(51) Bush flip-flopped on his 2000 Promises to the Military and Veterans.

FLIP: During the 2000 campaign, one of Bush’s favorite lines was that under Clinton, the ““military is over-deployed, under-trained and underpaid.”

FLOP: Under Bush, however, the military has been stretched even thinner and has faced administration efforts to trim expected pay raises. The Army Times, an independent newspaper that covers military affairs, reported that Bush tried “to significantly cut the 2004 military pay raise ” from 3.7 percent to 2 percent. The Bush administration also got into trouble last year when it tried to cut combat pay and family separation pay for the men and women serving overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan.

(52) Bush flip-flopped on whether they would arrest Al Sadr.

FLIP: First, Coalition Provisional Authority chief administrator L. Paul Bremer was adamant that U.S. troops were going to arrest firebrand Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr.

FLOP: Now, they are not.

Source: "Analysis: Bush flipflops on Iraq crisis" by Martin Sieff UPI Senior News Analyst Published 4/20/2004 12:24 PM
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040420-121344-3484r 

(53) Bush flip-flopped on whether the U.S. would reach out to the international community for help with Iraq.

FLIP: President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld were adamant that the United States was not going to the United Nations to seek more support in Iraq at the expense of delegating any authority there.

FLOP: But in his nationally televised press conference in April 2004, the president took pains to praise the mission of U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and emphasize his determination to back it to the hilt. Bush's decision to name Ambassador to the U.N. John Negroponte as his first ambassador to an at least titular independent Iraq after the scheduled handover of sovereignty on June 30 was widely taken as a sign that Bush is finally prepared to let the world body have more of a say in helping restore that country.

Source: "Analysis: Bush flip flops on Iraq crisis" by Martin Sieff UPI Senior News Analyst Published 4/20/2004 12:24 PM http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040420-121344-3484r 

(54) Bush has flip-flopped on how to handle Fallujah.

FLIP: After the murder and mutilation of four U.S. civilian employees in Fallujah in central Iraq, U.S. officials in the country were adamant that overwhelming force would be applied to go into Fallujah and impose law and order, U.S. style.

FLOP: Then, U.S. forces held back from Fallujah and U.S. Marine forces were given the go-ahead to return to their old "softly-softly" policy that senior officials angrily repudiated after the killings. -FLIP: U.S. military commanders gave a grim ultimatum to rebel forces in Fallujah to surrender all their weapons or be crushed.

FLOP: Then that ultimatum was watered down. Only heavy weapons were ordered to be surrendered. The rebels will be allowed to retain their light weapons, including automatic rifles. That is a crucial concession to any militia or guerrilla force as possession of such weapons gives them the power to continue to enforce or even extend their political control over their subject population.

Source: "Analysis: Bush flip flops on Iraq crisis" by Martin Sieff (UPI Senior News Analyst) Published 4/20/2004 12:24 PM

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040420-121344-3484r 

(55) Bush and Cheney have flip-flopped on Defense System and Intelligence Funding Cuts.

FLIP: As Defense Secretary under the first president Bush, Cheney called for a whole bunch of defense systems to be eliminated or cut as the Cold War was coming to an end. Bush's own father, who was then President, and Richard Cheney, who was then Secretary of Defense, proposed to cut or eliminate several of the very same weapons that Republicans now fault Kerry for having opposed.

In his first appearance before Congress as Defense Secretary in April 1989, for example, Cheney outlined $10 billion in defense cuts including proposed cancellation of the AH-64 Apache helicopter, and elimination of the F-15E ground-attack jet. Two years later Cheney's Pentagon budget also proposed elimination of further production of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle and targeted a total of 81 Pentagon programs for termination, including the F-14 and F-16 aircraft. And the elder President Bush said in his 1992 State of the Union address: "After completing 20 planes for which we have begun procurement, we will shut down further production of the B - 2 bombers.... And we will not purchase any more advanced cruise missiles." So if Kerry opposed weapons "our troops depend on," so did Cheney and the elder President Bush.

