WASHINGTON - Congressman Mark Foley (FL-16), one of the first Members of Congress to call for the testimonies of former Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Senator John Corzine for their companies’ involvement in the Enron scandal, today wrote the Big Three television network anchors asking them to cover the Rubin-Enron story on their broadcasts. The letter to Tom Brokaw of NBC, Peter Jennings of ABC and Dan Rather of CBS is as follows:
Tom Brokaw, NBC
Peter Jennings, ABC
Dan Rather, CBS
July 26, 2002
Dear Sirs:
As you know, over the last few weeks, print and broadcast news has been peppered with reports on corrupt CEOs and talk of corporate accountability legislation on Capitol Hill. As President Bush and our Congressional Leaders promised, the strong action Americans demanded has come to fruition.
While I am not writing to complain about your coverage of the scandals or the legislation, I am calling upon you to cover what could be the real smoking gun in the Enron scandal - former Clinton Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin.
Numerous media reports directly implicate Mr. Rubin in this scandal. Here’s how John Fund of the Wall Street Journal put it: “Citigroup, which he [Rubin] has headed since 1999, played a central role in concealing Enron's growing debts from investors and regulators. Last November Mr. Rubin phoned Peter Fisher, a Treasury undersecretary, and asked him to intervene with credit-rating agencies that were about to downgrade Enron's status. John Diaz, a managing director of Moody's Investors Service, says Mr. Rubin also contacted him about getting a higher credit rating for Enron. Both men rebuffed Mr. Rubin's requests, which struck them as highly unusual.”
Since this has come to light, I have been calling on Senator Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, and Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the subcommittee probing Enron's internal practices, to subpoena Mr. Rubin and hear his testimony.
Additionally, when you consider the fact that Citigroup has, over the last five years, been one of Mr. Lieberman’s top campaign contributors and has also dipped into its coffers for Mr. Levin, this story takes on an even more troubling dimension.
Gentlemen, I’m assuming you simply haven’t found the time to cover this story. However, now that the Fox News Channel, CNN, USA TODAY, The Associated Press, The Washington Times and many others have begun their coverage of this story, I would hope you will find a few minutes to devote to this before the Senate breaks for its August recess next week.
