If the mounting investigative reports involving the Enron Corp. debacle were to actually make their way past the media gatekeepers, the liberal press would be forced to admit that the Houston-based energy behemoth's collapse could be the latest entry in the annals of the Clinton legacy. However, unfortunately for President Bush - whom some say is only guilty by association, he's most likely become the ex-President's political fall guy.

What's more, the liberal media have not only refused to report on Clinton's initial ties to the corporation's demise, they have displayed endless euphoria in watching the Bush Administration take the heat for a scandal which was for them undoubtedly well worth the 11-month wait.

Despite the mainstream media's lack of balanced news coverage, other news outlets have taken them to task by unveiling the real underlying facts of the Enron saga - easily-accessible information the liberal media aren't bothering to report as part of their ethical responsibilities to the general public.

As much as the mainstream press would like for the American public to believe they are the ultimate purveyors of information, unbeknownst to most, there exists many responsible news organizations that put aside partisan politics to objectively report both sides of the issues.

The following stories contain crucial information that hasn't yet been - and most likely won't be - reported by the liberal media establishment:

WorldNetDaily.com Washington bureau chief Paul Sperry was one of the first investigative reporters to uncover a so-called "sweetheart" deal between Enron Corp. and India - brokered with the help of Clinton Administration officials during controversial trade junkets in the mid-90's - ultimately soured and sped up the energy giant's collapse, analysts say.

"After investing more than $1 billion to help build a huge power plant near Bombay, Enron had problems last year getting paid for power generated by the plant - even after sources say former President Clinton lobbied Indian officials on Enron's behalf during his April visit to India.

"Desperate, Enron chairman Kenneth Lay on Sept. 14 fired off a letter to Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee threatening legal action to recover claims of up to $5 billion related to the Dabhol Power Co.," Sperry reported last Friday. "A month later, on Oct. 15, Lay called Commerce Secretary Don Evans, pleading for help with the nightmarish project."

Sperry's report clearly indicates that the Clinton Administration was the catalyst leading Enron to ultimately file the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. In fact, Sperry further reported that the day after Lay begged Evans for help, Enron surprised Wall Street by announcing its first loss in more than four years, with the company reporting a $618 million third-quarter loss.

Sperry added that Clinton even lobbied on Enron's behalf well into the first few months of the Bush Administration.

CNSNews.com staff writer Christine Hall reported that while the mainstream media are scrutinizing Enron's ties with the Bush Administration, political analysts are divided on whether the company's collapse will evolve into the scandal both Democrats and the media-at-large have been hoping materializes:

"With an eye on the 2002 mid-term elections, Democrats are looking for strategies that will gain them House and Senate seats. And while there is no evidence that the Bush Administration tried to help Enron in the days and weeks before the firm was forced to declare bankruptcy, Democrats may try to make some political hay out of the company's political contributions and friendship ties to Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney," Hall reported on Jan. 14.

"Even though Enron gave money to the election campaigns of Democrats like Senators Joseph Lieberman (Conn.) and Charles Schumer (N.Y.), Malzman predicts other Democrats will be happy to point to the contributions that flowed to Bush's gubernatorial and Presidential campaigns, as well as the meetings between company executives and Chaney during the formulation of the Administration's energy policy."

Newsmax.com staff writer Phil Brennan reported: "Scandal-plagued Enron Corp., cited by Democrats as a big giver to President Bush and the GOP, gave a cool $420,000 to Democrats when the corporation was desperate to get the Clinton Administration's help in having the potentially disastrous Kyoto treaty made the law of the land," he wrote on Jan. 17. "Senate ratification of the treaty, which foes explained would have cost the U.S. billions and had a deadly effect on the U.S. economy, would have been a bonanza for Enron."

Brennan cited Washington Times reporter Jerry Seper describing a December 1997 private internal memo written by Enron executive John Palmisano who was quoted as saying that the treaty would be "good for Enron stock!!"

"The memo said the Kyoto treaty - later signed by Mr. Clinton and leaders of 166 other countries, but never ratified by the Senate - 'would do more to promote Enron's business than will almost any other regulatory initiative outside of restructuring the energy and natural gas industries in Europe and the United States.'"

Brennan later described the Clinton Administration's deep-seated relationship with Enron executives involving the infamous treaty: "During a White House meeting in July 1997, Enron Chairman Kenneth L. Lay prodded Clinton and Gore to support a "market-based" approach to what he described as the problem of "global warming," a theory discredited by a majority of the world's climatologists.

