Capitol Hill investigators are turning the heat up on former Enron Chairman Kenneth L. Lay, attempting to get him to appear before their committees to explain the Enron meltdown in what is fast becoming an election year political circus.

The Senate Commerce Committee voted Tuesday to issue a subpoena for Lay to appear for a hearing next Tuesday, while the House Financial Services Committee served a subpoena to compel Lay’s appearance on Feb. 14.

The House panel had tried to serve the subpoena on the former Enron head Monday, but Lay’s attorney Earl Silbert said he didn’t know his client’s whereabouts and refused to accept it. While the subpoenas will guarantee Lay’s appearance on Capitol Hill next week, he does not necessarily have to provide testimony. He can invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Lay abruptly canceled his scheduled appearances before the two committees this week, citing “particularly disturbing” and “inflammatory” remarks that were made over the weekend by key congressional lawmakers who are investigating the Enron failure.

“Mr. Lay, wherever you are, I’m sorry that [we] offended [you and] your lawyers,” said House Energy and Commerce Chairman W.J. “Billy” Tauzin (R-LA), who made some of the so-called “inflammatory” comments during a Sunday talk show. But “testifying in front of Congress is…risky business,” he said during a hearing Tuesday. He advised Lay to “get yourself some new lawyers” if his attorneys are just becoming concerned about his fate. Tauzin, running for re-election this year, is one of the leading congressional recipients of Enron campaign contributions.

An internal Enron report, the so-called Powers Report, revealed that there was a “high probability” of securities fraud committed by company officials, Tauzin said, adding that he had simply stated the obvious on the Sunday news show. Neither he nor Rep. Byron L. Dorgan (D-ND), who appeared on the same show, “misstated the facts,” he noted.

“None of those statements represented anything more than what has already been represented by Enron’s own accounting firm regarding potentially illegal acts,” said Dorgan, chairman of a Senate Commerce subcommittee. “I doubt [he] ever thought appearing before a congressional committee would be a walk in the park.”

On CNN Monday, Sen Peter G. Fitzgerald (R-IL) conceded that it was “theoretically possible” that Lay was unaware of some of the improprieties of his officers. But he quickly added that to conclude this, “[you] would have to believe that he was the most out-to-lunch CEO in corporate America.”

There are at least 10 congressional committee hearings scheduled this week, investigating Enron or related issues such as 401(k) plans, the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA) or accountants’ accountability.

In related action, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ernest Hollings (D-SC) requested that a special prosecutor be appointed to investigate the ties between the Bush administration and Enron. He attacked the Justice Department’s choice of Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson to oversee the ongoing criminal investigation into Enron, citing Thompson’s ties to a law firm that once represented the Houston energy trader. The Justice Department refused Hollings’ request.

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