The Cheney Record: Cheney Proposed Cutting F-16 Aircraft. In testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, Cheney said, "If you're going to have a smaller air force, you don't need as many F-16s... The F-16D we basically continue to buy and close it out because we're not going to have as big a force structure and we won't need as many F-16s." According to the Boston Globe, Bush's 1991 defense budget "kill[ed] 81 programs for potential savings of $ 11.9 billion¼ ¼Major weapons killed include[d]... the Air Force's F-16 airplane." [Cheney testimony, House Armed Services Committee, 2/7/91; Boston Globe, 2/5/91]

The Cheney Record: Cheney Proposed Cuts to B-2 Program. According to the Boston Globe, in 1990, "Defense Secretary Richard Cheney announced a cutback ¼¼ of nearly 45 percent in the administration's B-2 Stealth bomber program, from 132 airplanes to 75..." [ Boston Globe, 4/27/90]

The Cheney F-18 Record: Cutbacks Hit Industry Hard Workers and the industry were hit hard by Cheney's decision for "major cuts" in the F/A-18 program and upgrades to the F-18 in the late 1980s [Flight International, 6/27/90; Los Angeles Times, 12/17/89; Aerospace Daily, 5/26/89; Aviation Week and Space Technology, 5/1/89]

Dick Cheney, the first President Bush's secretary of defense (and now vice president), three days after the 1992 Bush of the state of the union, boasting of similar slashings before the Senate Armed Services Committee:

"Overall, since I've been Secretary, we will have taken the five-year defense program down by well over $300 billion. That's the peace dividend. —And now we're adding to that another $50 billion —of so-called peace dividend."

Cheney proceeded to lay into the then-Democratically controlled Congress for refusing to cut more weapons systems.

"Congress has let me cancel a few programs. But you've squabbled and sometimes bickered and horse-traded and ended up forcing me to spend money on weapons that don't fill a vital need in these times of tight budgets and new requirements. You've directed me to buy more M-1s, F-14s, and F-16s—all great systems—but we have enough of them.

Gen. Colin Powell, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the same hearings, testified about plans to cut Army divisions by one-third, Navy aircraft carriers by one-fifth, and active armed forces by half a million men and women, to say noting of "major reductions" in fighter wings and strategic bombers.

President Bush's own father, the first president Bush announced in his 1992 State of the Union address that he would be ceasing further production of B-2 bombers and MX missiles, and would cut military spending by 30 percent over several years.

George HW Bush's 1992 State of the Union:
http://www.c-span.org/executive/transcript.asp?cat=current_event&code=bush_admin&year=1992

From George H.W. Bush's 1992 State of the Union speech: "Two years ago, I began planning cuts in military spending that reflected the changes of the new era. But now, this year, with imperial communism gone, that process can be accelerated. Tonight I can tell you of dramatic changes in our strategic nuclear force. These are actions we are taking on our own because they are the right thing to do. After completing 20 planes for which we have begun procurement, we will shut down further production of the B - 2 bombers. We will cancel the small ICBM program. We will cease production of new warheads for our sea-based ballistic missiles. We will stop all new production of the Peacekeeper missile. And we will not purchase any more advanced cruise missiles. ...The Secretary of Defense recommended these cuts after consultation with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And I make them with confidence. But do not misunderstand me. The reductions I have approved will save us an additional $50 billion over the next 5 years. By 1997, we will have cut defense by 30 percent since I took office. "

FLOP: This year, in their ads, in their speeches on the stump, and at the Republican National Convention, Bush and Cheney and their supporters have repeatedly attacked Kerry for having taking Cheney's advice and having voted against these defense systems.

Bush’s campaign chairman Marc Racicot on Feb. 22 accused Kerry of ““voting against the weapons systems that are winning the War on Terror”” and says Kerry was for "canceling or cutting funding for the B-2 Stealth Bomber, the B-1B, the F-15, the F-16, the M1 Abrams, the Patriot Missile, the AH-64 Apache Helicopter, the Tomahawk Cruise Missile, and the Aegis Air-Defense Cruiser." Another Bush campaign spokesman said Kerry has a "32-year history of voting to cut defense programs and cut defense systems" (a clear impossibility since Kerry has been in office less than 20 years.)

