Posted on 01/10/2002 7:00:04 AM PST by brbethke
Enron is not Bush's Whitewater Commentary: It will be worse
By David Callaway, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 12:10 AM ET Jan. 10, 2002
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) - The Enron Corp. debacle won't be President Bush's Whitewater. It will be much worse.
Unlike the financial sideshow over a twenty-year-old failed land deal that dogged the Clinton administration, the collapse of the nation's largest energy trader into the nation's largest bankruptcy last month is set to go straight to the heart of exposing what is wrong with the way the Bush administration is conducting itself these days.
Once a buyer for Enron's (ENE: news, chart, profile) energy-trading business is announced Thursday in New York, this story is going to shift in dramatic fashion to Washington D.C., where there are already eight separate congressional probes into the collapse, one Justice Department investigation, and scores of unanswered questions. Many of them concern the White House.
Don't expect to see either Bush or Vice President Cheney directly linked to the financial shenanigans that brought Enron down. They won't be. This is not about finding a smoking gun, as much as some Democrats might wish it were.
What it is about, and what the public will get to hear and read about in wrenching detail over the coming months, is how business gets done down in Texas. How a small group of business leaders exert enormous clout over Bush and his team in getting the rules changed to their benefit.
It will explain why Bush has locked up presidential records, locked out any voices opposed to his pro-business agenda and rammed through an expensive economic plan that wiped out the budget surplus but to date hasn't had any positive effect on the economy.
It will explain what influence Enron Chief Executive Ken Lay and his advisers had with Cheney and his energy taskforce when they met six times last year while the Vice President was putting together the administration's energy policy.
And it will explain why Bush is now thinking about acting on a proposal from that very taskforce that seeks to roll back a key provision of the Clean Air Act that helps keep factory pollution down by requiring new controls when old plants are upgraded.
A history of seeking favor
Business leaders have always sought favors from politicians. That's nothing new. But in the case of Enron and Lay, a night in the Lincoln Bedroom was never going to be enough.
Enron cultivated Bush from the time he first decided to run for governor of Texas, with executives donating a total of $623,000 to his two gubernatorial campaigns and presidential campaign, according to The Center for Public Integrity.
The company played a major role in Bush's decision to deregulate the Texas energy markets in 1999. It played a major role in Cheney's energy taskforce last year, meeting with the Vice President's staff right up until a week before it stunned Wall Street in October by slashing its shareholder equity by $1.2 billion to cover losses in its off-balance sheet partnerships.
And Lay, who donated $100,000 to the Bush Inaugural, remains mired in a controversy about whether a curious phone conversation he had with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission head Curtis Hebert last May had anything to do with Hebert's replacement by Bush last summer with the head of the Texas Public Utility Commission.
This is just the beginning of what is going to come out once investigators do a little more digging, and once Lay and his minions are required to testify before Congress. Expect a steady diet of revelations about the extent of the energy giant's influence, at state, national and even international levels.
Enron won't bring down Bush. He remains enormously popular for his handling of the war and the rebuilding of the country's psyche after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But it will be a major thorn in his side through the rest of this presidential term, and may even play a role in the next election, depending on what comes out.
Enron the company will soon be gone. But Enron, the symbol of how big business and big politics conspire to sometimes fix the game, is just starting to dawn on the national conscious.
It's an ugly story. One that explains a lot about what's going on in our nation's capital right now. And it's only just beginning.
David Callaway is executive editor of CBS.MarketWatch.com.
The Dems are salivating but as has been said before, they better be careful for they may not like what they find, i.e., Ron Brown, Clinton, Gore, etc.
No matter how loud the slobbering liberals scream about Enron ties to this Administration, there is nothing to it. Without question, Enron tried to gain political influence over the years by making political contributions. But, at least with the Bush Administration, it was a lousy investment.
Could someone explain how an energy company (energy being a very important issue in this country) having very limited access to the whitehouse could be illegal or wrong?
