Enron during the Clinton Administration

[Nie Trink Wasser]

I found this old article about US gov operations with Enron during Clinton's presidency and would like to see if anyone out there has more information.

It's interesting to me that the Bush Admin is catching so much heat for BUSTING Enron, yet the Clinton Admin gets away with doing so much business with them.

Ive been looking through this site http://www.commerce.gov/ to find the official facts on this issue....if anyone here can find relevant info, I would appreciate it.

Dirty Deals and the DNC Cash Machine

Fiction writers documented the fall of Enron as a scandal to be linked to President Bush. Yet the U.S. Commerce Department has just released over 5,000 pages of documents that detail the Enron scandal during the Clinton years.

The Commerce materials outline a long-standing and very close relationship between the Clinton administration and Enron. For example, in March 1999 U.S. Commerce Secretary William Daley's trade delegation to China produced several sweet business deals, including a special little gem for Enron.

Enron International China Pipeline, a wholly owned subsidiary of Enron Corp. of Houston, Texas, signed a memorandum of understanding with China National Petroleum Corporation to jointly develop a natural gas pipeline.

"Enron International approached FCS (Foreign Commercial Service) Beijing for advocacy support for its joint venture to build a 4,000 km, $400 million natural gas pipeline from reserves in Sichuan Province to markets in and around Wuhan in eastern China," states an April 1999 Commerce document from Ivone Yang.

"CO Adams worked with Enron and USDOC's Advocacy Center to win the Chinese authorities blessing so that Enron International was able to sign a Memorandum of Understanding during Secretary Daley's visit to China in March 1999 with its partner, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)," notes the Commerce Department memo.

The deal also sealed the first major U.S. energy effort with China National Petroleum. However, China National Petroleum already has great experience at building pipelines under hostile conditions. CNPC is a Chinese army-owned firm that currently operates an oil pipeline inside war-torn areas of Sudan.

According to an article published in Investor's Business Daily by John Berlau, "Chinese Oil Firm Listing on NYSE Faces Fight Due to Terrorist Links," CNPC operates an oil pipeline through the contested areas inside Sudan.

"Canada's Foreign Affairs Ministry recently found that the oil pipeline that CNPC is building with Sudan's government and others is 'exacerbating the conflict' that has already killed 2 million people," wrote Berlau. "Not only will the oil revenue go to fuel the war effort but Sudan's government is using the pipeline project's airstrip for bombing missions."

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/5/14/124745.shtml

 

[Tricky]

There is no doubt that much that happened during the Clinton administration lead to the excesses that finally sunk Enron et. al. Polarazation of wealth occurred at a record pace during his tenure, as did cuts in human services. That is why most liberals do not count Clinton as one of theirs, even if they agree he was less damaging than Bush.

However, it must be noted that Enron much preferred Bush to Clinton, as evidenced by their contributions. Clinton may have allowed them a lot of leeway, but Bush (and especially Cheney) allowed them to make policy.

 

[Upchurch]

Clinton may have allowed them a lot of leeway, but Bush (and especially Cheney) allowed them to make policy.

I was going to say, I didn't remember the Bush administration doing a lot of "busting" on the Enron thing.

 

[Ziggurat]

Originally posted by Nie Trink Wasser
It's interesting to me that the Bush Admin is catching so much heat for BUSTING Enron, yet the Clinton Admin gets away with doing so much business with them.

Umm... Bush & Co only "busted" Enron after they went down in flames because they couldn't keep their schemes going. Are you actually attributing their downfall to any watchfulness on the part of the Bush administration? That's laughable. The Bush administration stood idly by while Enron illegally manipulated the California energy crisis for profit. Hmmm... I wonder why anyone might criticise them for that.

So, where we all the republican critics of Clinton administration dealings with Enron when they were going on? Could it be that this is mostly digging around in the past to try to invent a scandal that they wouldn't have cared about at the time? Naw, that couldn't be it. I'm sure YOU would never post blatantly partisan rhetoric just to troll.

 

[Crossbow]

Of course the Clinton Administration helped Enron secure overseas contracts, is that really news to you?

They helped Boeing sell planes and they helped USA Defense Contractors sell there wares to other governments. That is the sort of thing presidents are supposed to do otherwise these contracts would be filled by non-USA companies that have direct governmental support (i.e., BP or Airbus).

 

[Nie Trink Wasser]

I would like to remind everyone, that I posted the thread in order to research deals with Enron during the Clinton Admin.

