Bruce Campbell Adamson PO Box 1003 Aptos, CA 95001-1003

The following is important for Frank G. Wisner, Sr. worked with George de Mohrenschildt's father-in-law in between 1950-53. Allen Dulles also assisted Frank G. Wisner Sr. and wrote a letter on his behalf to become a member of the New York City Century Club.

On 28 October 1997, Enron Corporation announced the entry of Frank G. Wisner
Jr. onto its board of directors. Most of the business press did not find
this untoward and it certainly did not emerge as part of the US discussions
on corruption at the highest level. Frank Wisner, as we know in India, was
the US Ambassador from 1994 until this year and his entry into Enron must be
seen in light of the scandal of Dabhol. Enron, like most US corporations,
uses its close association with the state (both its elected and bureaucratic
arms) for its own ends. US campaigns are financed by corporations whose
money not only enables politicians to win elections, but it also buys
businesses the state's power both for domestic subsidies and for the use of
US power in the international arena.

Frank Wisner, Jr. was a big catch for Enron Corporation. His lineage is
impeccable, since his father, Frank Wisner Sr., was a senior CIA official
(from 1947 until his suicide in 1965) who was involved in the overthrow of
Arbenz of Guatemala (1954) and Mossadeq of Iran (1953). Wisner Junior was
well-known in the CIA and he worked as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
and Under Secretary of State for International Security Affairs; his current
boss, Kenneth Lay, Chief Executive Officer of Enron Corporation, also worked
for the Pentagon during the US war in Vietnam. With "economic espionage" as
a task for the CIA (see PD, 12 October 1997), there is little doubt that
Wisner used this instrument during his long-tenure as Ambassador in Asian
nations. A Wisner staffer told InterPress Services this year that "if
anybody asked the CIA to help promote US business in India, it was probably
Frank".

When Wisner was US Ambassador to the Philippines (1991-92), Enron was in the
midst of negotiations to manage the two Subic Bay power plants. When Wisner
left Manila in July 1992, Enron won the deal and began to manage the plant
in January 1993. During Wisner tenure in India, he fought long and hard to
secure various deals for Enron. He went so far as to boycott the "India
Power '96 -- Beyond Dabhol" summit, despite being scheduled to give an
address (this was part of a US advisory to companies to avoid India for
six-months, a pressure tactic on India during the winter of 1995-96). Wisner
left India earlier this year only after it seemed like Enron's place was
secure.

Enron, like most monopoly corporations in the US, uses money as a means to
buy influence and power. To gain access to a lucrative contract to rebuild
the Shuaiba power plant in Kuwait, Enron hired former US Secretary of State
James Baker as a consultant who travelled to the oil kingdom to negotiate
with his Gulf War allies for his new employer. The sons of George Bush also
helped Enron win this contract despite a lower bid from Deutsche Babcock, a
German firm. The Bush brothers also helped Enron in their deal to win a
contract to build a pipeline from Chile to Argentina in 1988. Finally, Wendy
Gramm (wife of Senator Phil Gramm) joined Enron's Board of Directors in 1993
after she resigned from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. This
Commission, just days after Gramm's resignation, deregulated energy futures,
thereby allowing Enron to earn 10% of its profits by adventures on the
financial markets. Beside all this evidence, it appears hypocritical for
Rebecca Mark, Chairperson of Enron Development Corporation, to declare that
"Enron's reputation is being attacked, and we do not do business under the
table".

The story does not end there. In 1991-92, Enron donated $28,525 to the
Democratic Party and in 1993-94, it gave $42,000. These monies enabled Enron
to send its executives on international tours with the late Secretary of
Commerce Ron Brown in January 1995 (when Kenneth Lay came to India) and in
March-April 1994 (when Chief Executive Officer of Enron International,
Rodney Gray came to Russia). In the former, Enron was in negotiation for the
Dabhol plant among other things (such as the $1.1 billion offshore holdings)
and in the latter, Enron was interested in the marketing of Russian gas in
Europe. President Clinton noted that Brown's trips resulted in "expanded
opportunities for American business in [the USA] and abroad". The "pay to
play" project of US "democracy" is once again in evidence. The example of
Enron and Wisner proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the US state is not a
neutral actor in world affairs and that US transnational corporations are
part and parcel of the corruption within the US Empire. The hearings in
Washington on "campaign finance reform" do not bother with this level of
corruption, for most of those who are running the investigation are beholden
to business interests. Enron, for instance, will not be a part of the
investigation, since it is deemed to be a patriotic US entity out to create
jobs for US workers and to accumulate wealth to defer the costs of the US's
mercenary army.

