LoungeMachine
05-31-2006, 12:11 AM
On May 25th, President Bush said that Treasury Secretary John Snow had not given him any indication that he was leaving soon:
PRESIDENT BUSH: Secretary of Treasury Snow?
Q Has he given you any indication he intends to leave his job any time soon?…
PRESIDENT BUSH: No, he has not talked to me about resignation. I think he’s doing a fine job.
In fact, not only had Snow indicated he was leaving, President Bush had already settled on his replacement. Today, Tony Snow said that Hank Paulson was offered the job on May 20 and accepted a day later:
QUESTION: Do you have any tick tock on the Paulson…
TONY SNOW: Yes. The tick tock is the two of them met on the 20th of May and there was a conversation. And Hank Paulson accepted the job a day later. ...
Friday, May 26
Heckava Job: Enron Guilt Slimes Bush Family
Enron Chiefs Lay, Skilling Guilty of Fraud and Conspiracy, NYT
***
December, 2002: Video reminds Bush family of embarrassing Enron links
The White House last night suffered an embarrassing reminder of the Bush family's close relationship with the disgraced energy firm Enron. A video recorded for the leaving party of a former employee shows senior executives joking about how they could manipulate the accounts to make "a kazillion dollars". It also features the current and former President Bushes paying warm tributes to the departing executive. George Bush senior tells Enron's then president Rich Kinder: "You have been fantastic to the Bush family. I don't think anybody did more than you did to support George."
The 1997 video, shown on MSNBC last night, turned out to be prescient. In one skit, Enron's then chief executive Jeffrey Skilling is shown handing a budget report to a colleague , and explaining how Enron could achieve 600% revenue growth in the coming year. "We're going to move to something I call HFV, or hypothetical future value accounting," he says. "If we do that, we can add a kazillion dollars to the bottom line." On the tape, then chief accounting officer Richard Causey jokes: "I've been on the job for a week managing earnings, and it's easier than I thought it would be." George Bush junior, then governor of Texas, says to Mr Kinder, who has not been implicated in the financial scandal: "Don't leave Texas. You're too good a man." --Guardian
Bush Served on Harken Board During Enron Trades In 1992. October 22, 2002 "While President Bush served on Harken Energy Corp.'s board more than 10 years ago, it engaged in complex trades with Enron Corp., a watchdog group said on Tuesday." --Yahoo News, quoted by Buzzflash
April 1997 letter to "Dear George" from "Sincerely, Ken"
You will be meeting with Ambassador Sadyq Safaey...Enron has established an office in Tashkent and we are negotiating a $3 billion dollar joint venture...I know you and Ambassador Safaev will have a productive meeting which will result in a friendship between Texas and Uzbekistan --Smoking Gun
In 1997, the Washington Post did a piece about President George H. W. Bush’s overnight guests.... BALZ AND BABCOCK: Comedian Bob Hope, tennis player Andre Agassi, singers Lee Greenwood and Crystal Gayle and baseball great Ted Williams spent the night at the White House during President George Bush’s four years in office...Several others gave significant amounts of money to the party but were not in the $100,000 category. They included: Ken Lay of the Enron Corp.; Richard Rainwater, a Fort Worth investor; Perry Bass of Fort Worth; and Donald Hall of Hallmark Cards. --Daily Howler
"Phillips writes that in 1988 George W. Bush actually served as a lobbyist for Enron, telephoning the Argentine government to promote an Enron pipeline proposal. Bush’s staff has denied that Bush made that phone call, but an Argentine cabinet minister says he did. In any event, Bush’s father was president-elect when Bush made the alleged phone call, a fact that could not have been lost on the Argentine government." --quoted by Buzzflash
Bush visits top contributor for Houston baseball bash April 8, 2000
"Kenneth Lay, right, CEO of the Texas-based energy giant Enron Corp., visits with former president George Bush prior to the Houston Astros' home opener at their new Enron Field Friday night. Lay has been a major contributor for Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. George W. Bush, foreground." --quoted by Buzzflash
