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Non-Tech : The ENRON Scandal -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (1625)	1/30/2002 12:06:11 AM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 5185

Illuminating the Cheney Task Force "Almost 60 percent of Americans, according to a recent New York Times/CBS News Poll, believe the Bush administration is hiding something about Enron. As the public ponders what deals the administration and Enron may have been making in the shadows, it is more important than ever to let the sun shine in. The New York Times Editorial January 29, 2002 Sunshine, the Watergate-era rallying cry proclaimed, is the best disinfectant. It is a credo that, 30 years later, is more relevant than ever as the White House and Congress battle over whether records from Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force should be made public. The documents being sought by the General Accounting Office, an investigative arm of Congress, would shed light on the role Enron played in the development of the Bush administration's energy policies. The White House insists Enron had no untoward influence, but Mr. Cheney has admitted that he or his aides sat down some half-dozen times with officials from Enron, a generous donor to the Bush presidential campaign and other Republican causes. The Bush energy plan does many things Enron might have asked for, including easing environmental rules, providing tax cuts to energy companies and opening nature preserves to drilling. The White House insists that release of the documents would have a chilling effect on the willingness of corporations and private citizens to provide it with the unvarnished truth about matters of public policy. It is highly unlikely, however, that the sort of special interest groups that appear before these task forces are such shrinking violets that they would suddenly refuse to lobby the White House if their identities were revealed. No more convincing is the White House's claim that the G.A.O.'s request is a "partisan fishing expedition." David Walker, the G.A.O. head, was a member of the Reagan and the first Bush administrations. His calls for release of the documents have won the support of some loyal Republicans, including Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee. All Republicans should recognize that this dispute is the mirror image of the 1993 battle over Hillary Clinton's insistence that records from her White House health care task force be kept secret. Republicans protested that secrecy, and the Clinton administration backed down. Openness was the right answer then, and it's the right answer now. The G.A.O. is prepared to argue in court that the administration's secrecy runs afoul of Congressional investigative prerogatives and of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, a 1972 law enacted to bring greater openness to federal government deliberations. Almost 60 percent of Americans, according to a recent New York Times/CBS News Poll, believe the Bush administration is hiding something about Enron. As the public ponders what deals the administration and Enron may have been making in the shadows, it is more important than ever to let the sun shine in. nytimes.com

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (1625)	1/30/2002 1:48:55 AM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 5185

Ray, don't miss Dubya's Dream Message 16981616

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (1625)	1/30/2002 1:52:34 AM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 5185

Senate Panel Probes Enron's Energy Market Impact The New York Times January 29, 2002 By REUTERS Filed at 10:40 a.m. ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After launching a massive investigation into Enron Corp.' accounting practices, lawmakers on Tuesday took their first crack at probing the effect of the firm's collapse on energy markets. The chairmen of both the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission told a Senate panel looking into Enron that its downfall does not mean new federal regulation is needed for energy markets. ``It is not clear that giving the (FERC) commission additional authority within its current scope would prevent further Enron-like problems,'' FERC chairman Pat Wood said in written testimony to the Senate's Energy Committee. The committee hearing will consider the effect of Enron's bankruptcy on U.S. power markets and ongoing legislation to restructure the nation's $220 billion wholesale electricity market. Wood, who has repeatedly emphasized the Enron collapse had little or no impact on wholesale prices or supplies, said FERC has found no ``substantial spillover effects'' into the energy markets after the company's rapid implosion. ``In the aftermath of Enron's collapse, prices and energy markets remained stable ... neither electric nor gas deliveries have been disrupted,'' he said. On Monday, Wood told reporter Enron appeared to be an accounting issue. CFTC chairman James Newsome said Enron did not try to engage in market manipulation at any futures exchange. ``At this time we have no indication that manipulation of any on-exchange futures market was attempted by Enron,'' Newsome said in prepared remarks to the committee. ENERGY BILL'S DIM PROSPECTS If enacted, planned legislation would allow utilities and the new breed of energy companies that Enron once epitomized to tap a larger market for power, while offering U.S. consumers greater choice and possibly lower electricity bills. The problem: Enron's poster child-turned-pariah status has sullied the prospects of further deregulation. In the House, Democrats last month said the Republican-written deregulation bill should be shelved until the ramifications of Enron are clear. Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, speaking at a House Energy subcommittee hearing on Dec. 12, said Enron's fingerprints are all over the legislation under discussion. Now Senate legislation sponsored by New Mexico Democrat Jeff Bingaman, chairman of the Energy Committee, is in danger of being tarred by the same brush. ``They're going to kill the energy bill with Enron, and everybody will go along,'' said Christine Uspenski, an electricity policy analyst with Schwab Capital Markets in Washington. Faced with a truncated legislative session and a plethora of Enron inquests, prospects are grim for comprehensive electricity restructuring to see a full vote, she said. ``It's going to collapse under its own weight in a session that's been delayed by the fact that we all have to do all this due diligence on Enron,'' Uspenski said. ``Congress can't afford not to look vigilant.'' At least eight other congressional bodies are delving into financial and accounting aspects of Enron's debacle, including the possible role of its main auditor, Andersen. The Senate Energy Committee's jurisdiction is limited to the Enron bankruptcy's effect on energy markets and consumers. The committee wants to know whether federal regulators have adequate statutory authority to investigate and head off future debacles. Democratic committee member Dianne Feinstein was expected to ask about Enron's possible role in causing last winter's power shortages in her home state of California, according to a statement issued late on Monday. Feinstein also asked Bingaman to schedule a separate committee hearing on ``what role Enron had in the California energy crisis with respect to market manipulation and price gouging,'' according to a letter the senator sent on Monday. nytimes.com