Vijay Prashad is Assistant Professor of International Studies at Trinity
College in Hartford, Connecticut.
Source: People's Democracy, 16 November 1997

URL: http://www.governor.ca.gov/govsite/pdf/issues/Energy_chronology_5-4-01_update.pdf

Profits soar in energy 'crisis'

Ron Brokmeyer wrote the following in part:
"The shutdowns lured California Governor Grey Davis into buying energy at outrageous prices.

"Duke Energy is especially hated because it set a record by charging the State of California an astronomical $3,880 per megawatt hour on the spot energy market. The spot energy market is a buy-it-as-you-need-it method and became the source for power for California utilities when they sold off their within-state power plants in order to deregulate....Texas-centered power cartel of giants like Enron, Reliant and Dyenergy bled California dry. Their profits last year, even before this year's gouging, went up 42%, 55% and 210%, respectively.

"Since January California went from sporting a $6 billion projected surplus to financial ruin. It is now brokering with skeptical bond underwriters, trying to float a $13.4 billion bond issue. This loan is to be repaid through unprecedented energy price hikes. That burden of a more than 40% hike went into effect in June and falls on mostly residential customers. This is on top of a 9% increase in January. The energy cartel has stolen the surplus that was to go to improve long neglected essential services, especially public education in a state that now ranks 40th in spending per pupil.

"At the same time California's two largest utilities, the bankrupt PG&E and Southern California Edison, were allowed by FERC to shield billions of dollars in profitable assets, which have been transferred to their parent companies. They left the local utilities saddled with $14 billion in debt. Declaring emergency powers, Governor Davis set up a power authority and used the state's treasury to buy $50 to $75 million in power every day since January, at prices from 10 to even 60 times last year's wholesale electricity rates. Davis has also been trying to secretly negotiate long term contracts and bailouts of California's utilities by having the state buy their transmission lines.

"The same Texas energy players that were bleeding California's treasury dry pumped unprecedented money into the Bush campaign. Enron CEO Kenneth Lay contributed a half million dollars alone. Bush's illegitimate presidency was financed outside any spending limits by using nearly unlimited funds from his energy pals.

"Once in power Vice President Cheney openly relied on Lay to formulate energy policy in secret meetings and allowed Lay to hand-pick federal regulators. With former energy CEO's Bush and Cheney in the White House, there is a virtual interlocking directorate for energy policy between the executive branch of government and the current Texas energy CEOs....

"Bush-Cheney and their fellow energy lords kept saying price controls would only make matters worse and that there were no short term solutions to California's problems. They returned us both to the retrogressive ideology of the 19th century as well as to its pollution when capital went unchecked in its rape of the environment through drilling and burning. Bush relaxed pollution constraints on power plants. Bush even told the world to go to hell when he broke a campaign promise and rejected the ever so mild globally negotiated restraints on green house gasses to reduce global warming.

"Capitalists let the energy companies get away with as much as they did because all capitalists are united in reinforcing the dominance of capital against workers. That means doing everything to promote their permanent restructuring in a global economy. All the different layers of capital and government had to do something when energy companies were spoiling the party and the ideology that drives deregulation began to be seriously questioned. As Senator Lieberman, who started hearings in the new Democratic controlled Senate put it, "If the federal government doesn't step in and provide temporary price relief, the natural trend toward deregulation will come to a halt."

"Now the brokering between regulatory agencies, the courts, and the state may go on for years while workers pay the bill. With the California-centered energy crisis we get a glimpse how players in industry, the government, the world of e-commerce and finance capital reinforce a propensity for 21st century capitalism to self-destruct on the backs of workers who produce everything. That can only be turned around when humans as workers freely create their own social relations and take responsibility for humanity's metabolism with nature.

"Enron's Collapse Has Experts Questioning Future of Electric Deregulation The collapse of energy company Enron has several experts questioning its impacts on the future of electric deregulation. Analysts say that the company's public championing of electric deregulation in Florida and its current financial situation might signal caution to state regulators. "Enron was the most visible and ardent cheerleader of deregulation, and I think what's happened to them is going to raise all these questions about deregulation," says Jim Owen, spokesman for the Edison Electric Institute. Another view comes from Steven Weiss of the Center of Responsive Politics in Washington, who says that politicians may step away from deregulation because they view Enron "like a rotten egg." Other insiders believe that Enron's situation may be another reason that Florida's Governor Jeb Bush has postponed any movement toward deregulation until after his 2002 re-election campaign. Jon Cartwright, a senior energy analyst with Raymond James & Associates, says that it will be difficult for deregulation plans to be completely halted but Enron is going to give regulators something to think about in addition to California's problems with deregulation.

