We need to investigate Enron ties to government
"The White House has further disclosed that President
Bush learned of Enron's impending collapse "last fall," in
the words of White House spokesman Ari Fleischer -- yet
Bush, who now says through spokesmen that he wants to
make sure that this "doesn't happen again" to the pension
accounts of innocent victims, did nothing to see that it
didn't happen the first time."
Dan Brown
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Jan 12 2002
Enron executives have disclosed that they met with the
Bush administration just one day before the
administration determined not to assist California in its
Enron-created energy crisis, by not imposing price caps
and allowing Enron to further gouge Californian energy
consumers, potentially bankrupting California energy
providers and endangering the stability of the government
of California.
The White House has disclosed that Enron executives met
with at least two Cabinet-level Bush administration.officials
prior to the Enron collapse and discussed the.precarious. Enron financial situation.
These Bush administration officials have a fiduciary duty to oversee U.S. pension
accounts, yet those officials determined to "do nothing."
The White House has further disclosed that President
Bush learned of Enron's impending collapse "last fall," in
the words of White House spokesman Ari Fleischer -- yet
Bush, who now says through spokesmen that he wants to
make sure that this "doesn't happen again" to the pension
accounts of innocent victims, did nothing to see that it
didn't happen the first time.
We already know that more than 29 Bush administration
officials are former Enron executives or shareholders. We
know that Ken Lay and Enron bankrolled Bush's
gubernatorial and presidential campaigns. We know too
that Enron was the second largest contributor to John
Ashcroft's Senate campaign as well; more than $61,000
came from Enron and Lay.
Further, we now know that Deputy Attorney General Larry
Thompson, to whom the investigation has fallen upon
Attorney General Ashcroft's recusal, also has ties to Enron,
which makes it impossible for Thompson to lead an
investigation of this magnitude. Thompson worked for the
law firm of King and Spalding from 1977 to 1982, served as
a U.S. Attorney under the Reagan administration, and
returned to King and Spalding as a partner in 1986. He
stayed at the firm until his appointment as deputy
attorney general in 2001.
King and Spalding has represented subsidiaries of Enron,
including Enron Global LNG, Enron Global Markets and
Enron Energy Services. As a former law partner, Larry
Thompson profited from the firm's work for Enron. Even if
he did not work directly on Enron matters -- information
that is not publicly available -- Thompson cannot avoid the
"appearance of impropriety," which is fatal for such an
important investigation.
The Enron story is more important than whether Afghan
prisoners were drugged on the way to Cuba. It's more
important than Donald Rumsfeld's failure to secure the
capture of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan -- or whether
Yasser Arafat has control over Hamas.
The Enron story is about the spectacular failure of the
deregulation nightmare unleashed on us by President
Ronald Reagan and resurrected by George W. Bush. Enron
was a product of deregulated Texas under then-Gov. Bush.
The Enron story is about control of the government of the
United States by the highest bidder. Ken Lay and Enron
built Bush.
With unlimited access, Lay and Enron engineered the exit
of an unfavorable Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
chair and appointment of a sympathetic "watchdog" over
his own industry. With unlimited access, Lay and Enron
kept the U.S. government from doing what it was supposed
to do to assist California in its energy crisis, caused,
ironically, by Enron. With unlimited access, Lay and Enron
kept the government of the United States from protecting
the pension accounts of tens of thousands of Enron
employees, while highly paid executives made off with
billions of dollars.
Bush is often said to run the government like a "business."
Unfortunately, to see the model upon which that business
is based, we need only look as far as Enron.
Enron sacrificed the best interests of all the energy
consumers in California to corporate greed. It leveraged
deregulation to thrive as an unneeded middleman in the
energy trade. It tossed out tens of thousands of employees,
broke, while its executives made billions of dollars.
And it kept its puppet government of Bush apprised every
step of the way.
Every time Bush had to decide whether to act in the best
interests of the nation or the best interests of Enron, Bush
chose Enron. Every time Bush faced a decision to act on or
report information given to him by Enron that affected the
public trust he has undertaken, Bush chose to keep quiet.
Bush and his administration have been complicit in every
action that Enron has taken to thrive at the expense of the
United States of America.
It's time to appoint a special prosecutor and hold Bush
accountable.
It's what the shareholders would want.
Dan Brown, St. Paul. Data analyst.
startribune.com |