In fact, as factcheck.org has noted: "Kerry's votes against specific military hardware were mostly against strategic nuclear weapons including the B-2 bomber, Trident missile and anti-missile items, not against conventional equipment such as tanks. And Kerry has a point when he says 'I've voted for some of the largest defense and intelligence budgets in our history,' which is correct. He's voted for military spending bills regularly since 1997."

And Republicans go too far when they claim that Kerry voted against such mainstay weapons of today's military as the M-1 Abrams tank, the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, and the Patriot missile. (See this Republican National Committee "fact sheet," for example.) These claims are misleading because they rest on Kerry's votes against the entire Pentagon appropriations bills in 1990 and 1995. Kerry also voted against the Pentagon authorization bills (which provide authority to spend but not the actual money) in those years and also in 1996. But none of those were votes against specific weapons systems. Kerry's critics might just as well say he was voting to fire the entire Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. It is also true that Kerry proposed in 1995 another measure that -- among other things -- would have cut the US intelligence budget by $300 million per year for 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000. Republicans fail to mention, however, that this was another broad, deficit-reduction measure that didn't just target military spending. When he introduced it Sept. 29, 1995, Kerry said it would cut $90 billion in federal spending, of which $10 billion would come from defense spending, and $11 billion from terminating the international space station program.

Starting in 1997 Kerry voted for every regular Department of Defense appropriations bill and for every authorization bill as well. Kerry Has Supported More than $4.4 Trillion in Defense Spending Including Voting for 16 of the Last 19 Defense Authorization Bills. He Voted for the "Largest Increase in Defense Spending Since the Early 1980's." In 2002, John Kerry voted for a large increase in the defense budget. This increase provided more than $355 billion for the Defense Department for 2003, an increase of $21 billion over 2002. This measure includes $71.5 billion for procurement programs such as $4 billion for the Air Force's F-22 fighter jets, $3.5 billion for the Joint Strike Fighter and $279.3 million for an E-8C Joint Stars (JSTARS) aircraft. Kerry's vote also funded a 4.1% pay increase for military personnel, $160 million for the B-1 Bomber Defense System Upgrade, $1.5 billion for a new attack submarine, more than $630 million for Army and Navy variants of the Blackhawk helicopter, $3.2 billion for additional C-17 transports, $900 million for R&D of the Comanche helicopter and more than $800 million for Trident Submarine conversion. John Kerry has supported approximately $250 billion in Intelligence funding over the past eight years alone. The report concludes that Kerry has supported a 50% increase in intelligence funding since 1996. [Senate Intelligence Authorization Funding voice votes 9/25/02, 12/13/01, 12/6/00, 11/19/1999, 10/8/98 & 9/25/96; 1997, Senate Roll Call vote # 109; Jewish News Bulletin of Northern California, 4/5/02]

Kerry has supported at least $8.5 billion in defense authorizations for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle [Total Funding Support from Kerry Votes for Defense Authorization bills 1985-2003]

Kerry has supported at least $21.5 billion in defense authorizations for the M1 Abrams Tank.[Total Funding Support from Kerry Votes for Defense Authorization bills 1985-2003]

Kerry has supported all five new aircraft carriers since he joined the senate: Since 1985, John Kerry has voted to start work on each of the five new aircraft carriers: the USS Stennis and the USS Truman in FY88, the USS Reagan in FY93, the USS Bush in FY98 and the newest (yet unnamed) carrier in FY01.

CVN-74 (Stennis), CVN-75 (Truman): "The Congress authorized full funding in 1988 for CVN 74 and 75."

Kerry voted FOR the authorization conference report for FY88 [globalsecurity.org; http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/cvn-68.htm]

F-15: Kerry supported at least 19.5 billion in defense authorizations for F-15 Fighter Jets. [Total Funding Support from Kerry Votes for Defense Authorization bills 1985-2003] Kerry supported at least $25 billion in defense authorizations for the F-16. [Total Funding Support from Kerry Votes for Defense Authorization bills 1985-2003]

John Kerry has supported at least 10.3 billion in Defense authorizations for the B-1 Bomber. [Total Funding Support from Kerry Votes for Defense Authorization bills 1985-2003]

Kerry has supported over $16.7 billion in defense authorizations for the B-2 program. [Total Funding Support from Kerry Votes for Defense Authorization bills 1985-2003]

