Give it Back, George:
The Lay Loot that Bought the White House
By Greg Palast
gregpalast.com
Thursday 08 July 2004
When the feds swoop down and cuff racketeers, they also load the vans with all the perp's ill-gotten gains: stacks of cash, BMWs, whatever. Their associates have to cough up the goodies too: lady friends must give up their diamond rocks.
Under the racketeering law, RICO, even before a verdict, anything bought with the proceeds of the crime goes into the public treasury.
But there seems to be special treatment afforded those who loaded up on the 'bennies' of Ken Lay's crimes. If the G-men don't know where the tainted loot is cached, try this address: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Ask for George or Dick.
Ken Lay and his Enron team are the Number One political career donors to George W. Bush. Mr. Lay and his Mrs., with no money to pay back bilked creditors, still managed to personally put up $100,000 for George's inaugural Ball plus $793,110 for personal donations to Republicans. Lay's Enron team dropped $4.2 million into the party that let Enron party.
OK now, Mr. President, give it back - the millions stuffed in the pockets of the Republican campaign kitty stolen from his Enron retirees.
And what else did Ken Lay buy with the money stolen from California electricity customers? Answer: the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Just before George Bush moved to Washington, Kenny-Boy handed his hand-picked president-to-be the name of the man Ken wanted as Chairman of the commission charged with investigating Enron's thievery. In a heartbeat, George Bush appointed Ken's boy, Pat Wood.
Think about that: the criminal gets to pick the police chief. Well, George, give it back. Dump Wood and end the "de-criminalization" of electricity price-gouging that you and Cheney and Wood laughably call "de-regulation." Give us back the government Lay bought with crime cash.
And while we're gathering up the ill-gotten loot, let's stop by Brother Jeb's. The Governor of Florida picked up a cool $2 million from a Houston fundraiser at the home of Enron's former president long AFTER the company went bankrupt. Enron, not incidentally, obtained half a billion of Florida state pension money - which has now disappeared down the Enron rat-hole.
And Mr. Vice-President, don't you also have something to give back? In secret meetings with Dick Cheney in the Veep's bunker prior to the inauguration and after, you let Ken and his cohorts secretly draft the nation's energy plan - taking a short break to eye oil field maps of Iraq. Let us remember that the President's sticky-fingered brothers Neil and Marvin were on Enron's payroll, hired to sell pipelines to the Saudis. The Saudis didn't bite, but maybe a captive Iraq would be more pliant.
So, Mr. Law and Order President, please follow the law and give up the Energy Plan that Mr. Lay bought with other people's money.
When I worked as a racketeering investigator for government, nothing was spared, including houses bought with purloined loot. Let there be no exception here. It's time to tape up the White House gate and hang the sign: "Crime Scene: Property to be Confiscated. Vacate Premises Immediately."
Greg Palast is an internationally recognized expert on electricity deregulation and power company racketeering. Co-author of the United Nations guide to power industry regulation, Palast's investigation of Enron won Britain's prize for top business story of the year in 1998 (with Antony Barnett of the Observer). Palast investigated Enron's influence on the Bush Administration for BBC Television's newsnight and his expose of Ken Lay's manipulation of the California power markets and litigation won a 2004 Project Censored Award from California State University at Sonoma's Journalism School. Palast's book, the New York Times bestseller, "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy," includes a summary of his investigations on Enron: "California Reamin': the real story of deregulation and the power pirates."
Go to Original
Bush Ties to Enron, Big Business Back in Spotlight
By Adam Entous
Reuters
Thursday 08 July 2004
Washington - The indictment of President Bush's one-time friend and financial backer Kenneth Lay put the spotlight back on Bush's ties to big corporate donors as he heads into the final months of the U.S. presidential campaign.
Democrats seized on the indictment of the man nicknamed "Kenny Boy" by Bush to attack the president's personal and financial ties to Enron, including suggesting the criminal action had been delayed.
But political analysts said on Thursday that while it was an embarrassment for Bush, the indictment of the former Enron chairman was unlikely to impact the campaign in any meaningful way.
The White House rejected renewed demands from Democrats that it disclose what role Lay might have played behind-the-scenes in shaping the administration's energy policies.
And spokesman Scott McClellan sought to play down Bush's personal relationship with Lay - a relationship Lay's wife described as "very good" in January 2002.
McClellan said Bush has had no contact with Lay for "quite some time."
"He was a supporter in the past," McClellan said, noting Lay supported both Republicans and Democrats. Lay, however, said in October 2000 that Enron gave more money to Republicans because they were generally more supportive of the once high-flying energy trading giant's agenda.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, without mentioning Lay by name, portrayed Bush as a patron of "a few at the top."
Enron, before it spiraled into a then-record bankruptcy in 2001, was Bush's biggest political backer heading into the 2000 presidential election and has made about $623,000 in contributions to his campaigns since 1993, when he was raising money for his first Texas gubernatorial race.
No indictment for more than 2 years
Jano Cabrera, spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, said "this string of facts begs the simple question - did Ken Lay's relationship with George W. Bush cause the lengthy delay in Lay's indictment?"
Presidential historian Doug Brinkley said Lay's indictment would appear to help the Democrats more than it does the Republicans.
"There is a feeling in the country that the Bush administration is running the White House like a corporation and all his buddies are getting rich," said Brinkley.
But Bruce Buchanan, a political scientist at the University of Texas and a longtime Bush-watcher, said Republicans could point to Lay being led away in handcuffs to blunt charges that Bush was soft on corporate crime.
"Trials are long and boring and people, and the press, lose interest," said Andrew Taylor of North Carolina State University. "People have already made up their minds about Ken Lay and his relationship with George Bush."
Though McClellan disputed suggestions Lay was particularly close to Bush or had any influence over the administration's energy policies, critics say internal White House documents suggest otherwise.
Vice President Dick Cheney intervened with Indian officials as part of an effort to salvage a troubled Enron power project in India.
And Eduardo Aguirre, who once ran Bush's Export-Import Bank, offered assistance as Enron's troubles mounted.
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