President Bush's son Neil was unqualified to be a director of a Colorado thrift, but that doesn't excuse him from harm caused to the institution that failed at a cost of $1 billion, federal regulators say. Neil Bush described himself Wednesday as ``just a Denver guy trying to make a living and raise a family,'' and not as a freewheeling former director of Silverado Banking, Savings and Loan Association. Bush, 34, continued to deny conflict of interest allegations raised against him by thrift regulators. Meanwhile, President Bush strongly defended his son on Wednesday, saying he has confidence in his ``honor and integrity.'' The president, who has pledged to vigorously prosecute fraud in the savings and loan industry, repeated his promise not to interfere with regulators' investigation of his son. ``If he's done something wrong, the system will digest that,'' he told a news conference in Houston. ``This is not easy for me as a father. It's easy for me as a president because the system is going to work. I am not going to intervene.'' In documents released by the Office of Thrift Supervision, regulators asserted that Neil Bush was ``unqualified and untrained'' for his position as an outside director of Denver-based Silverado. ``Certainly he had no experience in managing a large corporation, especially a financial institution with almost $2 billion in assets,'' said the documents released this week. ``Unfortunately, he was not cognizant of the conflict-of-interest situations he encountered as a director of Silverado.'' However, the regulators added, Bush's inexperience does not excuse him ``from the harm and potential harm he caused'' to the thrift. The younger Bush has been ordered by the thrift office to answer allegations of conflict of interest in his role as a director of Silverado, which lent millions of dollars to his business partner, who never repaid the money. At a news conference in Denver, Neil Bush said, ``I am standing on very solid ground when it comes to defending my role as an outside director.'' He said that his father ``had wanted me to keep a little lower profile.'' However, he told reporters for The Denver Post after the news conference that he is thinking about running for Congress because he thinks there should be more congressional accountability. ``I may (run),'' he said. ``Not anytime soon because it's something I have to build up to. But if I do it, it's probably going to be with the intent of being part of a shakeup.'' The federal government is considering filing lawsuits to recover misspent funds from the officers and directors of 1,300 failed banks and savings institutions, officials told a congressional hearing Wednesday. Neil Bush could be among the defendants. L. William Seidman, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., appearing at Wednesday's hearing, declined to comment on whether FDIC officials have recommended whether to sue Neil Bush. ``We are treating the Silverado case the way we treat every other case,'' Seidman told the House Judiciary subcommittee on criminal justice. ``Every failed institution, we go into and make a thorough investigation of whether or not there is the possibility of civil or criminal activity.'' In other savings and loan developments Wednesday: _The Senate approved a broad crime bill that stiffens prison terms for savings and loan fraud and offers rewards to whistleblowers for turning in S&amp;L looters. _The former president of one of Texas' largest collapsed thrifts was indicted on fraud charges in connection with a $700 million real estate scheme. FBI officials in Dallas announced the indictment against Edwin T. McBirney III, former president of Sunbelt Savings Association. The regulators asserted that Bush was unqualified to sit on Silverado's board. They noted that he graduated from college in 1977, worked on his father's political campaign for a year and received a master's degree in business administration in 1979. The documents also noted that Bush worked as an oil lease negotiator for Amoco Production Co. in Denver from 1980 through late 1982, and later started his own oil company, JNB Exploration. He became a director of Silverado in the summer of 1985 and quit the job in August 1988, shortly after his father won the Republican presidential nomination. In earlier years, Bush held summer jobs with Republic National Bank in Dallas and a small oil equipment company there.
President Bush pledged to vigorously prosecute S&L fraud and not interfere with the investigation of his son Neil , whose integrity he defended. Bush described himself as "just a Houston guy trying to make a living and raise a family." He held summer jobs with bank and oil equipment companies, worked on his father's campaign a year, received an MBA in 1985-88 , negotiated oil leases from 1980-82 , and started his own oil company. He was a director of Silverado S&L from 1985-88 and says he is considering a future run for Silverado S&L as part of a shakeup to increase congressional accountability.