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Enron spread the wealth around Washington

Former energy-trading giant Enron Corp not only lavished campaign donations on President George W Bush, but was one of America's biggest political contributors, spreading money across both parties on Capitol Hill.

Nearly half the current US House of Representatives and almost three-quarters of the current Senate have been beneficiaries of Enron largesse in recent years, say the Washington watchdog groups that monitor campaign cash.

Since 1989, Enron has made a whopping $5.8 million in campaign donations, 73 per cent to Republicans and 27 per cent to Democrats, says the Center for Responsive Politics, an organisation that tracks political giving.

Nearly half of these funds were donated during 1999-2000, when Enron was one of the top 50 organisational donors in the United States, the Center says.

The money kept coming in until just before Enron filed for bankruptcy on December 2. Since then, as the controversy around Enron has grown, some donations have been given back.

Texans were by far the biggest Enron recipients, and Republicans got more than Democrats. Bush, being both a Texan and a Republican, and a friend of Enron chairman Kenneth Lay to boot, did very well.

Enron was Bush's biggest political patron as he headed into the 2000 presidential election. In all it has made $623,000 in contributions to his campaigns since 1993, when he was raising money for his first Texas gubernatorial race, according to the Center for Public Integrity, another follow-the-money group.

'MONEY FOR ACCESS'

But the giving did not stop after election day. Enron officials contributed $10,500 to his Florida recount committee, and when the recount was ended, they donated $300,000 for the inaugural celebrations, said Holley Bailey, researcher for the Center for Responsive Politics.

"I think what is interesting about their giving over the last year, is that they used any method possible to support President Bush's campaign run," she said.

What Enron got in exchange for the money was access, Bailey asserted. She noted that Lay had met Vice President Dick Cheney during last year's California energy crisis, at the same time the administration was formulating its energy policy.

"One thing is clear. They have written checks to a lot of people in this town and I guess that gets their phone calls answered when they call cabinet secretaries," Bailey said.

It was disclosed this week that Lay telephoned two cabinet officials last fall as the company's financial situation worsened. Enron on December 2 made the largest bankruptcy court filing in US history.

The Justice Department has opened a criminal probe into Enron's collapse, which wiped out the pensions of thousands, and several congressional committees are also investigating.

MIDAS TOUCH

The White House points out, accurately, that Enron also contributed money to lawmakers, Democrats among them. Indeed, on Capitol Hill, few have escaped Enron's Midas touch.

Texas Sens Kay Bailey Hutchison and Phil Gramm, both Republicans, top the list, having received $99,500 and $97,350 respectively in campaign contributions from Enron, the Center for Responsive Politics says.

But senior Democrats and those on committees relevant to Enron's energy-trading business got donations too. For example, Sen Charles Schumer of New York, a Democrat, received $21,933, the center said. He is on the energy committee.

Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota received $6,000 in Enron contributions. Democratic Sen Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, who chairs the governmental affairs committee that will probe Enron's fall, got a $2,000 donation.

In the House, the top beneficiary of Enron generosity, Democrat Ken Bentsen of Texas, has received $42,750 in contributions since he was elected in 1994.

But Bentsen is giving back $2,000 of Enron money he has received since the last election -- not to Enron, though. He is looking for a fund that will help its laid-off employees.

He's not the only one shunning Enron money now. The National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee as well as the Republican Governors Association recently returned Enron donations totaling $160,000.

And the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is giving to charity a $100,000 Enron donation that it received in late November, just days before Enron filed for bankruptcy.

Asked why he topped the House list of Enron recipients, Bentsen explained that his district is in the greater Houston area, where Enron is based, and that he has had to raise a lot of money over his career fighting well-financed challengers.

"The bottom line is somedays I've enjoyed support from Enron and other days I haven't," Bentsen added. He recalls Lay supported his opponent, Dolly Madison McKenna, in 1996.

"He (Lay) said, 'I think she's going to be better than you.' It really made me mad," Bentsen said.

Arizona Sen John McCain, a Republican who has championed campaign finance reform, said he had also been "tainted" by accepting donations from Enron in two Senate campaigns.

"The point here is that because of the massive amounts of money they contributed, it taints all of us, including me," McCain told CNN's "Larry King Live" program.

"That's why we need to have campaign finance reform. They literally gave millions and millions of dollars in soft money contributions and it taints the whole process," said McCain, stressing that he had never accepting so-called soft donations.

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