http://www.differentvoices.com/article1037.html

Bush Crew and Enron: Conflict Of Interest, and Reality

The involvement of Houston scion Baker with the energy pirates is but one of a plethora of incestuous connections between the Bush family, the Bush Administration, and the energy cartel. Enron, a company close to both the Bush hearts and the Bush pocketbooks (is there a difference?), has served as a virtual home away from home for members of the previous and current Bush administrations. When the one-term President George|I went down to a well-deserved defeat, several top-level officials went to work for Enron, either as officers or consultants--including Reliant's Baker--and George himself collected numerous, lucrative speaking fees from the company. Enron has also provided employment for a number of officials in the Bush II Administration, in addition to being the single largest financial contributor to the political career of President"Duh-bya.'' The relationship between Enron and the Bushes has been long, and profitable. As Vice President under Ronald Reagan, George Bush (George|I) headed a task force which pushed deregulation in both finance and energy, including advocating the repeal of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA), the law passed by Franklin Roosevelt to bust up the Morgan electricity cartel. While the PUHCA is still on the books, it has been substantially outflanked, in much the same way that the banks ignored Glass-Steagall--the FDR law which broke up the House of Morgan into J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley--prior to the repeal of that act in November 1999.

Enron repaid the favor in February 1993, when it announced that two former George|I Cabinet members, Secretary of State Baker and Secretary of Commerce Robert Mosbacher, had agreed to help the company to secure natural gas projects overseas. Both Baker and Mosbacher had previously been directors (and Baker's family among the founders) of Houston's elite Texas Commerce Bancshares, where Enron chairman Ken Lay was also a director.

Their international business experience and knowledge of governments around the world, as well as their great understanding of the energy business, will greatly enhance Enron's goal of becoming the world's first natural gas major,'' Enron's Lay said in announcing what the company described as a joint consulting and investing agreement with Baker and Mosbacher.

Footnote Richard Nixon referred to Bush Sr. and Robert Mosbacher as having been involved in the "Bay of Pigs Thing" which was supposed to be code for President Kennedy's assassination.

If the connections between Enron and the administration of George|I were tight, the connections between Enron and the "Duh-bya'' Administration are so close that it is difficult to tell where one begins and the other ends. The Bush Administration's two nominees to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) were approved in advance by Enron; the pair, former Texas Public Utilities Commissioner Pat Wood III, and former Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commissioner Nora Mead Brownell, are both close to Enron. Wood, a former Baker & Botts attorney, was appointed to his Texas position by then-Gov. George W. Bush, while Brownell (who some prognosticators have dubbed "Nora Mead Brownout'') helped Enron move into Pennsylvania. Needless to say, both Texas and Pennsylvania are deregulated states. Wood has been slated by the Bush Administration to become the next chairman of FERC, replacing current chairman Curt Hebert.
Hebert, a deregulation zealot and protégé of Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), told the {New York Times} that a few weeks after Bush had appointed him as FERC chairman, he received a call from Enron's Lay, offering to support his chairmanship, if Hebert would support Enron's campaign to further deregulate and force states and utilities to open up their electricity transmission lines to Enron and its fellow marketers.
Ultimately, Enron swung its weight behind Wood, to replace Hebert. (Behind the Wood-Hebert fight, according to rumor, is a battle between Enron and Southern Co. over coal. Enron wants stricter environmental regulations on coal, to boost its business selling coal-pollution credits, while Southern, a big supporter of Lott, wants looser coal regulations, to boost its generating profits. Southern, through its Southern Energy/Mirant spin-off, is also a major player in the non-utility electricity market.) Even without Wood and Brownell, FERC has proven to be a disaster. Part of its mandate, from FDR's PUHCA, is to enforce "just and reasonable rates'' for electricity, but FERC has been hard-pressed to find, much less correct, any price gouging in California. After all, as Enron President Jeffrey Skilling likes to ask, who's to say what "just and reasonable'' means? Skilling asked that very question on the June 5 edition of PBS's "Frontline,'' and then answered it by claiming that under the old regulatory system rates were way too high, and that under deregulation, rates would fall. Even more impressive, he said it with a straight face.

