Topeka ? Former top managers of Westar Energy Inc. took a special interest last year in a congressional race in southeastern Alabama.

Why would a Kansas company be interested in a political contest 800 miles away?

According to internal company memos, campaign contributions made in that race and at least six others were designed to gain favor with lawmakers who had influence over legislation of interest to former Westar chief executive David Wittig.

The blunt tone of the memos surprised even political observers who said they were not easily shocked by the confluence of money and politics in the nation’s capital.

The memos were written in May 2002 by Doug Lawrence, former Westar vice president for public affairs, and were included in documents released last week by Westar in its internal probe of Wittig and other former company officials.

Lawrence, now a lobbyist, declined to discuss the memos. Wittig resigned from Westar in November after being indicted on charges of falsifying documents in a $1.5 million bank loan. He pleaded innocent to the charges and declined to comment on Westar’s internal report.

‘Remarkable memos’

The memos indicate that for Westar “to get a seat at the table” with a powerful House-Senate conference committee working on a sweeping energy bill, Westar executives needed to make campaign contributions to candidates selected by several lawmakers.

“This appears to be a smoking gun,” said Tyson Slocum, an energy-policy research director with the nonprofit consumer watchdog Public Citizen. “These are remarkable memos because of the candor involved here. They are tying directly gaining a favor and campaign contributions.”

The initiative by Wittig and others to influence legislation centered around a committee working on proposed changes to the Public Utility Holding Company Act.

The Depression-era act is one of the cornerstones of utility regulation. Westar sought an exemption that would have freed it from some regulatory oversight, and key Republican congressmen moved in that direction but pulled the plug on the deal when the Securities and Exchange Commission said it was investigating the company.

But when the issue was in play, the memos indicated Westar executives were ready to move thousands of dollars into the coffers of candidates associated with key members of Congress.

‘Substantial request’

For example, one memo says U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., “made a substantial request of us for supporting Young’s campaign.” That was a reference to Tom Young, who ran in the Republican Party primary in the 1st Congressional District in Alabama and was Shelby’s former chief of staff.

The memo noted Shelby was a member of the Senate energy and banking committees “and is the lead Republican on all Senate PUHCA-related matters. He is our anchor on the Senate side.”

Federal Election Commission records show at least five Westar executives made contributions to Young totaling $7,200 on May 31, 2002. Young lost the primary in June 2002 to Jo Bonner, who won the seat in the November general election.

Shelby’s office did not return a telephone call for comment.

Celia Wexler, research director of the group Common Cause, which monitors campaign finance, said the memos described what was common knowledge in Washington, D.C., about buying influence, but she added, “It is kind of startling to see it laid out in sort of coarse detail.”

Wexler and Slocum said the fact Westar did not get what it wanted from the conference committee was not an indication the plan never worked. Consumer advocates have argued that PUHCA has not been properly enforced and that if it had, the Enron scandal could not have taken place.

“There is an integrity that should apply to the entire process of lawmaking that should not be moot if Congress is not able to agree on a final bill,” Slocum said.

The special committee report on Westar can be viewed on the Internet at http://wr.com. The memos referring to political activity are exhibits 236 and 237.