http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/Dowbenko020201/dowbenko020201.htm
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How to create a phony power crisis: The Bush-Enron connection
By Uri Dowbenko
February 2, 2001—The phony US energy crisis has deep ties to the Bush Family.
One of the prime beneficiaries of the "crisis" is Enron Corporation and its
chairman, Ken Lay, a major corporate and personal contributor to George W.
Bush's presidential campaign.
Even though California Gov. Gray Davis has reached into California residents'
deep pockets to bail out the utility companies through emergency legislation,
Washington Gov. Gary Locke has balked.
According to KCPQ-TV's Chris Daniels' "A Disturbing New Twist in Western
Power Troubles, "Governor Locke says, 'It's unjustified, it's obscene, and
clearly hurting all consumers.'"
Like other western governors, Locke has had to pay for electricity at any
price.
In November of 1999, for example, electricity was purchased for $29 a
megawatt hour.
A year later, the price increased to $160 an hour, according to sources at
Tacoma Power.
Last month it was at $525.
Locke expressed his indignation saying, "I've very disappointed in President
Bush that the new administration will not be intervening."
But why should he intervene?
One of Bush's largest campaign contributors is Enron Corporation, a
Texas-based company which is part of the de facto global energy
oligopoly-cartel.
Although diversifying into other business, Enron has been best known as the
largest buyer and seller of natural gas in the United States. Its 1999
revenues of $40 billion had made it the 18th largest company in the United
States.
Enron is also invested in energy projects around the world, including the UK,
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, the Philippines, Indonesia, China, India and
Mozambique.
One of the global energy cartel's most visible players, Enron saw its
corporate profits rise 34 percent in the fourth quarter of 2000.
Enron shareholders should ask—did dividends come from price gouging US
citizens?
How George W. Bush Got "Layed"
Federal Election Commission records show that Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay
donated more than $350,000 directly to Bush campaigns since 1997.
Lay also gave another $100,000 to Republican candidates and fundraising
committees.
In addition, Enron Corporation, including employees, also donated $1.5
million in soft money to Bush and Republican committees.
More recently, Lay and his wife donated $10,000 to the "Florida Recount
Fund," and another $100,000 to the "Presidential Inaugural Fund."
As one of his fundraising "Pioneers," Lay helped raise more than $100,000 for
Bush's campaign for president.
In consideration of these numbers, is it too much to ask for a phony and
contrived power "crisis" as a payback?
Naah, not at all . . .
According to newswire reports, as a new energy advisor for President Bush,
Ken Lay says that precap prices for wholesale electricity in the West "is not
even a short-term solution."
Not coincidentally, Enron is the largest power marketer in the United States.
A cap would limit the prices it and other wholesalers could charge to
utilities. Wholesale power prices were deregulated under the landmark 1996
law but retail rates were not.
Lay said the federal government should limit itself to an "advisory" role,
letting California leaders resolve a "pretty much self-inflicted problem."
California's rolling blackouts have come as the two large utilities, PG&E
Corp. and Southern California Edison, have struggled under huge debts through
buying electricity at higher wholesale prices than they can recoup under the
retail rates they are allowed to charge.
In the short term, Lay said, the state government will have to "buy the power
to fill the short positions of the utilities."
And to ensure Enron's unconscionable profit, he should have added.
Enron's Pug Winokur, Shadow Government Insider
On the Enron corporate website, one of the members of the board of directors,
Herbert S. "Pug" Winokur, Jr., is described as chairman and CEO of Capricorn
Holdings, Inc., and former senior executive vice president of Penn Central
Corporation.
As the Insiders' Insider, "Pug" Winokur has been such a permanent fixture in
the Washington Old Boy Network that he's even mentioned in a 1978 book by
Daniel Guttman called "The Shadow Government."
Historically Winokur's Capricorn Holdings was used as an investment vehicle
in NHP, an apartment management firm headed by Roderick Heller III.
In turn, NHP's assets included oft-purloined and defaulted HUD Section 8
subsidy housing, a notorious and well-known vehicle for fraud and money
laundering.
Winokur was also on the Board of Directors of Harvard Endowment Fund, which
purchased 50 percent of NHP, making the prestigious Harvard a prototypical,
but very low-profile, slum landlord. (See "Bushwhacked: HUD Fraud, Spooks and
the Slumlords of Harvard")
It should also be noted that George W. Bush attended Harvard Business School.
