Walters charges Inhofe company was Enron look-alike

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe drove his family's insurance business into insolvency with expensive off-the-books partnerships similar to those that led to the collapse of Enron, former

Friday, October 25th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe drove his family's insurance business into insolvency with expensive off-the-books partnerships similar to those that led to the collapse of Enron, former Gov. David Walters, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, charged Thursday.

``He cheated his stockholders. He betrayed his insurance clients. And now he says he wants to rebuild corporate confidence,'' Walters said.

Inhofe's business, Quaker Life Insurance Company, was placed into receivership in 1986 after the Oklahoma Insurance Department discovered Quaker was insolvent due to massive investments in a time-share RV resort at Grand Lake called Pine Island, Walters said.

Inhofe's campaign manager, Josh Kivett, said there was no evidence of self dealing in the collapse of Quaker.

``This was not news then and it's not news now,'' Kivett said.

But Walters accused Inhofe of ``blatant hypocrisy'' in the way he managed his business affairs and his promises to help stop corporate corruption.

``He drove that business into the ground. And yet he walked away with millions of dollars,'' Walters said.

``For Jim Inhofe to proclaim now that he's the best man to prevent the Enrons and WorldComs from happening again is a joke,'' Walters said.

Kivett said it is unacceptable for Walters to accuse Inhofe of Enron-typre activities considering Walters' own legal problems.

Walters became the state's only sitting governor to be indicted following a grand jury investigation into his campaign finance activities while running for governor in 1991.

In 1993, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of violating campaign finance laws.

But Walters said Inhofe's management of Quaker ``sank a perfectly good insurance company.''

``If he ever had the kind of scrutiny I did, he'd be doing 5-to-10 probably,'' Walters said.