The Bush administration's links to Enron, the trigger for the present wave of scandals, are labyrinthine. Enron, based in Mr Bush's home state of Texas, was his biggest backer during his campaigns for governor and president, donating more than $800,000. He was also a friend of the company's former chief executive Kenneth Lay, whom he referred to affectionately as "Kenny boy". --Guardian
Ken Lay Quote in an interview with PBS’s 'Frontline' taped on March 27, 2001: 'When Governor Bush, now President Bush, decided to run fo: 'When Governor Bush, now President Bush, decided to run for the governor’s spot, [there was] a little difficult situation. I’d worked very closely with Ann Richards also, the four years she was governor. But I was very close to George W. and had a lot of respect for him, had watched him over the years, particularly with reference to dealing with his father when his father was in the White House and some of the things he did to work for his father, and so did support him.'" --TPJ
George W. Bush Quote: "I got to know Ken Lay when he was head of the — what they call the Governor's Business Council in Texas. He was a supporter of Ann Richards in my run in 1994. And she had named him the head of the Governor's Business Council. And I decided to leave him in place, just for the sake of continuity. And that's when I first got to know Ken and worked with Ken." —attempting to distance himself from his biggest political patron, Enron Chairman Ken Lay, whom he nicknamed "Kenny Boy," Washington, D.C., Jan. 10, 2002 --About
"In more than two dozen letters written from Kenneth L. Lay to then-Gov. George W. Bush, the former Enron (news/quote) chairman lobbied repeatedly for his company's pet issue, electric deregulation, sought the governor's presence at Enron-related functions and sent magazine articles and personal notes." --NYT
May 2002: White House officials had more extensive contacts with Enron executives in 2001 than previously disclosed, according to a document released by the Bush administration today in response to a request for information from a Senate committee. The document describes contacts -- including meetings, phone conversations, letters and e-mail messages -- that concerned the national energy policy report produced by Vice President Dick Cheney, the California energy crisis, Enron's collapse last fall and appointments to administration posts, including the head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The White House document also disclosed that Enron executives, including Kenneth L. Lay, the former chairman, attended numerous White House functions, including the 2001 inaugural, the Easter Egg roll, T-ball games, speeches and social events. --NYT
May 2002: All the examples of the Bush family's role in the rise of Enron. Here, we're running around, we're blaming these accountants, these tricksters that were in Enron, but George W. and George H.W., his father, were very much involved in the whole rise of Enron's influence and power in this country. But you ... you don't see that. People in the press have a lot of trouble touching these issues right where the rubber hits the road. --PBS Interview with Kevin Phillips
PRESIDENT BUSH: Secretary of Treasury Snow?
Q Has he given you any indication he intends to leave his job any time soon?…
PRESIDENT BUSH: No, he has not talked to me about resignation. I think he’s doing a fine job.
In fact, not only had Snow indicated he was leaving, President Bush had already settled on his replacement. Today, Tony Snow said that Hank Paulson was offered the job on May 20 and accepted a day later:
QUESTION: Do you have any tick tock on the Paulson…
TONY SNOW: Yes. The tick tock is the two of them met on the 20th of May and there was a conversation. And Hank Paulson accepted the job a day later. ...
Friday, May 26
Heckava Job: Enron Guilt Slimes Bush Family
Enron Chiefs Lay, Skilling Guilty of Fraud and Conspiracy, NYT
***
December, 2002: Video reminds Bush family of embarrassing Enron links
The White House last night suffered an embarrassing reminder of the Bush family's close relationship with the disgraced energy firm Enron. A video recorded for the leaving party of a former employee shows senior executives joking about how they could manipulate the accounts to make "a kazillion dollars". It also features the current and former President Bushes paying warm tributes to the departing executive. George Bush senior tells Enron's then president Rich Kinder: "You have been fantastic to the Bush family. I don't think anybody did more than you did to support George."
