WASHINGTON - During the 2000 presidential election recount battle, George W. Bush's campaign used jets owned by several large corporations, including Enron Corp. and Halliburton Co., that are now under federal investigation, according to Internal Revenue Service records and officials.

Republicans said yesterday that there was nothing improper about the use of the corporate planes, for which the Bush-Cheney Recount Fund paid more than $13,000 to Enron and $2,400 to Halliburton, the company Dick Cheney ran before becoming vice president.

''Our use of planes was in full compliance with federal election law,'' said Benjamin Ginsberg, a lawyer for the Bush-Cheney recount fund.

Republicans said the amount the Bush campaign spent on corporate planes was a tiny fraction of the $13.8 million it paid out during the five-week recount battle. Bush won the White House after the Supreme Court blocked the recount of thousands of disputed Florida ballots.

Democrats said the payments were proof that Bush and Cheney were compromised by their close business ties.

''The Bush administration literally flew into power on Enron's and Halliburton's private jets,'' said Bill Buck, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee.

The recount committee for Al Gore, the Democratic candidate in 2000, did not report using any corporate jets in its Internal Revenue Service filings.

Federal law allows presidential candidates to use corporate jets so long as they reimburse the companies. They are required to pay the equivalent of a first-class ticket on a commercial flight or normal charter rates, said a spokesman for the Federal Election Commission.

The White House declined to comment.

Enron, a major financial backer of Bush's campaigns, was the world's biggest energy trader before it collapsed amid revelations of losses from off-the-books partnerships.

Cheney was chief executive of Halliburton, which provides products and services to the energy industry, from 1995 to 2000. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating how the company accounted for cost overruns on construction jobs.

Copyright 2002 Reuters Ltd

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