Question:

Bush officials downplay Enron calls
Published 1/14/2002 4:25 AM
WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Bush administration officials on Sunday said there was no reason to tell the president or the public about telephone calls they received from Kenneth Lay, the chairman and chief executive officer of bankrupt energy trader Enron Corp., prior to the company's collapse.
Speaking on Fox News Sunday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said he thinks there was nothing unusual or new in the two telephone conversations he had with Lay, a large contributor to the Bush 2000 presidential campaign.
O'Neill said the media had been reporting for weeks that Enron had financial problems and that the company was in trouble.
"Ken Lay didn't ask me to do anything, and ... we did nothing wrong," O'Neill said later on ABC's This Week program. "We made sure that in our area of responsibility, which is the U.S. and the world capital markets that the problems that were occurring at Enron had no spillover effect for the rest of the economy."
U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Evans, who appeared on NBC's Meet the Press, said he was not told any information in separate calls he had with Lay that was not already public.
But, Evans said he did not feel obligated to mention the telephone calls to President Bush. He said he felt it would have been "an egregious abuse of power" if he had stepped in to influence events at Enron in any way.
Evans, who was Bush's campaign manager, also said he had several discussions with the president about the impact the Houston-based company's downfall was having on employees and shareholders.
O'Neill said that Lay "asked me for nothing." But the treasury secretary acknowledged that during one conversation Lay said Enron's ability to sustain its credit rating "was a critical aspect" of keeping its $8.4 billion merger with rival Dynegy Inc. on track.
The merger later fell apart, which forced Enron on Dec. 2 to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The administration officials' comments come as U.S. lawmakers prepare to begin a congressional investigation into possible wrongdoing by Enron officials.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., whose Senate Governmental Affairs subcommittee has issued 51 subpoenas in connection with its Enron investigation, said Sunday on ABC, "I have no doubt that they were asking the government to take action."
The subcommittee has scheduled a hearing for Jan. 24, to investigate the company's financial collapse and possible connections between Enron and the White House. Lay, Enron's embattled executive, has committed to testifying before the Senate Commerce Committee on Feb. 4.
In other developments:
The Center for Responsive Politics said Enron had contributed to the political coffers of 259 members of Congress, in both Republican parties, and 15 Bush administration officials were shareholders. Between 1989 and 2001, 71 senators and 1888 House members received a total of $1.1 million, according to the watchdog group. Over the 12-year period, Enron gave $5.8 million in totals contributions.
The political fallout from the scandal is spreading nationwide. The Palm Beach Post reported Sunday that Gov. Jeb Bush, R-Fla., along with number of state elected officials on both sides of the political aisle took campaign contributions from Enron.
Florida's state pension fund was a heavy investor in Enron stock; the Post reported the company's bankruptcy and share price collapse cost the fund more than $300 million.
Time magazine reports in its latest edition that an attorney at Arthur Anderson, Enron's accounting firm, issued an order to destroy documents just days before energy-trader announced it was facing a huge third quarter loss. Supervisors at the accounting firm "repeatedly reminded their employees of the document-destruction memo in the weeks leading up to the first Security and Exchange Commission subpoenas that were issued on Nov. 8," the magazine said, "and the firm declines to rule out the possibility that some destruction continued after that date."
Copyright © 2002 United Press International

Answer:

Everytime the Bush White House posts any answers to these phone calls(getting to be alot of phone calls), You always hear that "The President didn't have any knowledge of the situation"
So I am to believe, that a Very Large Corporation, with political ties, that has contributed Large sums of money to his campaigns and his Fathers campaigns.
NOBODY THOUGHT TO SAY ANYTHING TO HIM?
It's things such as that, that gives the smell test a "rotten" reading.
And you don't think his brother was on the phone when he found out that Florida lost 300 Million Dollars???? DUH!!!!

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Only the corrupt clinton would do anything. Or didn't you know about clinton cutting out the newspaper article and having his cohorts move on the Indian power plants for 100,000

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Do public officials that learn of a situation that has the potential to cause widespread public economic problems, have a duty to inform the public about this? I think that this will be asked a few times in the near future, as we learn about these phone calls.
Lars; is curious
Exec. Dir. of BBRP

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Lars: Do public officials that learn of a situation that has the potential to cause widespread public economic problems, have a duty to inform the public about this?
Funny, I recall GWB addressing this very issue, prior to the election, and was roundly criticized by the left, for, "talking America into a recession".
"When more of the people's sustenance is exacted through the form of taxation than is necessary to meet the just obligations of government and expenses of its economical administration, such exaction becomes ruthless extortion and a violation of the fundamental principles of a free government"
-- Grover Cleveland, Second Annual Message; December, 1886
Last edited by Cyclone on Mon Jan 14, 2002 6:50 pm; edited 1 time in total

Answer:

And he did, Cyclone, merely two months after Junior taking office, the economy did enter into a recession. So I guess it is only fair to call it the "Bush II Recession".
But we are discussing something more specific here, that may have gone un-noticed by you, Cyclone. Let us know when you are catching not only up, but also on.
Lars; enjoying the right wing extremists slipping and sliding on that thin ice
Exec. Dir. of BBRP
Last edited by Lars on Mon Jan 14, 2002 6:59 pm; edited 1 time in total

