Campaign Donors: Corporate Accountability

• Lieberman cast several votes against measures that sought to improve the accountability of corporate executives to shareholders. National Journal reported that “Congress in the mid-1990s also relaxed some deterrents to marketplace misbehavior, when it twice passed bills – once over President Clinton’s veto-to limit shareholders’ ability to sue companies and their accountants for fraud. (National Journal, 2/23/02)

• Lieberman voted against an amendment to hold liable individuals who aid and abet in securities fraud but were not defined as primary participants. (S 240, Senate Vote 286, 6/27/95)

• Lieberman, along with fellow Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd, was one of seven Democrats to vote to table an amendment to deny “safe harbor” protection to officers of a corporation who make false or misleading forward-looking statements and then sell stock or otherwise benefit from the situation. (S 240, Senate Vote 294, 6/28/95)

• Lieberman voted for the final version of S 240 that limited securities fraud lawsuits. Senators Dodd, Kerry and Kennedy also voted for the bill, which passed with 21 Democratic votes. (S 240, Senate Vote 295, 6/28/95)

• Over his career, Lieberman has received more than $2.4 million from securities and investment PACs. (Center for Responsive Politics)

• Lieberman’s former chief of staff lobbied for Enron and organized meetings between his client and Lieberman’s staff. Lieberman also received thousands in contributions from Enron and its accountant, Arthur Andersen.

• Michael Lewan, who was Lieberman’s chief of staff from 1989 to 1992, received $40,000 to lobby for Enron in 2001. Lewan arranged meetings between Enron officials and three top advisers to Lieberman. He had even tried unsuccessfully to arrange a meeting between Lieberman and Kenneth Lay. While Lieberman’s staff argued that they “did not have any hint of Enron’s financial situations,” Lieberman denied the meeting with Lay because his committee was already investigating a Lay business relationship. (Hartford Courant, 1/17/02)

• Lieberman received $19,750 from Enron and Arthur Andersen during his U.S. Senate career. The National Republican Senatorial Committee also criticized Lieberman, who was tasked with investigating the scandal as Governmental Affairs Committee chairman in 2002, for contributions from his largest donor, Citigroup. Citigroup was “Enron’s largest lender,” according to the NRSC. (The Hotline, 2/14/02)