AUSTIN, TEX. ? At a time when major utilities in Texas warned against it, then-Enron CEO Kenneth Lay was urging then-Gov. George W. Bush to deregulate the state’s retail electricity markets.

“Electric customer choice is gaining momentum across the country, and we expect that proposals to implement retail competition in Texas will be a major issue in the next session of the Legislature,” Lay wrote to Bush on May 22, 1996.

The correspondence is included in about 350 papers released Friday by the State Archives dating from the beginning of Bush’s governorship in January 1995 until he resigned in December 2000 to become president. It illustrates the major role Enron and its CEO played in early lobbying for deregulation. The retail electric deregulation law, signed by Bush, took effect Jan. 1.

Tom “Smitty” Smith, director of the Texas office of Public Citizen, said the letters illustrate Lay’s close ties to Bush and the political influence he wielded on a variety of issues. Whether it was deregulation, tort reform or education, Lay seemed to be regularly lobbying his friend Bush.

Bush received $312,000 from Enron officials, including Lay, in his two gubernatorial campaigns, and $100,000 from Enron officials for his presidential campaign. Lay also served as a Bush “pioneer” by raising at least $100,000 from other donors for the presidential race.

“Lay was one of Bush’s largest donors,” said Smith. “And in Texas politics, you tend to ‘dance with them that brung you.’ What you see over and over again (in this correspondence) was (Lay saying) we need your help with tort reform and electric deregulation” and other issues.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush supported deregulation because it provided choice for consumers and competition in the energy market. And he said Bush felt no undue influence from Lay.

“As governor, he always made decisions based on what was in the best interest of Texans,” McClellan said.

Much of the correspondence stemmed from Lay’s tenure as head of the Governor’s Business Council. He was first appointed to the panel by Gov. Ann Richards, and Bush kept him on starting in 1995.

In the Bush era, the informal panel of business leaders used tens of thousands of dollars in dues paid by members such as Lay to promote the governor’s education initiatives, memos and interviews show.