The 1997 video, shown on MSNBC last night, turned out to be prescient. In one skit, Enron's then chief executive Jeffrey Skilling is shown handing a budget report to a colleague , and explaining how Enron could achieve 600% revenue growth in the coming year. "We're going to move to something I call HFV, or hypothetical future value accounting," he says. "If we do that, we can add a kazillion dollars to the bottom line." On the tape, then chief accounting officer Richard Causey jokes: "I've been on the job for a week managing earnings, and it's easier than I thought it would be." George Bush junior, then governor of Texas, says to Mr Kinder, who has not been implicated in the financial scandal: "Don't leave Texas. You're too good a man." --Guardian
Bush Served on Harken Board During Enron Trades In 1992. October 22, 2002 "While President Bush served on Harken Energy Corp.'s board more than 10 years ago, it engaged in complex trades with Enron Corp., a watchdog group said on Tuesday." --Yahoo News, quoted by Buzzflash
April 1997 letter to "Dear George" from "Sincerely, Ken"
You will be meeting with Ambassador Sadyq Safaey...Enron has established an office in Tashkent and we are negotiating a $3 billion dollar joint venture...I know you and Ambassador Safaev will have a productive meeting which will result in a friendship between Texas and Uzbekistan --Smoking Gun
In 1997, the Washington Post did a piece about President George H. W. Bush’s overnight guests.... BALZ AND BABCOCK: Comedian Bob Hope, tennis player Andre Agassi, singers Lee Greenwood and Crystal Gayle and baseball great Ted Williams spent the night at the White House during President George Bush’s four years in office...Several others gave significant amounts of money to the party but were not in the $100,000 category. They included: Ken Lay of the Enron Corp.; Richard Rainwater, a Fort Worth investor; Perry Bass of Fort Worth; and Donald Hall of Hallmark Cards. --Daily Howler
"Phillips writes that in 1988 George W. Bush actually served as a lobbyist for Enron, telephoning the Argentine government to promote an Enron pipeline proposal. Bush’s staff has denied that Bush made that phone call, but an Argentine cabinet minister says he did. In any event, Bush’s father was president-elect when Bush made the alleged phone call, a fact that could not have been lost on the Argentine government." --quoted by Buzzflash
Bush visits top contributor for Houston baseball bash April 8, 2000
"Kenneth Lay, right, CEO of the Texas-based energy giant Enron Corp., visits with former president George Bush prior to the Houston Astros' home opener at their new Enron Field Friday night. Lay has been a major contributor for Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. George W. Bush, foreground." --quoted by Buzzflash
The Bush administration's links to Enron, the trigger for the present wave of scandals, are labyrinthine. Enron, based in Mr Bush's home state of Texas, was his biggest backer during his campaigns for governor and president, donating more than $800,000. He was also a friend of the company's former chief executive Kenneth Lay, whom he referred to affectionately as "Kenny boy". --Guardian
Ken Lay Quote in an interview with PBS’s 'Frontline' taped on March 27, 2001: 'When Governor Bush, now President Bush, decided to run fo: 'When Governor Bush, now President Bush, decided to run for the governor’s spot, [there was] a little difficult situation. I’d worked very closely with Ann Richards also, the four years she was governor. But I was very close to George W. and had a lot of respect for him, had watched him over the years, particularly with reference to dealing with his father when his father was in the White House and some of the things he did to work for his father, and so did support him.'" --TPJ
George W. Bush Quote: "I got to know Ken Lay when he was head of the — what they call the Governor's Business Council in Texas. He was a supporter of Ann Richards in my run in 1994. And she had named him the head of the Governor's Business Council. And I decided to leave him in place, just for the sake of continuity. And that's when I first got to know Ken and worked with Ken." —attempting to distance himself from his biggest political patron, Enron Chairman Ken Lay, whom he nicknamed "Kenny Boy," Washington, D.C., Jan. 10, 2002 --About
"In more than two dozen letters written from Kenneth L. Lay to then-Gov. George W. Bush, the former Enron (news/quote) chairman lobbied repeatedly for his company's pet issue, electric deregulation, sought the governor's presence at Enron-related functions and sent magazine articles and personal notes." --NYT
May 2002: White House officials had more extensive contacts with Enron executives in 2001 than previously disclosed, according to a document released by the Bush administration today in response to a request for information from a Senate committee. The document describes contacts -- including meetings, phone conversations, letters and e-mail messages -- that concerned the national energy policy report produced by Vice President Dick Cheney, the California energy crisis, Enron's collapse last fall and appointments to administration posts, including the head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The White House document also disclosed that Enron executives, including Kenneth L. Lay, the former chairman, attended numerous White House functions, including the 2001 inaugural, the Easter Egg roll, T-ball games, speeches and social events. --NYT
May 2002: All the examples of the Bush family's role in the rise of Enron. Here, we're running around, we're blaming these accountants, these tricksters that were in Enron, but George W. and George H.W., his father, were very much involved in the whole rise of Enron's influence and power in this country. But you ... you don't see that. People in the press have a lot of trouble touching these issues right where the rubber hits the road. --PBS Interview with Kevin Phillips