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White House criticizes Democratic report on Enron

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House Thursday called a report by a Democratic congressman concluding that Enron benefited from at least 17 provisions in the Bush administration's energy plan "one more partisan waste of taxpayers' money."

"This was a partisan report, the allegations are based on partisanship, it's a use of taxpayer money that is wasteful," said Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary, during his morning briefing with reporters. "The energy policy was developed because it was the right policy for the country and the country has energy needs."

The 21-page report was released Wednesday by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California, who has been critical of the White House for not releasing records related to the closed-door meetings of Vice President Dick Cheney's task force. The report charges "there are at least 17 policies in the White House energy plan that were advocated by Enron or that benefited Enron."

A spokesman for Waxman, Phil Schiliro, called Fleischer's comments "a disappointing reaction."

"We had hoped for better from this White House," he added.

Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Cheney dismissed the Waxman report as "election-year maneuvering," adding that "the issue of Enron's financial situation was never raised" in the task force meetings.

The Waxman report notes that Enron executives met with members of the task force six times, including one meeting between Cheney and Enron chief executive Kenneth Lay. It also says that Enron "was the largest single supporter of President Bush, donating over $500,000 over his political career."

"The range of policies in the White House energy plan that would help Enron is enormous," Waxman wrote in a letter to Cheney asking him again to release information about White House contacts with Enron and other energy companies while the plan was being formulated.

"This creates an unfortunate appearance that a large contributor received special access and obtained extraordinarily favorable results in the White House energy plan," Waxman wrote.

The report says Enron advocated policies to deregulate the electricity market, promote the energy derivatives and commodities markets, expand natural gas and oil production and aid Enron in other areas such as supporting "energy development in India where a major power plant owned by Enron was facing financial difficulties."

Cheney and Waxman had locked horns over the issue of disclosure of task force activities long before Enron declared bankruptcy. Waxman asked the General Accounting Office, an investigative arm of Congress, to obtain the Cheney records. The GAO is considering suing the White House to get the records.