Enron also had significant input into the administration's national energy plan, including personal meetings between Lay and White House energy task force head Vice President Dick Cheney. Lay and Cheney are old acquaintances. While Cheney was CEO of Halliburton, his Houston-based Brown & Root subsidiary built Enron's new baseball park in Houston, modestly named Enron Field. Numerous other administration officials have either worked for Enron or have owned Enron stock. Secretary of the Army Thomas E. White, a retired brigadier general, was the vice chairman of Enron Energy Services, while economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey had a $50,000-a-year consulting job with the firm. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick served on Enron's Advisory Board. Both White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove and the Vice President's Chief of Staff Lewis "Scooter'' Libbey, owned significant amounts of Enron stock.
Enron, as we indicated previously, has been the single largest financial contributor to the political campaigns of President George W. Bush, with the company and its executives providing more than $550,000. Enron, Lay, and Skilling also gave $300,000 to the Bush-Cheney 2001 Presidential Inaugural Committee.
Other energy-related companies and their executives have also contributed heavily to Bush's political career. Brothers Sam and Charles Wyly, who run both the giant Maverick Capital hedge fund and independent energy company Green Mountain, have donated more than $220,000 to Bush's campaigns. Among the Pioneers, a designation for those who raised more than $100,000 for Dubya's Presidential bid, are the former head of Reliant Energy, Don Jordan, its current head Steve Letbetter, Edison Electric Institute head Thomas Kuhn, and, of course, Ken Lay.
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice hasn't gotten any money from Enron, as far as we know, but she did sit on the board of San Francisco-based oil giant Chevron, and owned between $250,000 and $500,000 worth of its stock, according to her financial statements. Chevron, which is in the process of buying Texaco, owns 29% of Dynegy, the Houston-based energy pirate which has made a bundle off California's misery.
Chevron is now threatening that West Coast gasoline prices will go sky-high if its California refinery does not get an exemption from power blackouts. Clay Johnson, the director of personnel at the White House, owned between $100,000 and $250,000 of stock in El Paso Corp,, the Houston-based energy company accused by the State of California of manipulating the
natural gas market to jack up prices.

Faced with the spectacular failure of deregulation in California, and its more discreet failure in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, the deregulation mafia has been working overtime to blame the population and government of California for the crisis. The California crisis, Enron's Skilling insists, occurred because the state refused to fully deregulate, by retaining caps on what the consumers could be charged. The California deregulation bill was indeed insane, but Skilling is demonstrating a well-developed sense of hypocrisy, since, according to EIR's sources, Enron had a major hand in writing the California law.

Now, Enron, Reliant, and others are pushing yet another insanity designed to separate the public from its money. They are proposing to set up auctions in which people can auction off their unused energy, similar to the way in which the aluminum industry in the Pacific Northwest has shut down aluminum production, selling the electricity they would have used in their smelters for a tidy profit. The name for this "market-based
conservation'' strategy is "negawatts.''

The most interesting thing about this idiotic proposal is the mind-set of those who propose it. They are absolutely determined to keep jacking up energy prices, using first the lure of lower prices through deregulation, and now the "negawatt'' scam, to convince people that deregulation will somehow put money in their pockets. But the only ones getting rich are the energy companies, their Wall Street and City of London controllers, and the politicians in their pockets. For the Bush Administration, it's not just a conflict of interest, it's a conflict with reality. For the nation, it's a disaster, which must be reversed immediately.

http://www.dailynews.com/socal/power/articles/0601/22/new01.asp

Gov. Gray Davis not to blame for energy crisis, Enron says

http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2001/2822_hebert.html

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) California Gov. Gray Davis isn't to blame for California's power crisis, and neither are electricity wholesalers, a Texas energy executive told a crowd at the Commonwealth Club of California, Jeffrey Skilling, CEO and president of Houston-based Enron Corp., wiped away the remnants of a pie hurled by a protester Thursday and placed the blame squarely on California's energy regulators.
The state Public Utilities Commission in the early 1990s put together a broken market by preventing utilities to pass along the full cost of power and discouraging power contracts that would have lowered dependence on buying last-minute power, Skilling said.
"Because of these rules, the power consumers of the state of California were thrown totally to the mercy of the spot market," Skilling said.
PUC president Loretta Lynch defended the regulators' actions last week, saying utilities have been free to enter into long-term contracts. Utilities countered that the PUC never made clear what contracts it would accept, which left open the
possibility they would later be overruled.
"I think consumers in California are angry and they should be," Skilling said. "Prices in California shouldn't be as high as they are."

