Not as far as I'm concerned anyway....
USA: Westar Energy Review Finds Efforts to Sway Key Republicans Through Donations
By Pete Yost
Associated Press
June 5, 2003
Washington -- Key Republicans, including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, solicited campaign donations from a financially strapped utility that was seeking their help in winning an exemption from a federal law, according to internal company records.
The lawmakers denied on Thursday there was any connection between the donations and the exemption. Federal law forbids the seeking or granting of government business in exchange for donations.
The documents state that executives of Westar Energy wanted to use the tens of thousands of dollars in donations they made to Republicans to get "a seat at the table" of a House-Senate conference committee on the Bush administration's energy plan.
The exemption, from a law intended to protect shareholders and ratepayers, was inserted into that plan, then pulled after the utility came under grand jury investigation.
The documents show at least one Westar executive questioned why he was contributing to GOP candidates he did not know.
The answer, according to the documents: DeLay, House Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton, Rep. Billy Tauzin and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby were needed for their help on the exemption and had asked that donations be directed, not to their own campaigns, but to those of fellow Republicans in tight races in 2002.
Among the beneficiaries were a DeLay fund-raising committee that got $25,000; Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., who got $1,000 from a Westar executive; and Tom Young, Shelby's former chief of staff, whose unsuccessful run for Congress attracted $1,700 in Westar executives' donations.
"DeLay is the House Majority Leader" and "his agreement is necessary before the House Conferees can push the language we have in place in the House bill," one Westar executive wrote in an e-mail encouraging the donations.
"Shimkus is a close associate of Billy Tauzin and Joe Barton, who are key House Conferees on our legislation. They have made this request in lieu of contributions made to their own campaigns."
The same e-mail added: "Tom Young is Senator Shelby's Chief of Staff who is running for the House in Alabama" and Shelby "made a substantial request of us for supporting Young's campaign."
The documents offer a rare window into a company's efforts to win influence on Capitol Hill, and have surfaced as part of an investigation launched by the company into the conduct of several of its executives and a Washington lobbyist who organized the donations.
Former New York U.S. attorney Mary Jo White, who oversaw investigations of campaign finance wrongdoing and Sen. Robert Torricelli's ethics, led the internal probe of Westar executives.
Barton, R-Texas, said he introduced the exemption long before the donations. Shelby says he did not ask the company to make donations. DeLay's office said there was no arrangement to push the company's request through Congress in exchange for donations.
"It's presumptuous for someone to think that by contributing to candidates who have challenging elections there's something they'll get in return other than helping a candidate win," DeLay spokesman Stuart Roy said Thursday. He said the documents' descriptions were "simply incorrect and inappropriate."
Barton's office said flatly, "There was no quid pro quo whatsoever."
Barton was one of the lawmakers assigned to the conference committee that finalized Bush's energy plan in 2002, and he introduced the exemption that would have freed Westar from unwanted regulatory oversight. The exemption was a critical component of Topeka, Kan.-based Westar's plan to split its regulated utility from the rest of its businesses.
Kansas regulators had already barred the company from splitting in two, and Westar then tried to make its case at the federal level through Congress.
Creating two publicly traded companies would free Westar's non-utility businesses from regulatory oversight and possibly allow the company to transfer more than $3 billion in debt to the utility. The utility then could try to pass those costs to its customers through rate hikes.
The Senate dropped the provision after revelations a federal grand jury was investigating the company. Westar's former CEO is currently under indictment.
House Republicans also dropped their support for the Westar exemption last fall after alerted to the investigation by Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who called the exemption being sought by Westar an "Enron-like loophole."
Westar said Thursday it has hired lawyers who are experts in federal campaign finance law "to investigate the matter further." The investigation to date "is thorough and speaks for itself," the company added.
Barton spokeswoman Samantha Jordan said the congressman had introduced the exemption in 2001 and that it was dropped because some members of Congress opposed it "and also we were hearing rumors that there was something going on at the company."
Among the documents released by the company are May 20, 2002, e-mails in which a Westar executive asked why he was writing checks to Republican congressional candidates he had never heard of.
The Westar executive said the amounts he was being asked to give were far in excess of what he had earlier understood he would have to spend.
"Who is Shimkus, who is Young. DeLay is from TX what is our connection?" queried the executive. "Happy to give but earlier ... memo had me giving I think $300-400 per candidate. I am confused."
A quick reply came back.
