quote:
Originally posted by MagiK:
From the news I read today, apparently ENRON had far more influance with Ex-President Clinton than they ever had with our Current Commander in Chief...
"Somewhat evenhanded," is the way the Washington Post, which was anti-Clinton during his heyday, puts it, regarding the company's lobbying efforts. They also say that Chairman Kenneth Lay disliked Clinton intensely. The Center for Responsive Politics reports that 73% of the company's donations went to Republicans over the last 12 years, but they did support such Democrats as Senate Energy Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, whose state, New Hampshire, is crossed by a major east-west Enron gas pipeline.
Elsewhere, on Radio Nederland, I just heard that Ley personally gave more than $6 million to the Bush 2000 campaign, making him its largest single donor. And while Enron itself split its donations, no Clinton team members worked for Enron: no less than 12 high-ranking Bush administration members either had high positions of authority working for Enron previously, or are currently heavy stockholders.
That's certainly no grounds for culpability on Bush's part, IMO. But it does open him to the charge of unfair influence by the energy industry, which has dogged him, with reason, since last summer, when he refused to act on California's behalf in securing assistance against corporate energy monopolies that were squeezing the state and its inhabitants.
And it leaves one to question the balance of the Bush administration, whose view of commerce appears tilted entirely on the side of large corporate business.
[ 01-24-2002: Message edited by: fable ]