Skilling also:
Congratulated Davis for California's "unprecedented" conservation
Denied accusations that Enron chairman Kenneth Lay personally interviewed candidates for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees interstate energy markets told the audience to expect a report that would show California municipal utilities have profited the most selling power to the state .Said price caps ordered by FERC earlier this week would likely damage the markets and would only exacerbate the problem. Acknowledged that municipal utilities in the state have managed to provide cheaper power to their customers and even
profit from the power crisis by selling off extra power despite public control
Enron has come under fire after accusations from Davis and state officials that it and other energy companies forced electricity prices skyward by holding back supply.
Enron denies such claims, and joins other power producers in arguing that the state and utilities still owe them billions in unpaid bills. Davis acknowledges that Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which has declared bankruptcy, and Southern California Edison together still owe generators such as Enron, Duke Energy, Mirant and Reliant Energy about $2.5 billion for past electricity sales.

"Our success is linked to efficient markets, not higher prices in California or anywhere else," Skilling said.

Protesters gathered outside the building wearing pig masks and carrying hand-made signs, one of which read "Greed is the only power crisis."

"It's basically Enron and the other companies raising prices," said Bernard Greening, a Santa Clara computer programmer who said he's unhappy with the record prices for electricity and natural gas.

Pete Snoek of Tiburon said he believed what Skilling had to say.

"I believe the energy situation has been politicized so badly," Snoek said, saying he was one of several in the audience to shush protesters during the meeting. "I hear the same people out there, as if it's a sin to make any money in this country."

State officials counter that wholesalers charged as much as $9 billion in illegal overcharges dating back to May 2000.

Companies have said California's claims are wildly exaggerated.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has already estimated that wholesalers owe California $124 million in overcharges for the first four months of the year. Davis and others say that's a mere drop in the bucket.

Enron has also been tied to President Bush's hands-off approach to the energy crisis. Company chairman Kenneth Lay is a friend and one of the largest campaign contributors to Bush and the GOP. Several prominent members of the Bush administration hold stock in the company.

Enron is one of several major GOP donors accused of meeting secretly with Vice President Dick Cheney as he drafted the Bush administration's energy plan.

Enron is one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas and communications companies, with $101 billion in revenues in 2000. It owns 30,000 miles of pipeline, has 20,000 employees and is active in 40 countries. During the first
quarter of this year, Enron's revenues increased 281 percent to $50.1 billion.

On the Net:
January 17, 2002
Talk about it E-mail story Print

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-000004471jan17.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dpolitics

By RONALD BROWNSTEIN, LOS ANGELES TIMES POLITICAL WRITER

WASHINGTON -- Enron Corp.'s collapse is forcing President Bush to balance his skepticism of government regulation against his desire to show his independence from the failed energy giant.

From the federal rules governing private pensions to securities law, accounting standards and even campaign finance reform, proposals are proliferating on Capitol Hill for laws and regulations to cope with the questionable practices highlighted by the company's crash.

These multiplying Enron-related reform ideas present a pointed political dilemma for Bush. He arrived in
Washington generally committed to rolling back federal regulation of business. And he has staffed many key
regulatory agencies--including the Securities and Exchange Commission--with alumni of the industries they oversee.

But now, many analysts say, the White House may face irresistible pressure to distance itself from Enron by proposing new policy initiatives that respond to the firm's alleged abuses. This pressure "is going to nudge [the administration] even further away from its basic [anti-regulatory] ideological instincts," said Donald Kettl, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin.

In the firestorm over Enron, Bush may face a political imperative similar to one that confronted President Clinton when his 1996 campaign fund-raising practices came under intense criticism. Clinton tried to transmute an ethical controversy into a policy debate by arguing that the real problem was a flawed system--not his own actions--and proposing campaign finance reform.

Bush may likewise seek to shift the debate from his administration's personal and political links with Enron toward policy reforms in areas such as securities and pension law.

"I don't think [the administration] has a legal problem [in Enron], based on what we know to date," said John Podesta, former Clinton White House chief of staff. "But they have a political problem--this is maybe the prototypical example of their connection to the wealthy, the powerful, the people who shave the rules to their own benefit. . . . And I think their cure for that will be coming up with some proposals to. . . better protect pensions in this country."

Bush has already taken a long step toward sanctioning new activism by appointing two administration task forces to review federal rules governing 401(k) pension plans and corporate disclosure requirements under the securities laws. Separately, the SEC on Wednesday confirmed a Washington Post report that it is looking at strengthening the accounting industry's self-regulatory system.

The range of issues spotlighted by Enron's failure "is going to require careful attention and deliberation, and we hope there wouldn't be overreaction," said Dan Bartlett, White House communications director. "But at its core, there are needed reforms and this administration welcomes the process."