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So you have your answer.
Yes, a public official should inform the public.
But, if it's a Republican, we Leftists reserve the right to roundly criticize him.
Even though he was correct.
Cyclone: has never ice fished, but is enjoying, watching the Democrats, and the resident Lefties feeble attempt to reel one in. I wonder if they catch a few Democrats, if they'll implement the "catch and release", meathod?
"When more of the people's sustenance is exacted through the form of taxation than is necessary to meet the just obligations of government and expenses of its economical administration, such exaction becomes ruthless extortion and a violation of the fundamental principles of a free government"
-- Grover Cleveland, Second Annual Message; December, 1886
Last edited by Cyclone on Mon Jan 14, 2002 7:21 pm; edited 1 time in total

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I am glad to see, Cyclone, that you agree that Paul O'Neil and Don Evans should have told everybody involved, that Enron was going down the tubes three months ago. But since they didn't, should they not have to shoulder some of the blame for the losses to investors and Enron workers?
Lars; thinks so
Exec. Dir. of BBRP

Answer:

What a bunch of dunky dun.
And he did, Cyclone, merely two months after Junior taking office, the economy did enter into a recession. So I guess it is only fair to call it the "Bush II Recession".
So the leftists now say that the problems we have now are the result of GW. That must have been one the fastist turnaround of economics in history. I quess that the econ classes I took in college were all wrong. It take a long time for an economy to do what ours did. Add to that that not ONE, I will say it again, NOT ONE of GW's tax plans did not go into effect until January 1, 2002.
What the country is going through is nothing more that several bad thing happening at one time. But to the leftist(liberals and Demo's) it is the fault of GW. So let's see, the collaps of the Dotcom companies is the fault of GW. The WTC is the fault of GW. High fuel prices is the fault of GW. The Enron collaps is the fault of GW. Yet Enron contributed to every major politition that could influance law making, on both sides of the ilse. And I guess that GW had a hand in blinding to eyes of wall street and the feds on the illegal book keeping of Enron.
It was all GW's fault. RIGHT.
If you are a follower, you are fodder for the leader.

Answer:

Lars: I am glad to see, Cyclone, that you agree that Paul O'Neil and Don Evans should have told everybody involved, that Enron was going down the tubes three months ago. But since they didn't, should they not have to shoulder some of the blame for the losses to investors and Enron workers?
The Problem with your assertion that no one was privey to Enron "going ,down the tubes" is ludicrous. In fact in an interview on Foxnews Sunday with Tony Snow, Mr. O'Neill said:
What Ken told me over the phone was not new news. You all had been reporting for weeks that Enron had problems, that they were in trouble and the rest of that. And, you know, it's part of the reason I didn't think there was any reason for me to talk to anybody else, because I thought what Ken said to me was public property. It was not new news.
And, when asked if Mr. O'Neill was surprised by the collapse of Enron's stock value:
Not really. Companies come and go. It's — part of the genius of capitalism is, people get to make good decisions or bad decisions, and they get to pay the consequence or to enjoy the fruits of their decisions. That's the way the system works.
What about those that sold short?
Shall we go after Janet Reno to recoup losses the NASDAQ suffered as a result of the Microsoft lawsuit?
"When more of the people's sustenance is exacted through the form of taxation than is necessary to meet the just obligations of government and expenses of its economical administration, such exaction becomes ruthless extortion and a violation of the fundamental principles of a free government"
-- Grover Cleveland, Second Annual Message; December, 1886

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"Shall we go after Janet Reno to recoup losses the NASDAQ suffered as a result of the Microsoft lawsuit?"
He he he..."just a stepin and fetchin"......
But then on O"Reily last night it was said "if it was Clinton, we would all know he was lying about knowing about it, but since it's President Bush we all know he doesn't know how to lie!"
Interesting change of events, when you look at things in the "Light of day".

Answer:

Lars: Paul O'Neil and Don Evans should have told everybody involved, that Enron was going down the tubes three months ago. But since they didn't, should they not have to shoulder some of the blame for the losses to investors and Enron workers?
Had they (O'Neill-Evans) told everyone involved that Enron was "going down the tubes", Would that not send those involved into panic mode.
Since no-one else knew about the peril of Enron (according to Dem.s)Wouldn't it be considered "insider information", to go blabbing all over the country, about, the financial situation of a company, thereby allowing those that sell short, a gold mine?
I'm sure the Democrats would've loved to pin a Bush Admn. official with a SEC violation. Unfortunately for them there so disorganized they, can't stick to an argument.
"When more of the people's sustenance is exacted through the form of taxation than is necessary to meet the just obligations of government and expenses of its economical administration, such exaction becomes ruthless extortion and a violation of the fundamental principles of a free government"
-- Grover Cleveland, Second Annual Message; December, 1886
Last edited by Cyclone on Tue Jan 15, 2002 10:50 pm; edited 1 time in total

Answer:

now if that guy called Bush 3 months ago said hey we are going broke, then Bush does an emergency state of the union address says enron is going broke.
this would mean all the outside investors would have had a little time to dump there stocks, but the workers had no choice.
the workers agreed to the bad deal when they hired on. you cant blame Bush for that
maybe they should get off trying to blame politicians and get on to hanging some white collar criminals