Kerry supported at least $10 billion in defense authorizations for the Patriot program. [Total Funding Support from Kerry Votes for Defense Authorization bills 1985-2003] Kerry supported at least $60 billion in defense authorizations for the F/A-18 and F-18 Fighter Jets [Total Funding Support from Kerry Votes for Defense Authorization bills 1985-2003]

Kerry, a former member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has strongly supported recent increases in Intelligence funding for the CIA, FBI, NSA & Other Intel Agencies. In the wake of 9/11, he has supported the bipartisan call for an even larger increase in intelligence funding. According to a report issued by the Center for Defense Information entitled "Intelligence Funding and the War on Terror" John Kerry has supported approximately $250 billion in Intelligence funding over the past eight years alone. The report concludes that Kerry has supported a 50% increase in intelligence funding since 1996. [Senate Intelligence Authorization Funding voice votes 9/25/02, 12/13/01, 12/6/00, 11/19/1999, 10/8/98 & 9/25/96; 1997, Senate Roll Call vote # 109; Jewish News Bulletin of Northern California, 4/5/02]

Sources for Flip-Flop #55:

[1] "Fact Check: Did Kerry Oppose Tanks & Planes? Not Lately"
http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=147 

[2] http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=209 

[3] http://www.johnkerry.com/rapidresponse/080704_intel.html

[4] http://www.c-span.org/executive/transcript.asp?cat=current_event&code=bush_admin&year=1992

(56) Bush and Cheney flip-flopped on the $87 Billion.

FLIP: The White House actually threatened to VETO the $87 billion bill.

The White House did so when the Senate was considering a version of the bill that would convert part of the $87 billion into a loan, rather than a grant, and when the Senate was considering a version that would have offered an additional $1.3 billion for VA medical care and would have expanded benefits under the TRICARE program.

The evidence:
Item #1: White House Groans Over Loan (Washington, Oct. 21, 2003) http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/30/politics/main580877.shtml

"The Bush administration threatened for the first time Tuesday to veto an $87 billion package for Iraq and Afghanistan if Congress converts any Iraqi rebuilding money into loans. ...Loan supporters say that with some of the world's richest oil reserves, Iraq should be required to eventually repay some U.S. aid. That is especially true with the United States facing record federal deficits, and many members of Congress hearing requests from their home districts for more funds for local roads and other projects. ...The loans-vs.-grants debate concerns only a portion of the massive bill, which provides nearly $66 billion for U.S. troops in the field."

Item #2: FOX News story: White House Veto Threat Tuesday, October 21, 2003 http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,100777,00.html

"The following letter was sent to Congressional lawmakers by the White House to convey the Bush administration's views on the Iraq spending package being debated: '... the Administration strongly opposes the Senate provision that would convert a portion of this assistance to a loan mechanism. If this provision is not removed, the President's senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.

...Both the House and the Senate versions of the bill contain provisions that are not directly related to on-going military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere or relief and reconstruction activities. The Administration strongly opposes these provisions, including Senate provisions that would allocate an additional $1.3 billion for VA medical care and the provision that would expand benefits under the TRICARE program."

FLOP: The White House then attacked Kerry for voting against a version of the $87 billion.

The Senate ultimately passed the version of the $87 billion that the White house had wanted Kerry and a number of Senators voted against the bill. Bush then repeatedly attacked for voting against this version of the $87 billion bill, saying that it was outrageous that he had "voted against our troops," while glossing over the fact that he had threatened to VETO the $87 billion himself.

"The new spending is expected to push an already record budget deficit higher than $525 billion for the fiscal year that began October 1, or about 4.7 percent of gross domestic product, a level that worries some White House economists"

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/11/06/sprj.nilaw.bush.iraq.reut/

[Here is how Kerry explained the $87 billion vote on the Don Imus show:

KERRY: You know, Don, it’s so simple for thepresident to joke about very serious issues when young kids are dying because he didn’t make a plan to win the peace in Iraq. And I take that very personally as somebody who fought in a war which he chose not to...