"You probably didn't get a copy of the memo sent internal mail on Friday about the current legislative issue in Washington," a Westar executive replied. "Right now, we have $11,500 in immediate needs for a group of candidates associated with Tom DeLay, Billy Tauzin, Joe Barton and Senator Richard Shelby."
The e-mails described Shelby as "our anchor on the Senate side."
On Thursday, Shelby spokeswoman Andrea Lofye said "Senator Shelby has never supported an exemption for this individual company nor has he made a request for campaign contributions on behalf of Tom Young for this company."
Westar executives outlined a plan to gain influence with the conference committee.
"We have a plan for participation to get a seat at the table" and "the total of the package will be $31,500 in hard money, individual, and $25,000 in soft money, corporate," one executive wrote in an e-mail.
In May 2002, around the time the e-mails were written, Westar gave $25,000 to a DeLay fund-raising organization, Texans for a Republican Majority.
An advocacy group that tracks energy policy criticized the donation.
"Tom DeLay should return that money to Westar's shareholders," said Tyson Slocum of Public Citizen. "Regardless of what DeLay's impression was, the fact is that the company believed that the $25,000 was securing them preferential treatment."
AP business writer Brad Foss in Washington contributed to this story.
June 10, 2003
Westar update
Well, well, it looks like this Westar scandal may have some legs, after all. Turns out that in addition to the cash payments made to campaign groups associated with four legislators, a Westar lobbyist attended two of their fundraisers as well.
The lobbyist, Richard H. Bornemann, played a key role in Westar Energy Inc.'s efforts in 2002 to benefit itself through an amendment to a big energy bill in Congress. Those efforts have drawn attention and criticism recently, prompted by the disclosure of e-mails by Westar executives discussing their belief that $56,500 in donations to campaign groups affiliated with Tauzin and three other GOP lawmakers would get Westar a "seat at the table" during crucial negotiations over the energy bill.
Descriptions of Bornemann's role paint a clearer picture of how Westar planned and delivered campaign donations last year to the groups linked to Reps. Tauzin, Joe Barton (R-Tex.) and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.). At the time, Westar was seeking an exemption from a federal regulation that treated it as an investment company, to Westar's financial disadvantage. Barton eventually inserted the Westar provision into the energy bill, but later pulled it when the company came under federal investigation.
All four lawmakers named in the Westar e-mails say they never suggested the company would receive any special treatment in return for political donations.
Bornemann attended at least seven Washington fundraisers sponsored by Barton and Tauzin in the spring and summer of 2002. The events were held on behalf of vulnerable House Republicans, both lawmakers said.
Bornemann brought checks from Westar chief executive David C. Wittig, Tauzin's office said yesterday. The lobbyist also attended a Tauzin fundraiser in Louisiana last June. Six weeks later, four Westar executives wrote checks to Tauzin's "Bayou" leadership political action committee totaling $2,800, according to federal election records.
You know, I think what really makes this whole thing stand out in terms of tawdriness is the relatively small amount of graft money involved. I mean, $2800? You could raise that much at a garden club bake sale.
It should be noted that just because Bornemann attended these fundraisers that he wasn't necessarily welcome:
Tauzin, however, recognized Bornemann at his Louisiana reception and ordered his staff to throw him out, Tauzin spokesman Ken Johnson said. Johnson said the lawmaker had barred Bornemann from his office years earlier after the lobbyist misled Tauzin on a railroad matter.
He was also probably wearing white shoes after Labor Day.
In any event, the WaPo has editorialized in favor of an investigation:
So last year 13 Westar officials coughed up $31,500 in individual, or "hard money," contributions that went to selected Republican candidates. Westar gave $25,000 in corporate "soft money" to the Texans for a Republican Majority PAC, a political committee with strong ties to Mr. DeLay, reports The Post's Tom Edsall. And what next? The provision sought by Westar was inserted in the energy bill last September by Rep. Barton. Democrats tried to strip the amendment out but lost in a party-line vote, with Mr. DeLay, Mr. Barton and Mr. Tauzin supporting the Westar amendment. Two weeks later, it was disclosed that a grand jury was investigating Westar. The provision was dropped from the bill.
The Justice Department can't let this matter drop.
Indeed. Thanks again to Alfredo Garcia, my main Tom DeLay watchdog, for sending this to me. Despite the Texas connections of this story, I haven't seen anything about it in the Chron other than a reprint of the original AP wire story and a two-line blurb stating that Democrats were calling for an investigation. Hey, guys, this is yet another Tom DeLay tempest. When will we see some reporting on it?
