Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/18/business/18GORE.html
"The Enron Corporation quietly drew up a plan to cultivate close political ties to Vice President Al Gore during the 2000 presidential race and tried to build relationships with his inner circle even though the company was one of the biggest campaign contributors to George W. Bush and the Republicans.
The double-sided strategy was intended to ensure that Enron, the Houston-based energy company that has filed for bankruptcy protection, wielded influence with the next president, whoever he was, according to internal company documents and interviews with officials at Enron and from the Gore campaign. . .
. . .Former Enron officials said an important part of their strategy to win favor with the Gore campaign was a significant increase in the company's donations to Democrats. Enron documents outlined this approach; they show that in 1999 and 2000 the company gave $426,500 in so- called soft-money donations to Republicans and $362,000 to Democrats. That amounts to 54 percent to Republicans and 46 percent to Democrats. In 1997 and 1998, Enron's donations had tilted much more to Republicans ? 67 percent, with Democrats getting only 33 percent.
But Enron continued to give much more to Governor Bush than to Vice President Gore. In all, it gave Mr. Gore's campaign $13,750 and Mr. Bush's $113,800, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Enron also gave $250,000 to the host committee for the Republican National Convention, and in 1999 and 2000, Kenneth L. Lay, then Enron's chairman, gave $250,000 in what the documents described as "personal money to the R.N.C.," the Republican National Committee."
I don't care who's who on either side, I just hope politics doesn't get in the way a full and thorough investigation that concludes with the successful prosecution of all the guilty.
If you let your allegiance to either party or ANY particular political ideology blind you to the need to hold every single responsible scumbag here accountable to the full extent of the law for their lies, greed, and perversion of justice, then your thinking is foolhardy and your ethics are worse.
"The Enron Corporation quietly drew up a plan to cultivate close political ties to Vice President Al Gore during the 2000 presidential race and tried to build relationships with his inner circle even though the company was one of the biggest campaign contributors to George W. Bush and the Republicans.
The double-sided strategy was intended to ensure that Enron, the Houston-based energy company that has filed for bankruptcy protection, wielded influence with the next president, whoever he was, according to internal company documents and interviews with officials at Enron and from the Gore campaign. . .
. . .Former Enron officials said an important part of their strategy to win favor with the Gore campaign was a significant increase in the company's donations to Democrats. Enron documents outlined this approach; they show that in 1999 and 2000 the company gave $426,500 in so- called soft-money donations to Republicans and $362,000 to Democrats. That amounts to 54 percent to Republicans and 46 percent to Democrats. In 1997 and 1998, Enron's donations had tilted much more to Republicans ? 67 percent, with Democrats getting only 33 percent.
But Enron continued to give much more to Governor Bush than to Vice President Gore. In all, it gave Mr. Gore's campaign $13,750 and Mr. Bush's $113,800, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Enron also gave $250,000 to the host committee for the Republican National Convention, and in 1999 and 2000, Kenneth L. Lay, then Enron's chairman, gave $250,000 in what the documents described as "personal money to the R.N.C.," the Republican National Committee."
I don't care who's who on either side, I just hope politics doesn't get in the way a full and thorough investigation that concludes with the successful prosecution of all the guilty.
If you let your allegiance to either party or ANY particular political ideology blind you to the need to hold every single responsible scumbag here accountable to the full extent of the law for their lies, greed, and perversion of justice, then your thinking is foolhardy and your ethics are worse.
