Hi Fred,
Are you sure the links aren't there and just hidden? Maybe when you change the background color to white the link color in the footer (which is very similar) are just obscured. You are on the right track with replacing the first line in the css you posted. You can remove the image and just call the background color white.
#Footer{min-height:45px;width:100%; background:#ffffff;}
The #ffffff added above is the color white. The last line you pasted controls the color of the links.
#Footer a.SkinObject:link, #Footer a.SkinObject:active, #Footer a.SkinObject:visited, #Footer a.SkinObject:hover{color:#e5e5e5;padding:0 0 0 15px;}
Change the #e5e5e5 to another more contrasting color. Try #000000 which is black to test it.
#Footer a.SkinObject:link, #Footer a.SkinObject:active, #Footer a.SkinObject:visited, #Footer a.SkinObject:hover{color:#000000; padding:0 0 0 15px;}
Google HEX colors and you'll get a bunch of links to color charts and tools.
Here is one to start. http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_colors.asp
Hope that helps.
Rich