Fwd: well well well

[telebob x]

Important story?...you make the call....


>To: <telebob@io.com>, "telebob x" <telebob98@hotmail.com>
>Subject: well well well
>Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2002 15:48:28 -0600
>
Enron scandal seen as being ignored similar to Watergate case
By Edward B. Winslow
edwardwinslow@attbi.com
Special to A.M. Costa Rica

>       Almost 30 years have elapsed since the "third rate burglary" of the 
>Democratic National Committee headquarters on June 17, 1972, that opened 
>the dam of the Watergate scandal.  The press and members of Congress 
>largely ignored the crime, as then-President Richard M. Nixon kept the 
>nation's focus on the war in Vietnam.
>
>       Similarly, with the press and Congress distracted by President 
>George W. Bush's war in Afghanistan, they are ignoring another scandal.  No 
>third-rate burglary, the Enron Corp. scandal involves millions of dollars 
>in campaign contributions to Bush, U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm and other members 
>of Congress. The cozy relationship between the Bush White House and Enron 
>enabled Kenneth L. Lay, then Enron's CEO to meet in secret with Vice 
>President Richard Cheney to help mold the nation's energy policy.  Bush's 
>presidential campaign received $1.14 million from Enron.
>
>       Shortly after taking office President Bush waged a battle against 
>the imposition of federal price controls in California that allowed Enron 
>to price-gouge consumers by extending the energy crisis in California, 
>costing the state billions of dollars.  Enron reported increased revenues 
>of almost $70 billion from the previous year.
>
>       Bush also resisted attempts to crack down on Enron's utilization of 
>its 2,830 offshore subsidiaries in countries with lax banking-regulation 
>laws.  The consumer-rights watchdog organization Public Citizen alleges 
>that some of these offshore havens helped Enron defraud its stockholders.
>
>       Moreover, while Sen. Gramm was working the Congress to pass 
>legislation favorable to Enron (and collecting nearly $260,000 in campaign 
>contributions from the company), his wife, Wendy Gramm, first was 
>chairperson of a regulatory committee overseeing Enron's business 
>activities and later a paid member of that company's board of directors.  
>Enron paid her between $915,000 and $1.85 million, according to Public 
>Citizen.  Sen. Gramm has announced his decision not to seek re-election for 
>another term in the senate.
>
>       Enron, whose stock price plummeted from almost $85 per share to 
>$0.25 per share within one year, forced its employees to invest their 
>retirement plans in the company stock while corporate executives were free 
>to make out like bandits by selling their stock when it was near its peak 
>before anyone caught wind of the company's impending collapse.  Jeffrey K. 
>Skilling, who resigned his position as Enron's chief executive in August, 
>sold more than $30 million worth of his stock in
>      Opinion on the news
>
>       the company this year.  Lay, who was Skilling's predecessor, was 
>able to unload about $23 million worth of his Enron stock.
>
>       Meanwhile, employees, who invested in Enron stock through their 
>company's 401(k) plan, were prohibited in diversifying into other 
>securities. They lost their shirts while 500 of the company's top 
>executives divided up $55 million worth of bonuses.  The remaining 20,000 
>employees were given severance packages of not more than $4,500 each.
>
>       Eventually, during the Watergate scandal, members of Congress began 
>to take a closer look at what first appeared to be an event that was 
>unrelated to the White House.  Armed with much more evidence of a White 
>House conflict of interest than Watergate, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) 
>has opened a Congressional investigation on the Enron matter. In a letter 
>dated Dec. 4 to Vice President Cheney, Waxman expresses concern about the 
>administration's secret meetings with Lay and the company's subsequent 
>failure.
>
>       Waxman also mentions "the fact that senior Enron executives were 
>enriching themselves at the same time that Enron was lavishing large 
>campaign contributions on President Bush and the Republican Party and 
>apparently influencing the administration's energy policies."
>
>       Public Citizen urged Congress to bring Sen. Gramm and Wendy Gramm 
>along with Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill to give sworn testimony 
>about what they know about possible accounting fraud and the use of 
>offshore tax and bank regulation havens. The consumer-rights organization 
>also called for President Bush, Vice President Cheney and political adviser 
>Karl Rove to answer questions about whether discussions involving energy 
>price controls, energy regulations or tax havens took place with Enron 
>executives.
>
>       Specifically, what investigators need to determine is who knew what 
>and when did they know it?  As Waxman wrote in his letter to the vice 
>president, "It is appropriate to ask whether Enron communicated to (Cheney) 
>or others affiliated with (his) task force information about its precarious 
>financial position.  This is especially important since this information 
>was apparently hidden from investors and the public . . . . "
>
>       Mr.Winslow is a Denver, Colo., freelance writer
>
>




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