Still in the Closet — Democrats Getting Layed

July 15, 2004 

“Outing” Democrats is such child’s play.  Surrounded by shards of the smashed cookie jar, Moore-ish-faced Democrats just keep pointing fingers...as they just keep chewing.  It’s like Teddy Kennedy supporting the Anti Saloon League.  But, since John Kerry believes that “The value of truth is one of the most central values in America”, let’s serve up some truth. 

In a never ending Democratic mantra, Kerry (yet again) blasted the President for failing to aggressively pursue Kenneth Lay.  As we all know from such unbiased media sources as the AP, “Lay clearly favored the GOP. He and his wife, Linda, donated $882,580 to federal candidates from 1989-2001...All but $86,470 went to Republicans.”   But, the “truth” that average folk recognize and none of the power players will admit is...that when it comes to politics and money, it’s just one big ménage à trios. 

And...FYI, all of the truthful facts you are about to be bored with come from www.tray.com.  Or, as the New York Times calls it, “The Granddaddy of all independent campaign finance Web sites and perhaps the most comprehensive....”  Their information is culled from the disclosure records of the Federal Election Commission (FEC).  If you don’t believe these numbers, just get a bottle of vodka and wait for the next passing of the Hale-Bopp Comet. 

While it is true that Kenneth Lay made a ton of political donations to the Republican Party...his cheating heart was also shared by the Democrats.  During the 2000 election cycle, Lay donated $6000 to Democratic candidates.  Included among these Dems is liberal Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and Massachusetts Congressman Ed Markey (described on his Congressional website as “...the third most senior Democrat on the Full Energy Committee”).   

As reported in CongressDaily by Brody Mullins, in 1993 Kenneth Lay recruited then city council member Sheila Jackson Lee to challenge incumbent Craig Washington in a Democratic primary where, “Enron and its employees pumped $24,000 into Jackson Lee's campaign and helped raise nearly $600,000 --three times as much as Washington raised for his previous reelection." Sheila Jackson Lee became the next Democratic Representative from Texas and benefited from generous Lay donations ever since.  Simultaneously, the Enron PAC was donating to Craig Washington and to (with ruffles and flourishes)...Eddie Bernice Johnson!  No wonder Johnson thinks we need the U.N. to monitor our elections. 

One of Ken Lay’s favorite causes was the Enron Corp Political Action Committee.  Mr. Lay just couldn’t stop writing checks to his company’s PAC.  And this is a tale of two cities! 

While Lay was personally donating the majority of his campaign dollars to Republican causes, the Enron PAC was picking up the slack on the other side of the aisle.  In 1992, Enron donated $1000 to incumbent senator Tom Daschle and zero to any Republican challenger.  Enron donated $1000 and $2000 respectively in 1994 and 2000 to West Virginia’s Robert Byrd and zero to any Republican challenger.  And, in 2000, Enron donated $1000 to Teddy Kennedy and zero to any Republican challenger. 

On a larger scale, the Enron PAC’s “Contributions to Party Committees” tell an even more interesting tale.  In the 1992 election cycle, the Enron PAC donated 58% of its total to Democratic Party Committees.  In the 1996 election cycle, the Enron PAC donated 60% of its total to Democratic Party Committees. In the 2000 election cycle (Gore v. Bush), the Enron PAC donated 56% of its total to Democratic Party Committees.  Even a liberal from the Associated Press can figure out that the majority of Enron PAC “Contributions to Party Committees” went to the Democrats...who gladly accepted the money. 

This entire issue over Ken Lay, Enron and political donations is like the prep school finger pointing about self-gratification.  Nobody does it, yet...everybody has dirty magazines under their beds. 

Our campaign finance laws are as cleverly designed and as confusing as the Byzantine Catacombs.  And don’t look to campaign finance reform laws for any comfort.  They just take the dollars out of one viaduct and let them flow through another.  Take “soft money” out of the equation and add political 527’s to the mix.  The scam gets more confusing to the average citizen while the total dollars used to buy elections (and elected officials) keeps growing.  As a Democratic senator once remarked to me, “It’s just another way to F___ the dog!”   

On a Thursday, John Kerry says that the crew at his $25,000 per person record $7.5 million fundraiser is “the heart and soul of our country”.  By Saturday, Kerry is vowing to restore “Truth” to Presidency.  It kind of makes you wonder what the “truth” really is when it comes to Ken Lay, Enron and political donations. 

The only “truth” the facts tell is that Lay, Enron, Democrats and Republicans willingly enjoyed one hell of a money orgy...while the party lasted.  And don’t get hopeful.  Just because the Enron mistress now has political herpes doesn’t mean that the politicians are practicing abstinence.  They are just sleeping between different sheets.

 

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