All this talk of "needed reforms" is raising concerns among business groups that have supported the administration's deregulatory thrust.

"It would seem to make a lot of sense not to change the entire world because of one bad actor," said Bruce Josten, executive vice president for government affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "Because that's not going to be beneficial to anybody; it just makes everything more complicated and expensive."

The profusion of reform proposals follows a powerful historical pattern. For more than a century, scandals have been the incubator of reform, inspiring many of the key statutes regulating business and the way Washington itself operates.

Financial scandals before World War I led to the creation of the Federal Reserve System, Kettl noted, and widespread securities fraud in the 1920s inspired the initial federal legislation regulating the stock markets during the New Deal. Patronage scandals inspired the modern Civil Service system in the 1880s, and Watergate generated campaign finance and lobbying reforms in the 1970s.

"When you look at the growth of the enormous federal regulatory apparatus . . . at each stage, there has been some kind of problem that's grabbed public attention and. . moved Congress to act," Kettl said.

That dynamic is repeating itself with Enron. Members of Congress, especially Democrats, and outside reform groups are advancing an array of proposals to respond to the company's meltdown, including:

Pension reform: After workers were left holding retirement accounts stuffed with worthless Enron stock, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) quickly proposed legislation that would limit the amount of an employer's stock that workers could place in their 401(k) retirement plans to 20%. (No limit currently exists.) The measure also would provide workers more freedom to sell that stock if they choose.

Business groups are bracing for some changes, but many are adamantly opposed to the Boxer-Corzine plan. Employers argue the proposal could lead to reduced pension benefits at thousands of companies that now match employee retirement contributions with shares of company stock. "If you make it too difficult, or too costly, or just too much of a headache for me [to contribute to employee retirement plans], what do I do?" asks Josten rhetorically. "I say, I'm not going to do that anymore."

Bartlett says that while Bush hasn't made any final judgments, the administration believes the "most obvious" reforms demanded by Enron's failure are in the rules governing 401(k) plans. Most expect Bush to propose changes less sweeping than those sought by Boxer and Corzine.

Accounting reform: This may be the arena where the administration faces the most jarring collision between its initial instincts and the new political reality. All of Bush's three appointees to the SEC have worked for the accounting industry; his choice as chairman, Harvey L. Pitt, represented the industry as a private attorney, and has long championed deregulation.

But the failure of Enron's auditor, the Andersen accounting firm, to reveal the company's hidden losses is creating enormous pressure for intensified oversight of the accounting industry.

Some critics suggest that the SEC may have to ban accounting firms from serving as management consultants to firms they audit (the Clinton-era SEC tried to impose such a separation but was forced to retreat amid intense resistance). More sweepingly, a commission spokesperson said the SEC is considering a proposal to replace the existing industry-controlled self-regulatory structure with a new system governed by members largely from outside the accounting business.
But given Pitt's long-standing preference for limiting regulation, some accounting industry critics say the devil will be in the details of any such proposal.

Energy trading: With intense lobbying, Enron won decisions from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 1993 and Congress in 2000 that largely exempted from federal oversight its lucrative business in trading contracts to supply electricity. In effect, those decisions allowed Enron to create a multibillion-dollar online exchange in which neither the price, volume nor terms of contracts were publicly available--a stark contrast with the transparency at the major stock and commodity exchanges.

"If you look at Enron's business strategy, its sole focus was removing as much government oversight from its operations as possible," said Tyson Slocum, an energy expert at Public Citizen, a consumer group.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) is pushing legislation to require more disclosure about the terms of energy trades; House Democrats working with Slocum want to completely overturn the 1993 and 2000 decisions and place the trading back under federal regulatory oversight.

Campaign finance reform: Enron's lavish contributions to Bush and members of Congress from both parties have provided campaign reformers a powerful new symbol of excess. Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) predicts the company's collapse will soon push advocates over the top in their drive to acquire 218 signatures on a petition to force a House vote on campaign finance legislation that already passed the Senate.

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/Chin021101/chin021101.html
4-15-01

February 11. 2001-California teeters on the brink of darkness. The state is threatened with daily power blackouts. Natural gas may be cut off in
the coming weeks. With a predicted hot and dry summer approaching, state politicians are scrambling for eleventh hour remedies.

George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and the consortium of Texas power companies could not be more pleased.

The state that overwhelmingly rejected Bush and the Republicans at the polls is being brought to its knees. The Democrats of California--which include many of Bush's staunchest foes-- are being embarrassed and politically damaged.