KERRY: When say I voted for it, I was willing to vote for the $87 billion providing we paid for it! Providing we asked Americans to sacrifice, all of us together. So Joe Biden and I...brought an amendment to say, Hey America—rather than have a $690 billion tax cut for everybody over the next ten years who are earning over $200,000, why don’t we take just $600 billion, and that way we pay for the war right up front and not add it to the deficit. Guess what? George Bush said no. The Republicans said no. And what they’re doing is trying once again to mislead America as they do so effectively, make a joke out of something that’s serious.

Source: http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh071604.shtml 

(57) Bush Flip Flopped on the question of whether a National Sales Tax is a good idea.

FLIP: Tuesday, August 10, 2004: At a town hall meeting in Florida, Bush said that a national sales tax was "an interesting idea that we ought to explore seriously." Bush also said at the Florida meeting: "We're working to simplify the tax code."

"A comment Tuesday at a town-hall meeting in Florida has reignited the long-simmering debate in conservative circles over whether Washington should rethink the way it levies taxes. When a supporter asked President Bush about scrapping the current tax code and replacing it with a national sales tax, he replied favorably: "I'm not exactly sure how big the national sales tax is going to have to be, but it's the kind of interesting idea that we ought to explore seriously. Since then, White House spokesmen have not ruled out the idea."

Sources; Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0813/p03s01-uspo.html

Kerry Raps Bush's National Sales Tax Quip
NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press (Aug. 12, 2004)
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/special_packages/election2004/9376048.htm

FLOP: Then the next day, in response to a negative public reaction, the administration tried to walk away from Bush's embrace of the national sales tax concept.

"Administration officials on Wednesday denied that President Bush is considering a national sales tax, a day after the Republican incumbent created a stir by calling such a tax 'an interesting idea that we ought to explore seriously.'.... two administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Bush was not considering a national sales tax."

Source: White House Backs Off Bush Sales Tax Quip
By Tom Raum
Associated Press Writer
Published: Aug 11, 2004
http://www.lancasteronline.com/pages/news/ap/4/bush_sales_tax

FLIP: Then Bush said that a flat tax was "an option" and the Administration said that both the flat tax and a national sales tax were ideas that deserved consideration in a second term.

"A questioner asked about the possibility of a flat tax Saturday at an "Ask President Bush" campaign forum in Broadview Heights, Ohio. Bush was noncommittal but did not shoot the idea down. "It's certainly one option," he said. Asked to elaborate Sunday, a senior administration official said a flat tax and a national retail sales tax -- which would replace the income tax with a tax on consumption -- 'deserve consideration.'

...The administration official said Bush would instruct the panel that proposals should be revenue-neutral -- that they would bring in the same amount of money as the current system. "

Source: Bush Reiterates Call for a Simpler Tax System
President Says Current Laws Are a 'Complicated Mess'
By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 6, 2004; Page A04
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A64387-2004Sep5?language=printer

FLIP: Wait until after the election, if Bush is reelected, we may see a national sales tax proposal... There is a lot of enthusiasm for this idea on the part of many in the GOP.

In September 2004, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy has published a report on the effect of replacing the federal income tax system with a national sales tax system. The Study can be viewed at www.ctj.org/. Among other things, the study found that:

"For 2005 (a relatively low-tax year), we calculate that the required break-even sales tax rate would be between 45 percent and 53 percent, depending on how certain tax-base issues are resolved. A recent analysis by William Gale of the Brookings Institution finds that to match expected federal revenues over the upcoming decade would require a sales tax rate of about 60 percent. That figure is consistent with earlier analyses by Citizens for Tax Justice and the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.

.... Replacing most federal taxes with a national sales tax would mean very large tax increases on most Americans and very large tax cuts for the wealthy. A few important points can be highlighted:

(58) From "Kenny Boy" Lay (CEO of Enron) to "Ken who?"

FLIP: "Ken Lay is a close personal friend of the President, who calls him "Kenny Boy," and was the first person the administration turned to on important issues of energy policy.

