THE BUSH CONNECTION.....Money money money

7. *Kenneth & Linda Lay (Houston): $122,500
Lay’s Enron gas hired two GHWB cabinet members as they left office (see James Baker, No. 56, and Robert Mosbacher, No. 30). After GHWB’s ’93 Gulf War victory tour of Kuwait, several members of his entourage, including Baker, stayed on to hustle Enron contracts. The Clinton administration also threatened to cut Mozambique’s aid in ’95 if it did not give Enron a contract. Former Enron president Richard Kinder also gave GWB $119,409.

8. Ray L. Hunt (Dallas): $105,000
Oil heir Hunt and Dallas’ city manager secretly planned the $210 million Reunion development for a year before briefing the city council. Hunt was the sole bidder for this private-public deal that appeared to be written by Hunt’s lawyers. Hunt hired John Scovell ($1,000 to GWB) to head his development company. Scovell’s father sat on Dallas committees that selected Reunion as the site of a new sports arena.

10. Richard E. Rainwater (Ft. Worth): $100,000
Rainwater was a key investor in the Texas Rangers and Columbia/HCA Healthcare, which the government is investigating on Medicare fraud charges (see Richard Scott, No. 65). GWB received $37,500 from executives of Rainwater’s Crescent Real Estate (see Gerald Haddock, No. 33), which bought two buildings from the state in ’96 at bargain-basement prices. GWB’s personal blind trust invested in Crescent during his first term.