As Governor Gray Davis struggles with bailout plans, Bush's Texas power supplier friends and campaign contributors, led by Kenneth Lay
of Enron Corporation, are raking in billions of dollars by selling power at inflated prices into the sputtering California power system. Enron
reported a record fourth quarter profit. Now, California has become its own power buyer (and is in the process of signing long-term contracts
locking in power prices at historic highs), and "fast tracking" new power plant construction. Texas suppliers will make billions more in
the years ahead.

Extorting California is even more fun than Florida election fraud. And considerably more profitable.

Bush's Partners in Crime: Follow the Money

Enron, TXU, Dyenergy, AES, Reliant and other oil-soaked Bush corporate surrogates are holding a gun to the head of California, whose
economic and political future are at stake. Governor Davis has branded the Texas power players as 'pirates and plunderers.' He was being
kind.

Two of the big Texas energy operatives, Enron's Kenneth Lay and TXU's Earl Nye, have served on the energy team of Bush's transitional
administration and were major campaign contributors. Enron contributed over $555,000--the most of any Bush corporate donor.

Lay, a former Pentagon operative, is a long time friend to the Bush crime family. Enron, which has done business throughout the
developing world with CIA assistance, was involved with the George H.W. Bush administration in a number of questionable Middle East
business deals after the Gulf War. Lay employed two of former president George H.W. Bush's closest friends and cabinet operatives,
James Baker and Robert Mosbacher, to hustle contracts after they left office.

Lay's residence is a stone's throw from Bush Jr.'s Texas ranch The two have shared many beers and Houston Astros games (at Enron Field). According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Lay and Enron president Jeffrey Skilling personally donated $100,000 to Bush. Lay
personally lobbied other top Enron executives to give at least $1,000 to Bush. The Bush campaign borrowed Enron's corporate jets eight times
in 2000.

W's cozy business alliance with Lay and the Texas energy cabal is not news. While governor, Bush pushed aggressively and successfully for
relaxation of environmental and consumer protection regulations. This in turn allowed the companies to post record profits, while polluting the
skies and water of Texas.

Lay was rumored to be Bush's first choice to be energy secretary, prior to the appointment of Spencer Abraham. Many believe Lay serves in
this capacity today, from behind the scenes. Although Lay has denied a quid pro quo relationship with the new administration, his denials are
as believable as Jeb Bush's recusal during the Florida vote "recount."

When you are a friend of the Bush family, you are a friend for life.

Call It What It Is: War

The Bushes are old hands when it comes to staging, waging and
benefiting from war.

War is force designed to compel an adversary to submit to one's will. In wars of attrition, isolation (political, geographic and economic), andthe choking off of supplies (including electricity, light, gas and heat) are standard techniques designed to inflict maximum suffering. Over an
extended period, frustrated populaces (be they Iraqi, Nicaraguan or Californian) are softened to the point that they will accept whatever
ends the torture.

With California, Bush/Cheney pursue a number of "divide and smash"
end games. They are attacking on three fronts:

1) Open doors to power companies to pillage California itself. By
selling the severity of the crisis, and the myths of the benefits of
deregulation and the free market, Bush and the Texans seek to rip apart
environmental laws, and open up markets.

2) Use corporate media to promote, exploit and exaggerate the "power
crisis" to justify other parts of the Bush corporate/right wing
agendas-including drilling in Alaska ("it will help relieve California's
supply problem) and even the tax cut plan ("a tax cut will help pay
higher energy bills").

3) Inflict maximum political damage to Democrats and other
opposition, and fuel outrage among voters.

Build Power Plants Now!

In one of his first and most telling comments about state's power problem, Bush said, "California must be aggressive about increasing the supply of power. We (Americans) cannot conserve our way to independence." This statement encapsulates Bush's entire energy "policy." Forget conservation, forget alternative energy, and just let The Boys plunder for profit.

Bush and the power companies are pushing the idea that California's increased energy demand (fueled by the high-tech economy) has led to
a shortage. But according to Public Citizen, the "skyrocketing demand" is a sham. After analyzing hourly load data compiled by the
California Independent System Operator (CAISO), Public Citizen has concluded that power demand in California during the past six months
has actually been lower than during the same period in 1999.

The Bush junta is misrepresenting the facts, allowing the power companies to gouge consumers, and speed the reopening of old power
plants and the construction of new plants by suspending environmental standards. They also seek to block the ability of communities to oppose
new plants. In other words, bring a little Texas to California.

