WASHINGTON — The criminal indictment of former Enron Corp. Chairman Kenneth L. Lay loomed Thursday as a new political minefield for President Bush, and the White House moved quickly to distance the president from the man he once affectionately called "Kenny Boy" and who donated more than $500,000 to his campaigns over the years.
Some political analysts said Lay's indictment could hurt the president's reelection chances by reminding voters of the ties between Bush and the collapsed energy company, and by reinforcing a perception that the Bush administration is cozy with corporate America. At the same time, some analysts said, the prosecution of Lay could allow Bush to argue that he is tough on corporate crime.
Lay himself rued his ties to Bush, suggesting Thursday that his connections to the president were at the root of his indictment.
Citing his past support for Bush, Lay told reporters at a Houston news conference, "It was going to take a lot more courage for a prosecutor to not indict me than to indict me."
At the White House, Press Secretary Scott McClellan declined to discuss the government's case against Lay, saying, "This is a Justice Department matter, and we expect the Justice Department to do their job when it comes to cracking down on corporate wrongdoing."
He also portrayed Bush as someone who granted no special favors when it came to possible corporate crime.
"The president has made it very clear that we will not tolerate dishonesty in the boardroom," McClellan said.
He added that Lay had "supported Democrats and Republicans alike, including the president."
More than 70% of the $2.4 million Enron and its executives donated to federal candidates in 2000 went to Republicans, according to public interest groups that track campaign finance.
To date, more than two dozen onetime senior Enron officials have been indicted on charges that include fraud and insider trading.
The energy trading company collapsed in late 2001.
The cloud over Enron came amid a rash of corporate accounting scandals and turned into something of a public relations problem for the administration in its early months, in part because numerous senior administration officials, or people close to the White House, had ties to Enron.
