Robert Scheer: Bush links energized Enron

[sabra]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/05/31/EDGDOIJLQR1.DTL

Bush links energized Enron
Robert Scheer, Creators Syndicate, Inc.

THE BUSH FAMILY consistently acted to put Enron and its longtime CEO Ken Lay into a position to rip off investors and taxpayers. Why is the mass media ignoring that fact now that Lay has been convicted in arguably the most egregious example of white-collar fraud in U.S. history? Until he hooked up with the Bushes, Lay was just another mid-level energy trader complaining endlessly about being hemmed in by onerous government regulations and those terrible consumer lawyers who prevent free-market hustlers from doing their thing. But after he and his company became top supporters of the Bushes -- eventually giving $3 million combined to various Bush political campaigns and the Republican Party -- doors opened for them in a big way. In particular, once Bush the father got rid of key energy industry regulations, Lay was a made man and Enron's fortunes soared. This program of corporate welfare led Lay to dub the first President Bush "the energy president" in a column supporting his re-election because "just six months after George Bush became president, he directed ... the development of a new energy strategy," which, in effect, compelled local utility companies to carry Enron electricity on their wires. It was, Lay crowed, "the most ambitious and sweeping energy plan ever proposed."

Another huge gift from the first Bush regime came in the form of a ruling by Wendy Gramm, head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, that permitted Enron to trade in energy derivatives, making possible the company's exponential growth. Five weeks after that ruling, Gramm resigned and joined the Enron board of directors, serving on its subsequently much criticized audit committee. Six years later, Gramm's husband, U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, further enabled Enron greed by pushing through additional anti-regulation legislation.

A long list of George H. W. Bush's Cabinet and inner circle, including Secretary of State James A. Baker III and Commerce Secretary Robert A. Mosbacher, went to work for Enron after his 1992 defeat. An even greater number of Enron officials returned the favor by joining the George W. Bush administration in 2001 shortly before the Enron scandal exploded.

The close connections between President Bush and Lay began when they both worked on the 1992 Bush père presidential re-election campaign. In fact, a long paper trail of their friendly and collaborative correspondence has been made public through Freedom of Information Act requests. "Dear Ken, one of the sad things about old friends is that they seem to be getting older -- just like you!" wrote then-Texas Gov. Bush in April 1997. "Thank goodness you have such a young beautiful wife." In Lay's typed responses -- some are handwritten -- he sometimes crossed out Bush's formal titles to scrawl a friendly "George," emphasizing their personal history before he urged the governor to, for example, help Enron secure foreign energy contracts with regimes in Romania or Uzbekistan, or for so-called tort reform designed to protect corporations from lawsuits.

[im10ashus]

1. K&R!

Here is another link, sabra:

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060530_robert_scheer_enron_bush_lay/

[Bozita]

2. IIRC, Wendy Gramm sat on the board of Invesco (mutual funds)

A lot of investors got killed. Wendy did just fine.

[OneBlueSky]

3. for five years now BushCo and their friends have been looting . . .

this country and bankrupting our government . . . they figure if they have ALL the loot, they can use their wealth to control the rest of us . . .

they're in for a big surprise, imo . . .

[oasis]

4. This Lay/Bush/Enron/Gramm story should have top coverage.(n/t)

[Bozita]

5. The evening crowd needs to see this .... kick