Arthur Andersen: The Enron Scandal's Other Big Donor
By Holly Bailey
During the record-breaking 1999-2000 fund-raising cycle, very few companies
outpaced Enron's prolific giving to George W. Bush. In fact, only 11
companies gave more money to the Bush-Cheney ticket, and one of them was
Arthur Andersen, the embattled energy giant's now equally troubled auditor.
Andersen was the fifth biggest donor to Bush's White House run, contributing
nearly $146,000 via its employees and PAC.
Furthermore, Andersen fielded one of Bush's biggest individual fund-raisers
that year. D. Stephen Goddard, who until yesterday was the managing partner
of Andersen's Houston office, was one of the "Pioneers," individuals who
raised at least $100,000 for the Bush campaign during 1999-2000. (Goddard
was among the employees "relieved of their duties" Tuesday by Andersen.)
But that's only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Andersen's political
ties to Washington. As Congress prepares to launch hearings into the Enron
collapse, lawmakers will be examining two companies whose political giving
has affected the bottom line of nearly every campaign on Capitol Hill. Since
1989, Andersen has contributed nearly $5 million in soft money, PAC and
individual contributions to federal candidates and parties, more than
two-thirds to Republicans.
While Enron's giving was concentrated mainly in big soft money gifts to the
national political parties, Andersen's generosity often was targeted
directly at members of Congress. For instance, more than half the current
members of the House of Representatives were recipients of Andersen cash
over the last decade. In the Senate, 94 of the chamber's 100 members
reported Andersen contributions since 1989.
Among the biggest recipients, members of Congress now in charge of
investigating Andersen's role in the Enron debacle-a list that includes
House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Billy Tauzin (D-La.), who, with
$47,000 in contributions, is the top recipient of Andersen contributions in
the House.
In the fall of 2000, Tauzin helped broker a deal between the Securities and
Exchange Commission and the Big Five accounting firms, including Andersen,
which essentially dropped the SEC's push to restrict auditors from selling
consulting services to their clients. The provision had been aimed at ending
what the SEC had deemed a major conflict of interest between accountant's
duties as an auditor and the money they earn to consult on behalf of that
same client.
Before the SEC could act, however, the accounting industry unleashed a
massive lobbying campaign to block the proposed rule. In Andersen's case, it
nearly doubled its campaign contributions-going from $825,000 in overall
spending during the 1997-98 election cycle to more than $1.4 million in
1999-2000.
In lobbying expenditures alone, Andersen spent $1.6 million between July and
December 2000-compared to $860,000 for the first six months of that year.
It's unclear what kind of impact, if any, the proposed rule might have had
on the Enron collapse. Andersen, according to press reports, collected $25
million in auditing fees and $27 million in consulting fees from Enron
during 2001.
Click here for a breakdown of Andersen contributions, including
contributions to members of Congress and presidential candidates, as well as
information on the company's lobbying expenditures and other money in
politics stats:
http://www.opensecrets.org/alerts/v6/alertv6_38.asp
|