Ok...I was going to quit, but this was too good to pass up **EG**

Wednesday January 23 6:03 PM ET

Sharpton Offers Bush Mother-In-Law Help on Enron

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Civil rights activist Al Sharpton offered on Wednesday to help President Bush's mother-in-law recoup her lost Enron Corp. stock investment as part of his campaign to get government help for victims of the company's financial collapse.

Sharpton, speaking to reporters in front of the fallen firm's glitzy Houston headquarters, urged the federal government to bail out the thousands of investors and former Enron employees who lost money when the energy trader declared bankruptcy last month following revelations of questionable financial dealings.

``There must be a commitment by the government to bail out those that were victimized since government did not put the proper laws in place to protect them,'' said Sharpton, who heads a group called the National Action Network and is a frequent Bush critic.

``If this nation can bail out multibillion dollar multinational corporations, why can't we bail out people we allowed to be victimized?''

Bush disclosed on Tuesday that his mother-in-law, Jenna Welch, lost $8,000 on 200 shares of Enron stock she bought two years ago for $40.90 each and sold in December for 42 cents a share. Enron closed down 9 cents on Wednesday at 34 cents.

The president, saying he was ``outraged'' about the Enron situation, called for greater corporate disclosure of financial information, but said nothing about helping investors or Enron employees who lost their savings.

Sharpton invited Welch to a town hall meeting he will hold in Houston on Jan. 30 for Enron victims. He then plans to go on to Washington to lobby Congress for his bailout proposal.

"This is not political. I would love for Mr. Bush's mother-in-law to come,'' he said with a smile.

-- Cherri (jessam5@home.com), January 24, 2002