Got this in the mail from the Richard Morrison campaign:
With former Enron CEO Ken Lay surrendering to the FBI, Richard Morrison today called on U.S. Majority leader Tom DeLay to return all of the money he received from Enron.
“It is unacceptable that Tom DeLay still refuses to give back his Enron cash,” Morrison, DeLay’s Democratic challenger, said. “The pensioners, stockholders and employees who lost their savings when Ken Lay’s pyramid scheme collapsed are the rightful owners of that money, not Tom DeLay and his corrupt political machine.”
DeLay received at least $28,900 in hard money campaign contributions from Enron and another $18,000 from Enron’s accountants Arthur Anderson. Various PACS controlled by DeLay, including Americans for a Republican Majority (ARMPAC), Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC), and the Republican Majority Issues Committee (RMIC) received hundreds of thousands more.
Due to lax reporting requirements in the 1990’s it will never be known exactly how much soft money Enron poured into DeLay’s coffers. Only money given after 2000 had to be reported. Ken Lay personally gave ARMPAC $50,000 and Enron’s total reported gifts to ARMPAC, TRMPAC and RMIC exceed $140,000.
Many politicians including Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison, and Governor Rick Perry returned political contributions from Enron over two years ago when the scandal first broke.
Governor Rick Perry returned about $85,000 in 2002 to a special scholarship fund for the children of Enron employees. At the time, Perry’s spokesman Ray Sullivan said, “it has become clear that the company’s management took inappropriate and unacceptable actions.”*
“There is every reason to believe that DeLay’s Enron money was ill-gotten. Ken Lay has been indicted for insider trading, fraud, and conspiracy,” Morrison said. “I call on Tom DeLay to return all of that money to its rightful owners, the hard-working, honest employees, retirees and shareholders who were defrauded by Ken Lay and company.”
* “Few keeping Enron contributions” Fort Worth Star-Telegram May. 11, 2002
I didn’t know there was any candidate or officeholder in Texas who hadn’t returned Enron money. Typical.
Just out of curiosity, what’s the net favorable feeling of Enron in Houston at this point? Do people hate the company? Is it just sort of a joke now? Or is it still mildly favored because it is/was a big employer.
[Not a Houstonian, or even Texan]
For a second there I thought you wrote that Richard Morrison was dropping direct mail. Because that is where Delay will slaughter him. Maybe he has raised enough dough to fight back at least a tweensie weensie bit. E-mails are nice but I don’t think they will do the trick.
Tom Delay has a huge advantage with direct mail because he sends mass mailings every month at taxpayer expense. It must be nice to be an incumbent.