman said. Indeed, short of an actual bailout to help Enron meet its obligations -- such as an aid package approved by Congress or organized by government officials from private sources, similar to the rescue of the Long Term Capital Management hedge fund -- there is little Washington can do at this stage to help the company. Nor is there likely to be a bailout, since Enron has burned many bridges on Capitol Hill with its history of strong-arm lobbying tactics, some congressional aides say.
1See more coverage of the rise and fall of Enron
That may reassure a cynical public, says Robert Mosbacher, Commerce Secretary in the first Bush administration and a longtime friend of the current president as well as Mr. Lay. "I don't see anybody being let off the hook," he said.
Mr. Mosbacher says he introduced Mr. Lay to the Bush family around 1987, when he persuaded Mr. Lay to help raise money for George H.W. Bush's successful presidential bid in 1988. Mr. Lay contributed $461,000 to the younger Mr. Bush's two successful gubernatorial campaigns. He also made Enron's fleet of corporate jets available to Mr. Bush and won his help in lobbying officials in other states considering Enron projects.
His influence with then-Gov. Bush was based on more than money. Mr. Lay was one of the state's leading business executives and deeply involved in Texas politics. Under Mr. Bush's predecessor, Democrat Ann Richards, Mr. Lay headed the Governor's Business Council, a state advisory board. Mr. Bush asked him to stay on the job to help develop an educational reform plan and sell it to the Texas Legislature.
In that capacity, Mr. Lay became close to several Bush aides, including political guru Karl Rove and communications adviser Karen Hughes, who have taken positions at the White House. He also got to know another leading Texas businessman: Dick Cheney, then CEO of Dallas oil concern Halliburton Co., who would become Mr. Bush's pick for vice president.
Against this backdrop, Mr. Lay was widely considered a top candidate for Treasury Secretary in the younger Bush's administration. Ultimately though, he was disqualified, Bush insiders say, as too closely identified with Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney and others who worked in the Texas energy business for an administration that wanted to show it wasn't in the pocket of big oil companies.
Early on, Mr. Lay had unrivaled access to the administration. When the president's advisers debated a new energy policy in the spring, Mr. Lay was the only energy executive to be invited for a one-on-one session with Mr. Cheney, who led the effort. Mr. Lay also worked with Mr. Rove and others to successfully push for appointments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees much of Enron's business.
As Enron's problems multiplied and its fortunes plummeted, however, the White House was silent. During a several-hour long interview in the spring, Mr. Lay mused that his Bush connections could boomerang someday. "It could hurt, from the standpoint that, at some point, they lean in the other direction to make sure they don't face criticism," he said.
Write to Bob Davis at bob.davis@wsj.com2
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