According to Vice President Dick Cheney, Lay met privately with him in April 2001 "to talk about energy." Lay was "the only chief executive of a major player in the electric power industry to confer privately with Cheney as he formulated his national energy strategy." Lay said that he was "flattered that [Cheney] decided to meet with me, and at least hear me out as to some of the things I thought were pretty important that should be considered for his report." At the meeting, Lay handed Cheney a memo outlining "eight points spelling out Enron's case for why federal authorities should refrain from imposing price caps or other measures sought by California officials to stabilize runaway electricity prices." At the time, Enron was manipulating the market to bilk hundreds of millions of dollars from West Coast ratepayers, with company traders caught on tape "gloating over the crisis they helped create." Nonetheless, "seven out of eight recommendations were adopted in the administration's final energy plan." And the president is still pushing the Ken Lay plan as the solution to the nation's energy woes.

BUSH APPOINTED LAY'S RECOMMENDATIONS TO FERC: According to Lay, shortly after Bush became president, he "had two or three meetings with various people in the White House on the whole issue of energy policy." On one of those visits Lay says he "presented a list...which, in fact, had some recommendations as to people that we thought would be good commissioners [on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)]." The commission is an extraordinarily powerful agency that controls regulation of the nation's energy industry. Subsequently, Lay was called upon to conduct phone interviews with potential nominees to FERC. The White House has confirmed that "two people on Ken Lay's list -- Pat Wood and Nora Brown -- were in fact picked by President Bush for seats on the [five member] FERC."

FERC COMMISSIONER CLASHES WITH LAY, IS REPLACED BY BUSH: In the first months of Bush's presidency, Lay called then-Chairman of FERC Curt Hebert and asked him to force companies to grant Enron access to the electrical grid. According to Hebert, he was not "willing to do what [Lay] wanted me to do." PBS was told Lay threatened to withdraw political support from Hebert if he didn't comply with Lay's request. By May, Vice President Cheney was already referring to Pat Wood --one of the commissioners recommended by Lay who supported opening up the electrical grid -- as the new Chairman of FERC. In August, President Bush replaced Hebert with Wood. Wood subsequently approved Lay's request that Hebert had rejected as bad policy.

LAY AND ENRON WERE BUSH'S #1 CONTRIBUTORS: All the access Lay had to the White House didn't come cheap. Enron was the #1 all-time contributor to George W. Bush, contributing $550,025 to his campaigns by mid-1999. Lay himself donated $250,000 in soft money to Bush's political campaigns. He also was a Bush Pioneer in 2000, meaning he personally raised over $100,000 for the president. Lay and other Enron executives pitched in another $300,000 to pay for Bush's inauguration festivities."

Source: Center for American Progress
(http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=109694)

FLOP: When embarrassing stories about Enron's misdeeds came to light, the Bush administration attempted to downplay Bush Relationship with Ken Lay.

"The White House is trying to put at least an arm's length between President Bush and indicted Enron executive Kenneth Lay, a campaign benefactor Bush nicknamed "Kenny Boy" when the two were up-and-comers in Texas.

It has been "quite some time" since Bush and Lay talked with each other, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Thursday, brushing off questions about whether the two were friends.

...Lay clearly favored the GOP. He and his wife, Linda, donated $882,580 to federal candidates from 1989-2001, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. All but $86,470 went to Republicans.

McClellan declined to discuss...

Lay's relationship with the Bush family dates from at least 1990 when he was co-chairman of former President Bush's economic summit for industrialized nations, which was held in Houston. Lay also was co-chairman of the host committee for the Republican National Convention when it was held in Houston in 1992.

The Center for Public Integrity, a Washington-based nonprofit group, said the Lays had given $139,500 to George W. Bush's political campaigns over the years.

Those donations were part of $602,000 that Enron employees gave to Bush's various campaigns, making Enron the leading political patron for Bush at the time of the company's bankruptcy in 2001.

In addition to Lay's political campaign donations, he and his wife contributed $100,000 to Bush's 2001 inauguration. Lay also was a fund-raiser for Bush, bringing in at least $100,000 for the president's 2002 campaign. That put Lay in "Pioneer" status as one of the president's top money-raisers."

Source: Bush-Enron Ties
White House Downplays Bush Relationship With Indicted
Ex-Enron Chief Kenneth Lay
 

The Associated Press
WASHINGTON July 8, 2004
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20040708_2501.html