The supply side of the argument is also questionable. The problem has never been the supply of power, only the price state utilities can or
cannot pay for the power coming from Texas. There is an additional suspicious element. According to Public Citizen, "plants servicing the state with 11,000 megawatts of capacity have been taken out of service for a variety of reasons-most undisclosed."

Bush finds it "interesting" that the harshest critics of a "balanced" environmental policy are "having rolling blackouts in their state." By
balanced, he means one more accommodating to polluters. (Ominously, the phrase "balanced approach" has been used repeatedly
and robotically by incoming environmental plunderer, Gale Norton, who is on record for supporting more drilling across the US.)

The "build more power plants" mantra is working. Threatened with blackouts (and increasing public frustration) the governor, the state
legislature and local officials are fast tracking power plant repair and new construction-including plants previously rejected for
environmental problems.

Deregulation: Fatten Corporate Wallets, Screw Consumers

When first approached by Gray Davis for help, Bush "bluntly rejected" price caps and other short-term measures. "I'm against pricecontrols," he told the Associated Press. Bush has robotically echoed the business strategy statements of Lay and the other Texas power
wholesalers and natural gas pipeline bandits. "California got itself into this mess. It's their law that didn't allow forward contracting of gas
(and) forced wholesalers to purchase at the spot market," Bush muttered. "That's fine as long as the price of gas is dropping. The
failure of (the) energy policy has made the price of gas go up."

In other words, if prices go up, California's consumers should pay up
and shut up.

Pushing For a Drilling Frenzy. Everywhere.

By raising fears of a power supply problem in California, they make drilling within California and off the California coast more acceptable.
A moratorium that limits drilling off the California coast is due to expire this year. The timing of the crisis is no coincidence.

Bush is also using California as an excuse to sell the idea of drilling in the Alaska Wildlife Refuge and other pristine lands.

Selling the Tax Cut

Brazenly, Bush is trying to sell California on the benefits of his inherently foolish (and economically crippling) tax cut. In recent days,
articles have abounded regarding how the tax cut would particularly help "high wage" Californians.

Casually Bush has bragged, "lower taxes will help offset the higher energy bills for Californians." As if energy prices should be high to begin with. As if higher energy prices in the future are a given.

As if a tax cut that takes place over a ten-year period can provide one bit of immediate "energy bill-paying relief."

Smash the Democrats

The political roots of the California "crisis" are Byzantine and tangled. The history of California power stretches back nearly 100 years. The
cast of villains is dizzying, including the operators of the corrupt and monopolistic state utilities (Pacific Gas & Electric Company and
Southern California Edison), and the corrupt state and local politicians of both parties that have colluded with the utilities for generations.

What is undisputed fact is that California's flawed deregulation plan was conceived and spearheaded by former Governor Pete Wilson-a
Republican-in 1996. Yet today, the state's current Democratic leaders at every level are taking 100 percent of the political blame.

Bush and Cheney have taken every opportunity to fan public outrage. They have not lifted a finger to help (except for their middle finger).
What better way to cripple any Democrat up for election or re-election in 2002 and 2004? For instance, Gray Davis, a darling of the DNC with future presidential aspirations, has suffered irreparable damage. And what better way to distract and neuter the likes of Barbara Boxer
and Dianne Feinstein, and Maxine Waters, than a rigged California disaster (at a time when Republicans are trying to ram through a
number of extreme policies)?

If public frustration in California ratchets up, it will not be long before a "throw them all out" mentality kicks in-opening up an opportunity for the Republicans to finally seize a Democratic and progressive stronghold.

Tyranny With A Smirk

California's "crisis" is providing an alarming showcase of what nightmares occur when corporations and corrupt politicians have the absolute power to play games with basic necessities. It is a spectacular example of Bush tyranny. An illegitimately installed and ruthless president is exploiting the miseries of common citizens to benefit wealthy corporations run by cronies and fellow political operatives.

Going forward, there is no end to the convenient uses that a battered and helpless California offers Bush and the Texans. As the
administration postures for new military forays in the Gulf, pumping up the threats posed by Saddam Hussein, and Middle East terrorists, it is certain that the administration will point to the California "supply problem" as a national problem that could justify military action. Lay and Enron have been aggressive in pushing for deregulation in other states, using California as an example of how "partial" deregulation (price controls) should be avoided.

Upon discovering a CIA/corporate conspiracy in the 1970s film "Three Days of the Condor," Robert Redford's character whispers in
shock and disgust: "Oil. This whole damned thing is about oil." Yes, the whole damned thing is indeed about oil. And electricity. And money. And it's no movie.