Top US administration officials said on Sunday they felt they were not obligated to inform President George W. Bush or Enron employees and shareholders of the energy firm's requests for help because the information discussed was already known to the public.
Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said that while he was contacted both at home and in the office by Enron Corp Chairman Kenneth Lay, the conversations revealed nothing unusual or new and he felt there was no reason to alert Bush.
"I didn't think this was worthy of me running across the street and telling the president," O'Neill said on the Fox News Sunday program. "... I frankly think what Ken told me over the phone was not new news. You all had been reporting for weeks that Enron had problems, that they were in trouble."
O'Neill said he had read reports that Enron President Lawrence Whalley had asked for help from Treasury's undersecretary, Peter Fisher, but told ABC's This Week program "nothing was done."
Thousands of employees lost their pensions and life savings in the former Wall Street darling's downfall, which began last autumn when the company acknowledged several hundred million dollars of previously undisclosed liabilities.
Five congressional committees, the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating Enron's demise, including the company's bankruptcy filing on Dec. 2, the largest in US history.
O'Neill said on Sunday as a result of those investigations he was not discussing the Enron case with his deputies "to make sure we do this correctly."
Commerce Secretary Donald Evans told NBC's "Meet the Press" that Lay's Oct. 29 call to him was about reviews of Enron's business by credit agencies.
"When I was talking to Ken I wasn't thinking about bankruptcy," Evans said. "I was thinking maybe their credit rating would be dropped some."
The information discussed was publicly known, he added, and "at that point in time, tens of thousands of employees had already lost their life savings because the stock value had already collapsed."
Evans said he later informed White House chief of staff Andrew Card about the call but Card did not tell Bush.
Evans, who served as Bush's presidential campaign manager, said he had several discussions with the president about the impact of Enron's downfall but never mentioned Lay's calls.
Meanwhile, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham called Lay on Nov. 2 to inquire about the company, Energy Department spokeswoman Jeanne Lopatto said on Sunday.
Lay did not ask for Abraham's help, nor did Abraham offer any assistance, to try to solve Enron's problems, said Lopatto. She added that Abraham was concerned with the impact Enron's problems could have on energy markets.
Previously, she said Lay had asked for a meeting with Abraham on Sept. 18 or 19, but that request was denied. Lopatto said she did know what Lay wanted to talk about or why the meeting didn't take place. A week earlier, Lopatto said former Enron president and chief executive officer Jeff Skilling asked to meet with Abraham on Sept. 11, almost four weeks after Skilling resigned from the company for personal reasons on Aug. 14. That request was also turned down, she said.
Senator Joseph Biden told NBC Enron's failure could be "of gigantic consequence" politically if it were found the Bush administration tried to help the troubled firm as a favor for the large financial contributions the company made to the Bush campaign.
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