Reason #31: Enron - A Good Lay for Bush

No doubt about it, Brown and Root and LBJ forged an extremely beneficial relationship with each other. But more recently, another Texas company, the Enron Corporation, invested in another Texas politician, George W. Bush, and reaped the dividends when he made it to the White House.

Lay and his company donated almost $6 million to politicians on both sides of the aisle. That kind of cash buys a lot of loyalty, even from the grave.

Enron’s late founder Ken Lay and George W. Bush went way back. “Kenny Boy,” as W. called him, gave generously to Bush’s run for Texas governor. And when Bush hit the presidential campaign trail in 2000, Enron and its employees doled out a million dollars to help him along. Money wasn’t all that Lay and his crooked company provided. Bush jetted to campaign stops on the Enron company plane. His parents even rode to his inauguration aboard the aircraft. And during the Florida recount ordeal, Bush campaign operatives shuttled back and forth from Washington and Texas in the same jet.

In return for Lay’s largesse, the new President Bush named numerous Enron employees and lobbyists to key posts in his administration. Lay himself handpicked two of Bush’s appointments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. What did these flunkies do for Lay’s outfit? It’s more about what they didn’t do. While Enron was defrauding investors and energy customers of billions, none of these so-called public servants lifted a finger to stop the out of control company. And while it was fleecing California ratepayers, the energy commission, which is charged with preventing such crimes, turned a blind eye.

Even after his death, Ken Lay continued to lead a charmed life thanks to his political connections. Six weeks after he was found guilty of fraud in 2006, Lay died of a heart attack. Within months, a federal judge threw out Lay’s conviction because his death kept him from appealing the verdict. That meant Lay’s heirs got to hold onto more than $40 million that he’d stolen from his employees and customers. Some politicians in Washington made noises about rewriting the law that let the judge void the conviction, but Congress recessed without taking up the matter. Their failure to act isn’t surprising. In the decade before its bankruptcy, Lay and his company donated almost $6 million to politicians on both sides of the aisle. That kind of cash buys a lot of loyalty, even from the grave.

NEXT: Reason #32: The Carlyle Group - Putting Government to Work