| http://www.shout.net/~bigred/enrongate
Enrongate (Conspiracy Nation, 12/25/01) -- In the Nixon years, there was Watergate. In the Clinton years, there was "Fostergate" (the name coined for various scandals emanating from the strange death of White House deputy counsel Vincent Foster.) On the horizon during the presidency of Bush the Second may be something called "Enrongate". Early in 1993, Bush the First appointees on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission voted to exempt energy traders such as the now collapsed Enron from anti-fraud regulations. Initiating this Enron- friendly ruling was Wendy Gramm, wife of Texas senator Phil Gramm. Shortly thereafter, Wendy Gramm joined the Enron board of directors. For the year 2000 (s)election, Enron gave $2,000,000 to Bush the Second and other politicians in "campaign contributions." Besides the money, "Dubya" Bush appointees held substantial amounts of Enron stock. This, plus a horde of Enron lobbyists, consultants, and officials, makes the current White House "resemble an Enron branch office." ("Whitewater Critics Quiet About Enron," by Joe Conason. New York Observer, 12/24/01) As a reward for their "campaign contributions" to politicians, Enron, to all appearances, received the quid pro quo of getting to choose who exactly would be their government regulators. Larry Lindsey, formerly an Enron consultant, now is employed as Bush the Second's chief economic advisor. Enron founder and CEO Kenneth Lay, invited to appear before a congressional committee investigating the scandal, snubbed the request. Also snubbing requests has been Veep Dick Cheney, declining to provide documents to the House Government Reform Committee regarding secret meetings between himself, his energy task force, and Enron executives. Putting this all into perspective, Conason reminds readers that the Clinton-era Whitewater investigations were centered on a $65 million loss from Madison Guaranty S&L, while the Enron debacle involves $60 _billion_ "that suddenly evaporated" from Enron. |