If you're only interested in defending the Clinton Admin, please do not derail or hijack the post.

If you dont want to contribute, fine, but please be considerate of what I was hoping to accomplish with the post.

Ive seen so much about Enron ties to the Bush Admin and almost no reporting of Enron ties to Clinton....that is the point of this thread...please respect that.

 

[arcticpenguin]

How many Enron executives, especially former CEOs, are in prison right now?

 

[Grammatron]

I would like to remind everyone, that I posted the thread in order to research deals with Enron during the Clinton Admin.

If you're only interested in defending the Clinton Admin, please do not derail or hijack the post.

If you dont want to contribute, fine, but please be considerate of what I was hoping to accomplish with the post.

Ive seen so much about Enron ties to the Bush Admin and almost no reporting of Enron ties to Clinton....that is the point of this thread...please respect that.

It seems you are only interested in a biased view of the situation that makes Clinton look bad. The facts of the matter is Bush had more dealings with Enron than Clinton, that including before and after he was in the white house.

 

[Nie Trink Wasser]

It seems you are only interested in a biased view of the situation that makes Clinton look bad. The facts of the matter is Bush had more dealings with Enron than Clinton, that including before and after he was in the white house.

all Im asking for is a description of deals Enron made with the Clinton Admin, please don't twist that beyond what Ive asked.

why is this such a difficult thing to ask of people here ?

 

[DavidJames]

"Ive seen so much about Enron ties to the Bush Admin and almost no reporting of Enron ties to Clinton"

Perhaps because it's 2003 and Bush is president and has been for almost 3 years. Clinton is no longer president.

 

[Nie Trink Wasser]

Perhaps because it's 2003 and Bush is president and has been for almost 3 years. Clinton is no longer president. [/B]

wait, so prior to Bush being in office Enron didnt exist ?

please don't derail the thread.

 

[DavidJames]

"please don't derail the thread."

I provided a possible explanation for this comment of yours:

"Ive seen so much about Enron ties to the Bush Admin and almost no reporting of Enron ties to Clinton"

I would hardly call that derailing the tread.

 

[Tricky]

all Im asking for is a description of deals Enron made with the Clinton Admin, please don't twist that beyond what Ive asked.

why is this such a difficult thing to ask of people here ?

And why is that? Do you want your own little private space in which you and your fellow Clinton bashers can relax, have a drink and casually let fly your hatred without fear of being challenged? My, aren't you the dreamer!

 

[Nie Trink Wasser]

And why is that? Do you want your own little private space in which you and your fellow Clinton bashers can relax, have a drink and casually let fly your hatred without fear of being challenged? My, aren't you the dreamer!

I'm NOT asking for bashing of Clinton.

Im asking for facts and I'm noticing how this is becoming impossible here.

you're derailing the thread by trying to debate about "evil Clinton/good Bush" ideas, when that is NOT what Im interested in.

I want to know facts about what happened in Enron during Clinton and for some reason it is impossible to get this discussion here.

 

[Tricky]

I'm NOT asking for bashing of Clinton.

Then what is the purpose in asking about his ties to a disgraced company? Pardon me if I am skeptical about your impartial curiosity.

 

[Nie Trink Wasser]

Then what is the purpose in asking about his ties to a disgraced company? Pardon me if I am skeptical about your impartial curiosity.

in order to gain a complete understanding of the Enron scandal.

if we only deal with what happened while Bush was in office, it is irresponsible and ignorant.

 

[Hexxenhammer]

1 star.

 

[Nie Trink Wasser]

1 star.

do you think this gains you respect somehow ?

 

[clk]

Maybe because Bush's ties to Ken Lay were much deeper than Clinton's. Bush and Lay were close friends, so Bush may have known about the financial mess:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/bushlay1.html
Therefore, the media probably "covers" Bush's ties to Enron even more.
I found your quote: "It's interesting to me that the Bush Admin is catching so much heat for BUSTING Enron..." to be laughable. Bush is catching "heat" because he has been so soft on Enron...has he said anything about prosecuting Ken Lay? No. Ken Lay is still running around, free. Seems like you can do whatever you want if you have ties with the right people. If anything, the media has not covered the Enron/Bush ties enough.

 

[Hexxenhammer]

do you think this gains you respect somehow ?

No. If it will make you feel better, I'll go rate your "Suicide Bomber" thread over in Humor 5 stars.