Bush - Lay Connections (from Molly Ivins) This needs to stay alive

[leftyladyfrommo]

From June 3, 2006 Kansas City Star

"I'm not attempting to make this a partisan deal - only 73% of Enron's political donations went to Republicans. But I'll be damned if Enron's No. 1 show pony politician, George W. Bush, should be allowed to walk away from this. Lay gave $139,500 to Bush over the years. He chipped in $100,000 to the Bush-Cheney Inaugural Fund in 2000, and $10,000 to the Bush-Cheney Recount Fund.

Plus, Enron's political action committee gave Bush $113,800 for his '94 and '98 poltical races, and an additional $312,500 from its executives. Bush got 14 free rides on Enron's corporate jets during the 2000 campaign, including at least two during the recount. Until January 2004, Enron was Bush's top contributor.

And what did it get for its money? Lay was on Bush's short list to be energy secretary. he not only almost certainly served on Cheney's energy task force, there is every inidcation that the task force's energy plan, the one we have been on for five years, is in fact the Enron plan. Lay used Bush as an errand boy, calling the governor of Texas and having him phone Tom Ridge to vouch for what swell energy deregulation bills Enron was sponsoring in states all over the country.

We need to reform the political system, or we'll lose the democracy.

[berni_mccoy]

1. KICK!

:kick:

[Jeffersons Ghost]

2. it's easy to find the greatest threads at DU. they have NO kicks

several votes and stay at the bottom of page one or page two at DU. KICKED AND RECOMMENDED

[leftyladyfrommo]

3. I don't get it a lot of the time. I think that this is a really important

political issue - that should be really pushed.

But people don't seem to care about a lot of things anymore.

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Since everything they do is corrupt

it's hard to pick just one scandal to focus on.

Thanks for reminding us about the gory details of this one.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

8. It's an ODD phenomenon. people voting but not kicking

it's as if they want it to get on the "greatest" page and then go away as fast as possible. I don't know about the rest of you but I rarely read the "greatest." I open at "General Discussion" to see what the hot topics are and then work from there. Do you think people at DU are afraid to comment or kick for some reason?

[sojourner]

12. i think it's "scandle fatigue" - people are getting tired of seeing these

things appear and just as quickly be swept away by the Corporate media.

[annabanana]

16. new habit.: . visit "greatest" at least once before bedtime. . . .eom

[kentuck]

4. K & R ...

Important info inside...

[intheflow]

6. Here's a link to the full article:

Courtesy of Common Dreams

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0530-28.htm

K&R. :kick:

[Supersedeas]

18. thanks for the link flo

[Frustratedlady]

7. K&R - The more *s name is linked to Lay, the better.

When * denies knowing someone and is proven wrong, it should be displayed all over the place to show what a liar he really is. This Good Ol' Boy network needs to be exposed for what it is and destroyed.

[young_at_heart]

9. Weren't they best buddies?

Enron loaned it's airplane to Bush in 2000 for campaigning.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

11. Ken was the best buddy George never knew!

[leftyladyfrommo]

13. Didn't Bush refer him as Kenny Boy?

It's kind of too bad he didn't make him Energy Secretary - just think of the magnitude of that scandal?

We just weem to be stuck with a whole bunch of smaller scandals.

[savemefromdumbya]

17. Yes you've probably seen the 'letters'

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/bushlay4.html

[bear425]

10. k/r

[riderinthestorm]

14. Kick! nt

[VolcanoJen]

15. HUGE K&R

:dem:

[WiseButAngrySara]

19. Kick and R!

:hi: leftyladyfrommo!!

[DemInDistress]

20. Ken Lay -- Gov.Bush letters...

While the White House has repeatedly described former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay as simply a "supporter" of George W. Bush, extensive correspondence between the two men paints a far cozier picture of their relationship, according to copies of letters obtained this afternoon (2/15) by The Smoking Gun.

The pages of correspondence, exchanged during the years Bush served as governor of Texas, were released today in Austin by the state archives in response to Freedom of Information requests filed by TSG and other news organizations.

The Bush-Lay material touches on both personal matters (birthday greetings and Bush's knee surgery) and public concerns of Lay and Enron, such as energy legislation and tort reform, and reflects the kind of jocular relationship that reportedly saw the nickname-happy Bush call the Enron boss "Kenny Boy." The Houston-based energy firm, Bush's leading career political contributor, is now bankrupt and the target of a multitude of criminal and congressional probes.

We've arranged the Bush-Lay letters into several batches and, where applicable, have followed an original letter with the recipient's reply. TSG will upload the correspondence as quickly as we can scan the documents. You'll find the first 15 letters below along with links that will get you to the additional pages.

Pages 1-15

Pages 16-30

Pages 31-40
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/bushlay1.html






and another..

many more at link it showed me a closer connection existed that most Americans don't realize (I didn't) until I read those letters. Very close com padres in public and more importantly in private. I could imagine the schemes they might have talked about in the cigar room having brandy. I hear them say," we can make billions"
wow..
but kennyboy is a convicted felon now and what did king george promise lay to stay the course and wait for the pardon. Read the letters...

[leftyladyfrommo]

21. I still don't quite understand how Bush just sort of slid out of

this one.

This relationship was no secret - especially in Texas. And yet Bush managed to slip off into the nite and no big deal was made of it.

It's stuff like this that makes me wonder what the hell the press has been drinking. Why have they just let all of these stuff slide. It would make such great material for stories.

[a kennedy]

22. gotta keep this up there......

:kick:

[Maestro]

23. But he barely knew him

:sarcasm: