The problem is California doesn't have enough in state power capacity to meet peak summer time demand. They had to import power from surrounding states and Canada. Instead of letting market forces work, the state got involved and made some really bad long term energy purchases. Enron is a convenient political scapegoat.
It's really difficult not to politicize this trainwreck. The whole phony energy dereg that the CA Legislature set up (originally under Gov. Wilson, then screwed up even more under Davis) caused the problem. When power supply got short and prices went up, CA made laws preventing energy producers from passing on increased costs to consumers.
CA further botched the situation by charging inexperienced, incompetent state workers to go out and buy power in a dog eat dog type market situation. They got fleeced, no surprise.
Davis and his foray into the power trading business were a disaster of monumental proportions. Now he seeks to blame others for his own ineptitude and get back any way possible (propoganda, lawsuits, etc.) some of the taxpayer's $$$ that he squandered in his panic-driven foray into the power trading business (which, by the way, he initially congratulated himself for--"I kept the lights on", he proudly claimed about the same deals he's now demonizing Enron and others for partaking in.
If that's not political, I don't know what is. Davis and the CA Legislature, by their socialistic meddling in the free market, have created a huge financial debacle that will plague the state for decades to come. If he's re-elected, the meddling and the financial disaster will go on. I fully expect CA to require a federal bailout in the future to avoid bankruptcy.
Thank goodness Simon is pointing this out.