regarding (ENE's) Ken Lay's compensation and what he has done with it, as revealed 8 months ago by Mother Jones magazine (found via Internet search - I don't read it myself):
Energy With two former oil executives on the
GOP ticket, the industry threw its financial weight
behind the Republicans by a margin of 9-to-1.
by Lila Byock March 5, 2001
No corporate executive has enjoyed more access
to George W. Bush than Kenneth Lay (No. 76, $387,050),
the chairman of Enron. As head of the nation's largest
supplier of electricity and natural gas to
utilities, Lay is one of the top contributors to Bush -- and is often solicited for advice on major policy matters. The two men became friends when Bush was in the oil business
during the 1980s, and letters obtained by Mother Jones
reveal that Lay and other Enron executives often wrote to the Texas governor to recommend appointments to state boards
and to ask Bush to drum up out-of-state business for Enron.
In recent months, Lay played what the Bush campaign
called a "key role" in shaping the twin tenets of the
president's energy policy: emphasizing deregulation and
drilling over protection of the environment.
Enron has good reason to invest in a president who favors
deregulation. Bush has vowed to loosen federal oversight of
the industry, a move that would allow the Houston-based
energy giant to sell its product directly to residential
customers. But letting markets control the flow of power
could be bad news for consumers, if the energy crisis in
California is any indication. According to state officials,
Enron responded to the emergency by threatening that it
might withhold power unless the state approved hefty rate
increases. "Enron is sticking a gun to our heads," state
Senator Debra Bowen told the Sacramento Bee.
Like the rest of the energy industry, Enron doesn't need to
resort to such tactics with President Bush. The industry
threw its financial weight behind Bush and Cheney more
than any other sector, supporting the former oil executives
by a margin of 9-to-1. "There is no question that because of
their backgrounds, Bush and Cheney understand the
industry better than the other folks," says Jerry Jordan,
chairman of the Independent Petroleum Association of
America. "That's why the money has primarily gone to them."
Bush hasn't disappointed his friends. His commitment to
ease environmental protections could aid major contributors
like David Koch (No. 51, $487,500) of Koch Industries, a
Kansas-based energy company with a history of pollution
violations. The Clinton administration forced Koch to pay a
record fine of $30 million for more than 300 oil spills from
leaking pipelines. And last fall, the company and four
employees were indicted on 97 counts of violating federal
clean air and hazardous waste laws. If convicted, the
company could be fined $352 million.
Industry officials say Bush's calls
for more drilling in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge and
other public lands also
encouraged the flow of oil and
gas money into his campaign.
"We would like to do our job,"
says Jordan. "It is very difficult for us to do our job when we can't drill."
More drilling could benefit donors like Forrest Hoglund, a
former chairman of an Enron subsidiary who now heads a
pipeline firm called Arctic Resources. Hoglund, who gave
$137,320 to the GOP, has felt free to call on Bush for favors in the past. In a 1998 letter obtained by Mother Jones, Hoglund wrote the governor to complain about an
assessment by the Texas comptroller that increased
Enron's taxes by $415,233. "We need to have this handled
before there is a big industry backlash," Hoglund warned in a handwritten cover note. "Sorry to bother you with it. Forrest."
Other Bush donors who could profit from more oil and gas
drilling include Richard Kinder (No. 152, $284,500), former
president of Enron and now CEO of Kinder Morgan, which
operates tens of thousands of miles of pipelines, and
Christine Toretti (No. 228, $239,850), the chief executive of SW Jack Drilling. "I am putting all my eggs in one basket," Toretti explained to the Los Angeles Times during the campaign. Clinton and Gore, she noted, did not support
opening up the Arctic refuge or the North Carolina coast to
drilling. "If you haven't done it by now," she added, "the heck with you."
Mother Jones Magazine March 5, 2001 |
