Edwards derides Bush on Enron

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John Edwards, the newly chosen Democratic vice presidential candidate, suggested that the Bush administration dragged its feet in prosecuting purported "corporate crooks" such as former Enron chief executive Kenneth Lay.

"It took three long years to see Ken Lay handcuffed and indicted for what he did," the North Carolina senator said yesterday in the weekly Democratic radio address. "In November, middle-class families will be able to rest assured that John Kerry will look out for their interests, restore corporate responsibility and put our economy back in line with our values."

Mr. Lay surrendered to authorities in Houston on Thursday and declared his innocence of charges he fraudulently hid losses and debt problems at Enron. He was indicted after a 2-year investigation into the energy giant's collapse.

Mr. Lay and his wife contributed more than $790,000 to Republicans and slightly more than $86,000 to Democrats from 1989 to 2001, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Mr. Edwards said that Mr. Kerry understands that families are struggling to stay afloat.

"You can't save any money because it takes every dime you make just to pay your bills. And if something goes wrong, a serious illness, or a layoff, you go right off the cliff," he said. "And to make things even worse, millions of Americans have lost their life's savings and pensions because of corporate crooks like Ken Lay."

The Bush campaign said Friday that Mr. Lay attended a dinner at Mr. Kerry's Georgetown home "10 months after Enron went under" and that Mr. Lay had been on a board, the Heinz Foundation, overseen by Mr. Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry.

Stephanie Cutter, Kerry spokeswoman said the senator wasn't at the dinner, the foundation was philanthropic and Mr. Lay is no longer on the board.

In his weekly radio address, Mr. Bush said a few activist judges and local officials have taken it upon themselves to change the meaning of marriage.

Leading the chorus of support for an amendment, the president said, "If courts create their own arbitrary definition of marriage as a mere legal contract and cut marriage off from its cultural, religious and natural roots, then the meaning of marriage is lost, and the institution is weakened."

His remarks followed the opening of Senate debate Friday on a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between only a man and a woman.

A constitutional amendment should never be undertaken lightly, Mr. Bush said, "yet to defend marriage, our nation has no other choice."

Mr. Bush singled out Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court, which called marriage an evolving paradigm.

"That sends a message to the next generation that marriage has no enduring meaning, and that ages of moral teaching and human experience have nothing to teach us about this institution," he said.