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SEVENTEEN
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COLUMN
SEVENTY-TWO, JUNE 1, 2002
(Copyright © 2002 The Blacklisted Journalist)
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WOULD ENRON'S SHREDDED DOCUMENTS HAVE REVEALED TIES TO GEORGE W. BUSH?
Subject:
Bush and Enron were oil partners
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 22:56:09 -0800 (PST)
From: portsideMod <portsidemod@yahoo.com>
To: portside@yahoogroups.com
W.'s
First Enron Connection: Bush and Company Were Oil Partners
by
David Corn 03/04/2002 @ 1:57pm
[from
EmailNation:
Did
George W. Bush once have a financial relationship with Enron? In 1986, according
to publicly available records, the two drilled for oil together--at a time when
Bush was a not-too-successful oil man in Texas and his oil venture was in dire
need of help. Bush's business association with Enron, it seems, has not
previously been reported.
As
David Corn notes in the latest installment of Capital Games, this is one more
Enron partnership that deserves scrutiny--especially since George W. Bush has
yet to acknowledge it.]
Read
the full story below:
========================
W.'s
First Enron Connection: Bush and Company Were Oil Partners
by
David Corn 03/04/2002 @ 1:57pm
http://www.thenation.com/capitalgames
Did
George W. Bush once have a financial relationship with Enron? In 1986, according
to publicly available records, the two drilled for oil together--at a time when
Bush was a not-too-successful oil man in Texas and his oil venture was in dire
need of help. Bush's business association with Enron, it seems, has not
previously been reported.
In
1986, Spectrum 7, a privately owned oil company chaired by Bush faced serious
trouble. Two years earlier, Bush had merged his failing Bush Exploration Company
(previously known as Arbusto--the Spanish word for shrub) with the profitable
Spectrum 7, and he was named chief executive and director of the company. Bush
was paid $75,000 a year and handed 1.1 million shares, according to "First
Son," Bill Minutaglio's biography of Bush. Under this deal, Bush ended up
owning about 15 percent of Spectrum 7. By the end of 1985, Spectrum's fortunes
had reversed. With oil prices falling, the company was losing money and on the
verge of collapse. To save the firm, Bush began negotiations to sell Spectrum 7
to Harken Energy, a large Dallas-based energy firm owned mostly by billionaire
George Soros, Saudi businessman Abdullah Taha Baksh and the Harvard Management
Corporation.
The
deal took months to work out. In September of 1986, Spectrum 7 and Harken
announced they had reached an agreement. Spectrum 7 shareholders, under the
plan, would receive Harken stock. Bush said that Spectrum 7 would continue to
operate in Midland, Texas, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Harken and that he
would become an active member of Harken's board of directors. As Minutaglio
noted, the deal would give Bush about $600,000 in Harken shares and $50,000 to
$120,000 a year in consultant's fees. It also would provide $2.25 million in
As
the details of the Spectrum-Harken acquisition-- which Bush badly needed--were
being finalized, Enron Oil and Gas Company, a subsidiary of Enron
To
spell it out: George W. Bush and Enron Oil and Gas were in business together in
1986--when Ken Lay was head of Enron. (Lay was named Enron chairman in February
of that year.) How did this deal come about? Was this the only project in which
Bush and Enron were partners? A call placed to the White House has produced no
response yet. Karen Denne, an Enron spokeswoman, says "I can't tell you
anything about" that project, explaining Enron "sold all its domestic
exploration and production assets about two years ago to EOG Resources" and
probably did not retain records regarding that well. As for the possibility
After
the Enron affair began generating front-page headlines, Bush attempted to
distance himself from Enron and Lay. In early January, the President claimed he
and Lay had not always been close pals. "He was a supporter of [Texas
Governor]
Republican
convention in Houston, where Bush's father won his second presidential
nomination. And Lay was a sleepover guest at the White House of
The
Enron-George W. Bush connection goes back further than the President has
suggested. But does that mean the relationship between the younger Bush and
If
Lay had been aware of the partnership, that would not prove the two were pals or
that Bush and Spectrum 7 had received undue consideration from Enron.
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