Attorney general steps clear of Enron fray

[paineinthearse]

This is 1.5 hours old, but a search of LBN turned up no posts. Isn't it delighful that the head of the US justice system was so close to Ken Lay's crowd that he has to recuse himself from prosecution and that Enron and Lay also contributed to Ashcroft's political pot?

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/3123870

April 8, 2005, 6:48AM

Attorney general steps clear of Enron fray
By MARY FLOOD

THE DEFENDANTS


CEO Ken Lay, CFO Jeff Skilling & CAO Richard Causey.
All have pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud and conspiracy.

Like his predecessor, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will not be involved in the Enron criminal prosecutions, his office said Thursday. Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra would not say why Gonzales recused himself from the proceedings. But the attorney general did legal work for Enron when he was practicing law in Houston, and, while a Texas judge, accepted a campaign contribution from an Enron political committee. Gonzales' predecessor, John Ashcroft, also recused himself from overseeing the Enron prosecutions because he accepted substantial campaign funds from the company when he was running for U.S. senator.

The Enron Task Force prosecutors simply will not report all the way up the chain of command to Gonzales himself. "It was the prudent thing to do," said Steven Lubet, a law professor at Northwestern University. "Ensuring public confidence is always a good idea." Lubet has said there is no law governing recusals like this, nor is there an ethical principle that precluded Gonzales from overseeing the case.

Gonzales did legal work for Enron in the early 1990s while at Vinson & Elkins law firm in Houston. Enron was that law firm's largest client for several years. He helped Enron set up EOTT Energy Partners, an oil and natural gas business master limited partnership. Gonzales' last Enron billing was in May 1994, according to the law firm. Most of the activity at Enron that has come under scrutiny by the Justice Department's Enron Task Force has been in 1999, 2000 and 2001, the year it collapsed. Gonzales left Vinson & Elkins in 1995 to become then-Texas Gov. Bush's general counsel. He would go on to serve as Texas secretary of state and then as a justice on the Texas Supreme Court.

While on the court, Gonzales received a $6,000 campaign contribution from Enron's now-defunct political action committee, as well as $500 from an Enron employee, according to Austin-based Texans for Public Justice. This will mean little change for the Enron prosecution, because Ashcroft also kept a distance from the work. Ashcroft, a former Republican senator from Missouri, received $57,499 in contributions from Enron during his unsuccessful effort to retain his seat in 2000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. One-time Enron CEO Ken Lay contributed $25,000 in soft money to Ashcroft's fund-raising committee, the Ashcroft Victory Fund.

[email protected]

[MADem]

1. Well, that says it all

You know, I did not watch all of Gonzalez's confirmation hearings, but I don't recall one clip of any Senator asking "Hey, Berto, the Enron work--whassup with that?" I didn't hear a single wussie news anchor mention it, note it, raise an eyebrow...

The media is dead. They don't give us shit until the horse is out of the barn.

[gratuitous]

5. Precisely

No one wanted to do the unseemly and rude job of asking the Attorney General designate whether there was any past work he had done that might compromise his ability to do his job. Remember when Stupidhead first came into office, and pronounced that unlike his predecessor, his administration was going to avoid even the appearance of impropriety? That one always cracks me up!

[etherealtruth]

2. Makes you proud to be 'murkin ...

...ass holes!
(sorry, I am really feeling hateful this AM)

[underpants]

3. What Enron Got For Its Political Contributions

http://www.progress.org/archive/enron.htm

8. Favorable Treatment In Texas Supreme Court

Since 1993, Enron was a party to six petitions for review in the Texas Supreme Court. The court accepted two of the three petitions brought by Enron (66 percent) and denied all three petitions brought by its adversaries (100 percent). This is an incredible record in a court that accepts 11 percent of all petitions. In both Enron petitions that the High Court heard, the justices reversed lower appeals courts to rule in Enron’s favor. Texas High Court justices have taken $134,058 from Enron’s PAC and executives since 1993.

[paineinthearse]

4. That is what has been registered

How much more was there "off the books".

That is why it is WRONG to elect judges. They should be appointed by the executive, with appropriate checks and balances by the upper chamber of the legislative.

Good enough for John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, good enough for me.

[Supersedeas]

6. "its roots go deep, my lord"