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The Bigger Picture
2.10.02
NYNews/New BushMob-Enron Link Surfaces
** As TX judge, Gonzales influenced by BigOil $$
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NY Daily News -- 2/10/2002
New Bush Tie to Enron
** White House lawyer got 35G while in Tex
By BOB PORT
Daily News Staff Writer
Yet another White House official has a long history with Enron. White
House counsel Alberto Gonzales, who has been mentioned as a possible
Bush nominee for the Supreme Court, received more than $100,000 in
political contributions from the energy industry in recent years as a
justice on the Texas Supreme Court.
Enron and Enron's law firm were Gonzales' biggest contributors in his
2000 judicial election, giving $35,450. Gonzales also worked for Enron's
law firm from 1982 through 1992.
Bush with Alberto Gonzales in December 2000 In addition, Gonzales served
as special counsel to the host committee for a 1990 world economic
summit held in Houston. Former Enron CEO Kenneth Lay was chairman of
that committee.
Now Gonzales is the White House advocate for keeping secret the roster
of people who helped Vice President Cheney devise the administration's
energy policy.
Congress plans to go to court to force the release of that information.
When the White House position is tested there, Gonzales will be fighting
a precedent-setting case.
"I think the administration will lose in court if it goes that far,"
said Philip Schiliro, chief of staff for Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.),
who started the congressional inquiries.
White House spokeswoman Anne Womack said, "We're very confident of our position."
Gonzales, 45, a Harvard Law School graduate, has grown to become one of
the President's most trusted advisers.
As governor, George W. Bush chose him to be general counsel. In 1997,
Bush named him Texas secretary of state, and two years later appointed
him to a vacancy on the state's high court.
Texas elects judges. Within two weeks of being sworn in as a justice,
Gonzales got his first $5,000 campaign check from Vinson & Elkins, the
Houston law firm that has Enron as its biggest client and represents
Haliburton, the energy services company where Cheney used to work. In
May 2000, Gonzales was author of a state Supreme Court opinion that
handed the energy industry one of its biggest Texas legal victories in
recent history.
In Bernal vs. Southwestern Refining, Texas justices, voting 6-3, threw
out a class-action suit by 885 Corpus Christi, Tex., homeowners whose
families were harmed and property damaged by heat, smoke and toxic fumes
in a 1994 refinery tank explosion.
Texas law gives lower courts final say whether a lawsuit qualifies as a
group action. Such suits let average people pool resources to hire
lawyers and experts.
But Gonzales said the Texas Supreme Court could take over the Corpus
Christi case on a technicality.
"We were just outright flabbergasted," said William Bonilla, the Corpus
Christi lawyer who started the suit. "It was just grossly unfair, and
these people, to this day, haven't gotten a dime." Bonilla said
Gonzales' opinion "blocks any plaintiffs from bringing a personal injury
claim as a class action in Texas." He said Gonzales, given his history
with V&E, Enron and Haliburton, should have recused himself. "I felt
that to a certain extent it was an intellectually dishonest opinion,"
said Houston attorney Andres Pereira, who argued the case in Austin for
the damaged residents.
The day the ruling was released, Gonzales' campaign treasury recorded a
check from the Petroleum Club - a private oilman's business club in
Midland, Tex. - for refreshments at a reception.
All told, Gonzales' campaign amassed $102,838 from energy interests,
according to the watchdog group Texans for Public Justice. Gonzales
built such a big war chest - $844,000 from mostly lawyers, lobbyists and
oilmen - he still had $45,000 unspent last year.
While Enron and energy figured heavily in Gonzales' career, the White
House insists it's unfair to suggest this could color his advice. "He
always puts the law first," said Womack. "Judge Gonzales is a very
accomplished attorney."
Gonzales has publicly supported reform of elections for judges in Texas,
she said, adding, "Obviously, those who lost their case are going to be critical."
Original Publication Date: 2/10/02
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