James Moran Is Everywhere (He Shouldn't Be): Moran And Enron

We recently came across this comment about Moran in the 8/5/2002 edition of The Nation. It has particular relevance for today given the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's recent hiring of Moran's senior counsel as a lobbyist. This same Moran staffer/lobbyist had even worked as a lobbyist for the now-defunct Enron accounting firm Arthur Andersen.

Here is what Robert L. Borosage had to say about Moran's responsibility for corporate scandals:

"New Democrats in the House and Senate, led by the ethically challenged former New Dem co-chair Representative Jim Moran, worked with Republicans to frustrate Arthur Levitt, Clinton's chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, in Levitt's attempt to ban auditors from doing consulting for the companies they audit. As Clinton notes, this led directly to the Enron scandals, in which auditors had every incentive to ignore shady off-the-books maneuvers."

Moran, who at the time was a founder and leader of the Democratic Leadership Council, in turn had every incentive to favor Enron and Arthur Andersen over ordinary stockholders and employees. Referring to a PAC associated with the DLC, the Nation noted:

"according to Federal Election Commission reports, the New Democrat Network PAC received more than $250,000 in contributions from companies implicated in the Enron scandals, including $25,000 from Enron in 2000 and $20,000 from Arthur Andersen last year."

<  |  >