Could someone explain how selling nuclear secrets to a hostile government (proof of which does exist) could NOT be criminal?
HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM?
The silly bleating of the plaintiffs' attorney that they had such "evidence" was typical of such counsel - but if he really had it, he would have included it in his initial request.
Your implication that Wendy Gramm was in any special circumstance was like your exaggeration of the news item.
I swear, you took the words right out of my mouth!
What dark deep orafice does "David Callaway is executive editor of CBS.MarketWatch.com" have his head up??
Leaders of our Nation MUST meet with Business leaders. Besides being a Free Republic and doing the business associated with running that kind of Government, an administration must be up to date with idea's from industry leaders. Who hopefully are leading the way in developement, and ingenuity. There is NO WAY a Government will always know all things about all business's. But Enron is about to find out that some people will set all relations and friendships aside when laws are broken.. and side with the law!! (REFRESHING ISN'T IT??)
The important thing to remember is that when Enron notified people in the Bush Administration about the possibility of a Bankruptcy,.. the Bush Admin. refused to do anything for them. Unlike previous administrations under simular circumstances.
I happen to agree with this administrations response. (But the big money makers won't agree, those with their fingers in the *financial* pot, or whose States economy's relied on Enron for revenue!!) 2BAD!!!
I also KNOW with certainty,.. that this administration will be up front and not procrastinate. This is going to become a "Non administration story", and become the story about Enron. Which it should be. Enron and the Accounting Firm that reported that Enron was "fine" while knowing different,.. and now admit to destroying papers.
It seems many people thought the example left by the previous administration (shredding papers,.. not responding to subpeona's, obstructing justice) was an example to follow. They made a HUGE mistake of thinking business could continue like it did during the previous administration.
They are about to find out,.. President Bush is a different kind of politician. Get ready... the best is yet to come!!! Hold on to your girdle Myrtle.. the ride is going to be wild. But your going to have your faith "restored" in our Elected officials (Maybe I should quantify that by saying "the Bush Administration" **for now**... as it will take a while for his example to be mirrored by others.)
People just keep on misjudging President Bush's integrity and intelligence (as well as VP Cheney, etc.) This will end up being another fine example of the kind of administration this one is.. trust me!! I have total faith in his leadership and his integrity.
THANK GOD.. we have President Bush and his administration!!! What a relief!! The liberals are quaking in their proverbial boots. President Bush has ended up being such a HUGE blessing to the country,..and that is a HUGE threat to them.
Again.. just watch how different the responses to this from this administration will be compared to simular responses from the previous admin.
The DIFFERENCES will be strikingly obvious!!!
No, the simple fact is that you have concluded, based on no evidence whatsoever, that Wendy Gramm was responsible for what happened at Enron. That's irresponsible on your part and it indicates that you have an agenda that is political.
If it turns out that she was knowingly complicit in a scheme to mislead shareholders, then she should and will be held accountable. I not only don't have a problem with that, but will heartily endorse it. Unlike you, I suspect, I lost several thousand dollars due to the misrepresentations of Enron. If anything, I should be on the warpath for anyone I can blame for this.
But the funny thing is that I think it's more responsible to wait for the facts before I make stupid assertions like you did above. My experience tells me that it is highly unlikely that Gramm was aware of the scam. Perhaps she was. We will find out. But to call her or me a crook based on what you know is juvenile at best.
You are obsessed with her compensation. That has NOTHING to do with whether a crime was committed, now does it?
Let the investigators do the work, and when they come back with some facts, then we can intelligently discuss what they mean. Until then, your accusations are borderline libelous.
Hey! You maybe oughta cool your jets, just a little. You're comin off a little too self-righteous with your righteous indignation aimed so personally at our superior friend and fellow Freeper, Dog Gone!
I don't push the abuse button, or at least I haven't done it yet, but you better take a valium and apologize! (IMO)
Which Bush brother are you talking about? Don't want to bring up S&L scandal's and the name Bush too much.
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