OpenSecrets reminds us of the coziness of Bush and Enron!

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Political Giving in Texas

Enron has been a prolific financial supporter of George W. Bush’s political career, beginning first with Bush’s successful bid for Texas governor in 1994. Texans for Public Justice, an Austin-based non-profit research group, found in a January 2000 study that Enron was the biggest corporate supporter of Bush’s 1994 and 1998 gubernatorial campaigns in Texas, with its employees contributing more than $312,000 during the two races. Of that total, former Enron chief Kenneth Lay contributed $100,000, making him one of the most generous individual contributors to Bush on the state level. Click here for TPJ's searchable database of contributors to Bush's state campaigns.

National Conventions

Enron has been a major supporter of the last three Republican National Conventions. In 1992, when the event was held in Houston (where the company is based), former Enron chief Kenneth Lay served as chairman of the convention’s organizing committee, in charge of fund-raising and logistics. According to press reports, Enron contributed at least $250,000 to the event. Four years later, Enron gave at least $500,000 to the San Diego host committee, according to the Republican National Committee. In 2000, Enron donated $250,000 to the Philadelphia convention committee. However, none of the totals include the virtually undisclosed amounts of money Enron spent on parties and receptions at the conventions. For example, Enron in 2000 helped to throw a lavish luncheon in honor of then-vice-presidential candidate Dick Cheney. And while the company didn’t contribute directly to any of the last three Democratic National Conventions, Enron did throw parties for some of its closest friends there. At the 2000 Democratic Convention in Los Angeles, Enron sponsored fetes for Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) and Texas Democrats and was a major backer of several events sponsored by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Corporate Jets

On top of its political contributions, Enron also made its company jet readily available to the Bush-Cheney campaign during the 1999-2000 election cycle at a greatly reduced price. An analysis of Federal Election Commission records shows that Bush-Cheney paid Enron roughly $60,000 for use of its jet during the campaign. Federal rules permit such use, as long as the campaigns reimburse the company for the cost of a first-class plane ticket—a major bargain, considering corporate jets cost at least $1,000 per flight hour, not including other charges. The Center analyzed Bush's corporate jet use in the Winter 2000 issue of Capital Eye.

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/enron/enron_other.asp