It was, as Arthur Andersen’s chief in-house lobbyist Mark Peterson says, “a Cadillac of lobby teams.” But the lobbying prowess Peterson hired early this year – an A-list group from seven firms with a heavy emphasis on House Energy and Commerce Committee connections – faced innumerable and perhaps insurmountable hurdles in trying to cool the Hill’s fury over Andersen’s role in the collapse of the Enron Corp. Some of these obstacles were inflicted by Andersen, which was driven by competing views on how to deal with the enveloping crisis. Some were created by rival accounting firms looking to deflect a congressional attack on the industry. And, according to one theory popular among Andersen lobbyists, some were the result of a GOP-led House eager to shift the focus from Enron – with its deep, long-standing Republican ties – to the accountants who audited its books.
The upshot is that Andersen’s survival is in doubt, and the industry remains under siege. Barring a last-minute settlement with the Department of Justice, the accounting firm goes on trial May 6 in a federal courthouse in Houston, charged with illegally shredding documents after it knew the Securities and Exchange Commission had launched an investigation into Enron’s collapse.
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