GW's Enron buddies were real sweethearts. Learned their ethics from your buddy Tom DeLay:
Transcript excerpts
Conversations among Enron energy traders in Portland were released in connection with a lawsuit there.
On demands for refunds and the disputed presidential election:
KEVIN: So the rumor's true? They're [expletive] takin' all the money back from you guys? All those money you guys stole from those poor grandmothers in California?
BOB: Yeah, Grandma Millie, man. But she's the one who couldn't figure out how to [expletive] vote on the butterfly ballot.
On wildfires harming electricity supply:
PERSON 2: The magical word of the day is ''Burn, Baby, Burn''
PERSON 1: What's happening?
PERSON 2: There's a fire under the core line it's been de-rated from 45 to 2,100.
TOGETHER: Burn, baby, burn.
PERSON 1: That's a beautiful saying.
On profit-taking from California:
TIM: He steals money from California to the tune of about a million -- - -
PERSON 2: Will you rephrase that?
TIM: O.K., he, um, he arbitrages the California market to the tune of a million bucks or two a day.
On their hopes that George W. Bush would be elected president.
MATT: Tell you what -- you heard this here first: When Bush wins -- --
TOM: Caps are gone.
MATT: That [expletive] (energy secretary) Bill Richardson, he's [expletive] gone. ...
TOM: Yeah.
MATT: Ken Lay's going to be secretary of energy..
Source: Snohomish County (Wash.) Public Utility District
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Major Enron indictments
Jeffrey Skilling,
former chief executive officer
Skilling was charged in February with nearly three dozen counts of fraud, conspiracy and insider trading. Prosecutors froze more than $66 million in assets..
Andrew Fastow,
former chief financial officer
Fastow pleaded guilty Jan. 14 to conspiracy in a deal that called for a 10-year sentence and his help in the continuing investigation..
Richard Causey,
former chief accounting officer
Causey was charged in January with securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud..
Lea Fastow, wife of Andrew Fastow and a former assistant treasurer of Enron
Fastow pleaded guilty
May 6 to filing a false income tax return.
She received a 12-month prison sentence after admitting
guilt to the
misdemeanor tax charge.
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'You getting rich?'
Transcripts of conversations among Enron Corp. energy traders in Portland have been released by the Snohomish County Public Utility District in Washington state as part of its defense against a $122 million lawsuit by the energy trading company against the utility for canceling a power contract. The utility also has filed the transcripts of these taped conversations with federal energy regulators as it seeks to gain refunds for money Enron charged to provide power during the 2000-2001 energy crisis in California and the Northwest.
The first conversation below, between two traders, was released Monday. The other conversations were released last week.
MALLORY: And mostly it's just like, if the line's not congested --
PERSON 1: Mm-hm.
MALLORY: -- then I just look if I can congest it, 'cause then it's worth -- the -- 'cause those are going to be your shoulder hours anyways, and that's when replacement is super cheap, right?
PERSON 1: Right, right.
-- -- --
MALLORY: So, like those hours, if you can congest it, that's a moneymaker no matter what, 'cause you're not losin' any money to move it down that line.
PERSON 1: Right, right.
On Nov. 30, 2000, two traders, identified as Kevin and Bob, discuss demands by California officials that electricity generating companies and traders pay refunds for price gouging. They also refer to the disputed 2000 presidential election.
KEVIN: So the rumor's true? They're [expletive] takin' all the money back from you guys? All the money you guys stole from those poor grandmothers in California?
BOB: Yeah, Grandma Millie, man. But she's the one who couldn't figure out how to [expletive] vote on the butterfly ballot.
KEVIN: Yeah, now she wants her [expletive] money back for all the power you've charged for [expletive] $250 a megawatt hour.
BOB: You know -- you know -- you know, Grandma Millie, she's the one that Al Gore's fightin' for, you know?
-- -- --
On Aug. 5, 2000, two unidentified traders discuss how a wildfire in California has reduced the ability of a transmission line to carry electricity, boosting the value of power and the profits on their electricity trades.
PERSON 2: The magical word of the day is ''Burn, Baby, Burn'' --
PERSON 1: What's happening?
PERSON 2: There's a fire under the core line. It's been de-rated from 45 to 2,100.
PERSON 1: Really?
PERSON 2: Yup.
TOGETHER: Burn, baby, burn.
PERSON 1: That's a beautiful saying.
-- -- --
In an Aug. 8, 2000, conversation, the head of Enron's West Coast trading desk, Tim Belden, describes to an unidentified person how much one of his colleagues, Jeffrey Richter, was personally taking from California.
TIM: He steals money from California to the tune of about a million --
PERSON 2: Will you rephrase that?
TIM: OK, he, um, he arbitrages the California market to the tune of a million bucks or two a day.
-- -- --
Two traders, Matt and Tom, discuss on Aug. 3, 2000, the subject of California's attempt to cap the price of power sold in the state.
TOM: You getting rich?
MATT: Tryin' to. I just, you know, you know what [expletive] me off so bad about -- the [expletive] caps?
TOM: You ca -- it limits your profit.
MATT: Yeah. Completely [expletive] you.
-- -- --
In the same conversation, Matt and Tom discuss their hope that then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush will win the 2000 presidential election because he opposes price caps.
MATT: When this election comes, Bush'll [expletive] whack that [expletive], man. He won't [expletive] play this price cap. ... I bet they impose a national price cap at a thousand dollars.
-- -- --
Matt and Tom also describe their dislike of President Bill Clinton's energy secretary, Bill Richardson, as well as rumors that Enron's chairman and chief executive officer, Kenneth Lay, will be Bush's pick for the same job.
MATT: Tell you what -- you heard this here first: When Bush wins --
TOM: Caps are gone.
MATT: That [expletive] Bill Richardson, he's [expletive] gone. ...
TOM: Yeah.
MATT: And who's the biggest, ah, single contributor to the Bush campaigners?
TOM: You.
MATT: Enron.
TOM: Enron. What?
MATT: Enron.
TOM: Is it Enron?
MATT: Yeah.
TOM: The biggest single contributor.
MATT: Yeah, the biggest corporate contributor to the --
TOM: Holy -- really? That's huge.
MATT: And No. 1.
TOM: That's huge.
MATT: Ken Lay's going to be secretary of energy..
Source: Snohomish County Public Utility District
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