NEW YORK –– Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that she would donate nearly $8,000 in campaign contributions from Enron and its accounting firm to a charitable fund to help employees of the failed energy giant.

She joins a growing list of lawmakers unloading Enron Corp. contributions as questions arise about the company's collapse.

Clinton received $950 from Enron employees during her Senate campaign, according to the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics. She said she received $7,000 in contributions from employees of Arthur Andersen, and would add that to the donation.

"I think it's the appropriate thing to do," Clinton told The Associated Press on Friday.

New York's other senator, Charles Schumer, announced earlier this week that he was donating $68,857 he received from Enron and Andersen to another Houston-based fund to help Enron employees. Schumer sits on the Senate Banking Committee and the Energy Committee, both of which are planning hearings on Enron.

Enron's rapid fall into bankruptcy wiped out the savings for many employees who were barred from selling Enron shares from their retirement accounts as the stock price plunged. Top executives cashed out more than $1 billion in company stock when it was near its peak.

© 2002 The Associated Press