"In the face of Senate hostility to the Kyoto accords, Enron continued to urge the Clinton Administration to seek a "restructuring" of the treaty that would have been a "first step to solving the problems of global climate change." Seper notes that the company "sought laws that would have favored Enron's natural gas inventory and reduced competition from coal."

Brennan concluded by reporting that, although Democrats are trying to stoke the flames for a GOP scandal to shake up the 2004 Presidential election landscape, Democrats themselves have more than a few Enron skeletons of their own sullied political closets: "But while such Democrats as Rep. Henry Waxman of California attempt to create suspicion that Enron's contributions to President Bush and other Republicans gave the company undue influence with the Administration without a scintilla of evidence to back up their imaginings, more real proof of the cozy ties between Enron and the Clinton Administration continues to unfold."

Techcentralstation.com columnist Duane Freese wrote that, "despite the campaign cash and conversations that link Enron and the Bush Administration, the facts thus far show the Administration did nothing for Enron, other than lend it its ear.

"But oh, if only guilt by association applied as much to bad ideas as it seems to apply to individuals who've yet to be found guilty of anything. Then the nation would never have to fear one of Enron's biggest schemes ever coming to fruition.

"Indeed, it was Democrats who pursued the one policy that the natural gas supplier, pipeline company and electricity trader considered most important - emissions trading. Emissions trading became a big issue when Vice President Al Gore negotiated the Kyoto protocol back in 1997," Freese wrote on Jan. 16…

"Democrats, many of whom also accepted donations from Enron officials for their campaigns, and the media, too, need to beware of pressing claims of guilt by association. That's especially so since, in the case of Democrats, many of them favored actions that would have profited Enron enormously. The bottom line ethical issue is always whether someone acted on Enron's behalf, doing something they knew was wrong."

The Enron scandal underscores the reality that both Democrats and the mainstream media have worked overtime in influencing the court of public opinion to try to create a political albatross for the Bush Administration, with the single goal of derailing Bush's 2004 Presidential re-election bid.

For the liberal press, this so-called scandal couldn't have come at a better time. Bush has been an excellent commander-in-chief and the economy is slowly recovering from the repercussions of the Clinton era They just had to find something to try to taint it.

Bottom line: The liberal press couldn't find anything to pin on Bush so they took this particular opportunity to create a scandal out of the Enron mess. If they were really honest with themselves, they'd admit that they're still lamenting the loss of their man, Al Gore, and are now getting their revenge by hunting for the slightest hint of impropriety in the Bush Administration.

The fact is, the liberal media have taken it upon themselves to be judge, jury and executioner of the Bush Administration in the court of public opinion when there has been no evidence of wrongdoing. Bush took a hands-off approach when Enron practically begged for his Administration's help; unlike the Democrats, who received countless political favors from Enron on Clinton's watch.

Ironically, many of those same Democrats, like Joseph Lieberman, are ambitiously and hypocritically heading up several Enron probe committees. Yet the liberal press remain mute to the Democrats' participation in events leading up to the recent Enron debacle.

The truth is, if the media-at-large really wanted to get at the truth of the Enron collapse, they should look no further than the previous Administration, which had its hands in the till since day one. In fact, Lieberman was the beneficiary of more than $100,000 from Enron and other financial venues. He should recuse himself from the committee hearings due to the fact that it reeks of hypocrisy, inappropriateness and impropriety.

In the long run, beyond the blistering liberal media headlines and the Democrats' crucifying outcries, this nasty secret about the Clinton-Enron liaison is still waiting for the liberal press to expose it - so much so that even the most blatantly liberal news organizations sooner or later will be unable to ignore it.

As long as the liberal press continue to disregard the Clinton Administration's original role in the Enron fallout and still adamantly refuse to hold it accountable as they have the Bush Administration, the legacy that the ex-President so desperately lusts after will receive yet another free pass.

Visit Newsmax.com ro read columnist Dan Frisa's account of the Clinton Securities and Exchange Commission debacle that also played a significant role in Enron's demise.

Plus, read Accuracy in Media's special report about how Democrats are hypocritically labeling the Enron scandal as Bush's "Whitewater," and that the two investigations are diametrically opposed to one another in theory and practice: http://www.aim.org/publications/media_monitor/2002/01/28.html

Additional Clinton-Enron links:

http://pittsburghlive.com/x/search/s_7142.html

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1997/dom/970901/notebook.scoop.html

http://www.opensecrets.org

© Copyright 2002 by Doug Schmitz. This column is the property of the author and may not be reproduced without his permission. The views are solely those of the writer, who is solely responsible for the contents, and do not purport to be those of Accuracy in Media. Questions or comments may be sent to Accuracy in Media for forwarding to the writer.