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Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - Web posted at 1:45:41 pm GMT

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush dug in on Monday for a court fight with Congress over his refusal to turn over records detailing any involvement by Enron Corp. and other companies in the development of White House energy policy, accusing lawmakers of unfairly politicizing the issue.

Bush also promised to push through reforms to better protect workers and investors by making sure companies fully disclose their finances.

"Enron made contributions to a lot of people around Washington, D.C., and if they came to this administration looking for help they didn't find any," said Bush, who defended the administration's outreach to corporate executives in crafting its energy policy.

Earlier, administration officials made clear they would not compromise with the General Accounting Office (GAO), Congress' investigative arm, which has threatened to sue the White House for the energy records as early as this week.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the GAO does not have the authority to demand the documents, and warned that their release would erode the powers of the presidency and damage the administration's ability to seek advice from outside experts.

Enron, the bankrupt energy trading giant that was Bush's biggest financial backer in the 2000 campaign, met six times last year with Vice President Dick Cheney, who led the administration's energy task force, or staff involved in crafting the energy plan, which critics say contained provisions sought by Enron.

The last contact took place in October, days before Enron announced a charge against earnings, the first hint of its spectacular unraveling, which culminated in the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

Cheney called the criticism a "classic feeding frenzy in Washington" and denied that Enron received any special favors.

"Nobody's got a charge to make. Nobody did anything wrong. Enron didn't receive any special treatment. They were treated and dealt with just like a lot of other energy companies were that we talked to doing this process," Cheney said in a CNN interview late on Monday.

"All of the attorneys that have reviewed this, the Justice Department, the White House council's office and so forth, have concluded that the GAO doesn't have the authority they're seeking to exercise here," he continued. "What's happened now since Enron collapsed is the suggestion that somehow the GAO ought to come back and get that information. But the collapse of Enron in no way, shape or form effects the basic principle we're trying to protect here."

Bush, appearing with Afghanistan's interim leader, Hamid Karzai, in the Rose Garden, said the Enron collapse is being politicized.

"Obviously we're interested in peoples' opinions about energy -- those in the energy business, those in the conservation world, those who know how to develop infrastructure," Bush said. "So we solicit a lot of opinions from people and the (energy) report is now public."

"There are some on Capitol Hill who want to politicize this issue," he added. "This is not a political issue. It's a business issue that this nation must deal with."

Bush, who last week expressed "outrage" that Enron employees and shareholders were kept in the dark about the extent of the company's financial problems, said the government should seek reforms to ensure companies fully disclose their liabilities. Pension reforms may also be needed, Bush said.

Enron's collapse threw thousands of employees out of work and devastated investors, including employees whose pension plans were heavily invested in Enron stock.

SUIT POSSIBLE THIS WEEK

The White House's refusal to back down sets the stage for an unprecedented legal fight with the GAO, headed by Comptroller General David Walker.

Walker asserts that Congress and the GAO have a right to information on the energy task force because it was funded with taxpayers' money.

"If we did go to court, it would be the first time in history that we would have ever taken a federal entity or official to court," Walker said. "We need to try to do everything we can to avoid it. But we're committed to do our job."

Some lawmakers allege that the White House energy plan incorporated many of the policies advocated by Enron or benefiting Enron, which has made some $623,000 in contributions to Bush's campaigns since 1993. These policies include deregulation initiatives long promoted by Enron, support for trading in energy derivatives and proposals to facilitate natural gas projects.

The White House denied that campaign contributions by Enron and its former chairman, Kenneth Lay, influenced the energy task force's deliberations and accused lawmakers pursuing the matter of wasting taxpayers' money.

Fleischer played down the political risk of withholding the information sought by the GAO and some lawmakers, saying allegations of wrongdoing by the administration keep "coming up dry, dry, dry." Nampa-Reuters

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