Posted on 02/08/2002 3:19:05 AM PST by PogySailor
TALLAHASSEE - Using its cash and its clout, Enron Corp. had no trouble flexing enough political muscle to easily kill legislation last year that would have blocked its planned foray into South Florida.
But the now-disgraced energy trader's ultimate goal proved elusive - deregulating Florida's $13 billion-a- year electric power market.
Despite record levels of campaign contributions, a cadre of respected Tallahassee lobbyists and personal contact with Gov. Jeb Bush, the company failed to sell a wary Legislature on the benefits of speedy deregulation.
``Enron was a particularly impatient client,'' said Bill L. Bryant, a Tallahassee lobbyist who represented the company in Florida until last year. ``Clearly, the pressure was on to move quickly. But politics doesn't respond the same way a market does ... and that did frustrate them.''
Still, the company continued to wage intense attacks on anything that came between it and the final prize.
State Rep. Ron Greenstein, D-Coconut Creek, recalls being in Enron's cross hairs during the 2001 legislative session.
``There is nothing you can do to protect yourself,'' he said.
Greenstein and other lawmakers in the Broward County delegation tried to block Enron from using a loophole in state law that allows independent power producers to build certain electric plants in Florida.
The company wanted to build two near Greenstein's legislative district and successfully called on friendly lawmakers to make sure the loophole remained open.
``I've never seen people flocking to kill [legislation] as quick as that,'' Greenstein said. ``It just wasn't done right, the way Enron did it.''
Bush Says He Wasn't Influenced
The influence Enron wielded over Florida politicians is drawing more attention since the company filed for bankruptcy protection amid investigations of financial impropriety. Its executives find themselves the target of federal scrutiny. Four have cited their constitutional right against self- incrimination in refusing to testify before Congress.
Florida's state pension fund was one of the biggest losers in the Enron collapse. It lost $335 million because one of its fund managers continued snapping up Enron shares as its stock price plummeted.
The company's links to Gov. Bush became clearer Wednesday, when his office released more than 70 pages of e-mail and other documents establishing at least two conversations last year between the governor and Enron representatives. One was a 30-minute phone call April 17 with Enron Chief Executive Kenneth Lay. It was arranged at the company's request specifically to discuss deregulation, the documents show.
Last week, Bush said Enron never sought to influence his push to begin deregulating Florida's wholesale power market.
Bush said Thursday he has no recollection of the phone conversation.
``I don't remember talking to him,'' Bush said.
The governor, who has long supported deregulation and greater wholesale competition, downplayed the significance of any Enron effort to curry his favor. ``Did anything happen that Enron benefited from?'' he asked.
Deregulation efforts, Bush noted, appear stalled in the Legislature.
``I support deregulation, not because of Ken Lay, but because I think we need to build [electrical generating] capacity,'' he said. ``We need to do it in a thoughtful way.''
A few days after the conversation with Lay, Bush traded e-mail messages with an Enron lobbyist wanting information about pending legislation that would affect power plant construction in Florida.
The message makes no specific reference to which bills the lobbyist was concerned about. But the date, May 1, is when Greenstein's efforts to block Enron's plans in Broward County were under heavy attack.
Records on file with the Legislature show Enron lobbyists since 1998 have spent $5,200 wining and dining lawmakers. The documents do not specify who was treated. Enron lobbyist Larry Williams, who reported the spending, said he does not recall which lawmakers were courted.
Enron hired Williams' Tallahassee law firm, Katz, Kutter, Alderman, Bryant & Yon, to lobby on its behalf in Florida.
Bryant, one of nine former Enron lobbyists in Tallahassee, said the company's deregulation message was a tough sell in the Florida Legislature. He believes California's deregulation experience with rolling blackouts and skyrocketing power rates turned Florida legislators skittish, especially with elections looming.
``Everyone had heard of Enron, but I don't think anybody was awed by them,'' he said. ``Because of California, you just couldn't sell it.''
Watchful Eye
Enron monitored the progress of Bush's deregulation task force, called the Energy 2020 Study Commission.
The company's lobbyists helped foster legislative support for creating the panel. The group quickly embraced exactly what Enron and dozens of other independent power companies nationwide most wanted: a wide open Florida wholesale market.
Enron stood to benefit three ways. It owns half of the only natural gas pipeline through Florida, Florida Gas Transmission Co., that would sell the fuel that new power plants would need to generate electricity. It could build its own plants in Florida. And it could serve as an energy broker, selling power produced by others, which was its specialty.
The commission rolled out an interim proposal last year that lawmakers ignored and has issued a modified version for the 2002 session that is getting less attention.
Sanford Berg, a University of Florida economist and commission board member, recalls Enron representatives attending meetings and, at one point, giving a brief presentation.
But other companies, Duke Energy and Calpine Corp., tended to lead the pack. Both want to build large-scale power plants in Florida, the only state with laws blocking independent companies from building such plants.
``They certainly were not regulars at any of the meetings,'' Berg said of Enron. ``They followed what we were doing. But I don't think anyone could say this was Enron-driven at all.''
Since 1995, Enron and Florida Gas Transmission Co. have given $356,000 to Florida's political parties and to candidates for governor, the Legislature and the Cabinet, according to the Florida Division of Elections. Most of the money went to Republicans.
The campaign contributions have become an embarrassment for Democrats and Republicans, forcing both parties to return some of the money they received from Enron to charities serving the thousands of the company's laid-off workers.
Link: "Up in Smoke", by Brian Wallstin and Tim Fleck.
This issue could be a vulnerability for Dubya in particular and the Pubbies in general this year. But notice that even this Left-leaning rag shellacks DemoLib Sheila Jackson Lee, and shows how grubby she was in bellying up to Ken Lay's trough. Lots of people wanted to lie down with Ken's dog, the article makes that absolutely crystal-clear.
(TIME, September 1) -- For a man who had supposedly vanished from the corridors of power, MACK MCLARTY was the man to see in 1996. BILL CLINTON's former chief of staff, now a White House counselor tucked away in the basement, provided assistance to businessmen who ponied up $1.5 million for the Democrats in the last election. On Nov. 22, 1995, for example, Clinton scrawled an FYI note to McLarty, enclosing a newspaper article on Enron Corp. and the vicissitudes of its $3 billion power-plant project in India. McLarty then reached out to Enron's chairman, KEN LAY, and over the next nine months closely monitored the project with the U.S. ambassador to New Delhi, keeping Lay informed of the Administration's efforts, according to White House documents reviewed by TIME. In June 1996, four days before India granted final approval to Enron's project, Lay's company gave $100,000 to the President's party. Enron denies that its gift was repayment for Clinton's attention, and White House special counsel LANNY DAVIS says McLarty acted out of concern for a major U.S. investment overseas.
When I enter "Florida" in the "to:" line of the reply, I get back nothing on the preview. If I enter "*Florida", I get "**Florida" (two asterisks) back. What gives? Please advise.
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