Survey Probes Enron Connections

President Bush’s chief lawyer asked senior White House officials Monday to report any contacts they may have had with representatives of Enron Corp. between Bush’s inauguration and Dec. 2 last year, when the energy company filed for bankruptcy protection.

Alberto R. Gonzalez, Bush’s White House counsel, sent a memorandum to more than 100 senior aides in the White House and White House agencies instructing them to cooperate with the survey, intended to answer questions that Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), sent to the White House on March 27.

Lieberman is chairman of the Senate Government Affairs Committee, which is investigating Enron.

The White House previously agreed to cooperate with a Justice Department probe into the Enron collapse.

During a speech in Century City at a fund-raising dinner for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon Jr., Bush, in calling for greater responsibility in the country, made a reference to the Enron scandal.

“If you are running a corporation, you have a responsibility to your employees and your shareholders,” Bush said.

Enron, the onetime highflying energy company, plunged into Chapter 11 less than a month after reporting that it had overstated its earnings by almost $600 million since 1997.

The survey asks the officials whether during the period between Jan. 20 and Dec. 2, 2001, Enron representatives asked had them for help “of any kind in connection with the company’s financial difficulties.”

They also are being asked whether they had any communications with Enron related to a number of federal agencies, and whether they had any communications with any official or employee of the agencies relating to Enron.

The agencies are the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the departments of Labor, Commerce and Energy, the Overseas Private Investment Corp., and the Export-Import Bank.

The survey was sent to all presidential aides ranked as special assistant and above, certain aides to Vice President Dick Cheney, the Council of Economic Advisors, the Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

The officials were asked to check “yes” or “no” on a form, or to discuss the matter with members of the counsel’s staff and to return the completed survey by May 10.