Later, after Bush joined Harken Energy Corp and became a director, the
largest stock position and seat on the board was acquired by Harvard
Management Co.
Ironically, from 1988 to 1997, Winokur was also the chairman and CEO of
DynCorp, one of the government's largest contractors in data acquisition and
management.
Since DynCorp had a contract from the Department of Justice, Winokur would
have profited from the DoJ Asset Seizure Program, as well as HUD's Operation
Safe Home seizures which targeted low-income tenants and mortgage holders in
the inner cities.
In addition DynCorp is one of the lead contractors for the new phony War on
Drugs in South America called "Plan Colombia," another tax-payer supported
scam to bring monies into DynCorp's coffers.
Now there's a guy who understands that the only way to do a deal is to get it
rigged from the very beginning.
Enron's Son of a Spook
Enron dealmaker Frank Wisner, Jr., muscled the company into lucrative
overseas contracts, most notably in India and the Philipines.
Enron's deal to manage a power plant in the Philippines was due largely to
Wisner's efforts. Based in Subic Bay, a former US military outpost, the power
planet was taken over by Enron in 1993, two months after the last US troops
left the base.
Wisner is also credited with helping Enron win a $2.8 billion deal in India,
building a power plant near Bombay. Now the project is under heavy fire for
being over-priced, and the deal continues to simmer with allegations of
bribery.
Wisner, Jr., must have learned his tradecraft from his father Frank Wisner.
Sr., one of the CIA's prime operatives.
Wisner, Sr., who worked at the CIA from 1947 until just before his "suicide"
in 1965, was involved in 1) the 1954 CIA coup in Guatemala, toppling the
goverment of Jacobo Arbenz for United Fruit Company, 2) the 1953 overthrow of
Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq, and 3) the secret operations
against Indonesian President Sukarno.
Unlike his spooky father, Frank Wisner, Jr., however, was a former Pentagon
official before his job at Enron.
Enron's Ken Lay and the Bush Boys
Enron Founder and Chairman Kenneth Lay also worked in the Pentagon for the
Nixon administration during the Vietnam War.
Lay is a close friend of George H. W. Bush. In fact, his Houston home in
River Oaks is near the Tanglewood residence of the former president and CIA
director.
Although there have been no published reports of Bush Sr. doing favors for
Lay, three of the Bush Boys have used their father's name to get contracts
for Enron.
According to an article by Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker, Neil and Marvin
Bush tried to influence government officials for an Enron bid to rebuild
Shuaiba North power plant in Kuwait.
Ironically this power plant was destroyed in George Bush's Persian Gulf War.
Enron abandoned the bid a year ago.
In 1988, George W. Bush reportedly telephoned Rodolfo Terragno, Argentina's
Public Works Minister, to ask him to award Enron a contract to build a
pipeline from Chile to Argentina.
"He assumed that the fact he was the son of the president would exert
influence. I felt pressured. It was not proper for him to make that kind of
call," Terragno told The Nation.
Finally, when Carlos Menem, another Bush Sr. crony, became president of
Argentina, Enron won the bid.
Neil Bush, director of the failed Denver-based Silverado Savings and Loan,
created a subsidiary of his oil company to conduct business in Argentina in
1987.
Argentina finally got so fed up with the Bush Boys, they formally had a
parliamentary investigation regarding their so-called "business dealings.
Enron Rigs Washington During the Clinton Years
Even though it has strong ties to the Republican Party, Enron also did
remarkably well during the Clinton years.
Most importantly, they got a ban lifted on Export-Import Bank financing of
projects in China.
This allowed Enron to move forward on overseas projects guaranteed by US
taxpayers. In other words, if Enron "fails," you pay.
Enron also got new rules instituted at the Ex-Im Bank that allowed the bank
to finance projects on the basis of projected cash flow.
This insider track helped Enron make multi-billion dollar deals overseas with
US taxpayers guaranteeing their performance.
March 1993, Enron made a deal to develop new European markets for Russian
gas.
November 1993, Enron made a $1 billion deal with Turkey to develop two power
plants. Ex-Im Bank provided $285 million in financing. The Overseas Private
Investment Council(OPIC)covered insurance costs.
August 1994, Enron made a deal to build a power plant in India. ExIm provides
major financing and OPIC provides an additional $100 million.
November 1994, Enron made a deal to build a $130 million power plant in
China. Ex-Im Bank again provided the financing. Moral of the story? When
you're a monopoly capitalist, it doesn't matter who's in office. Republicans.
Democrats. They all are open to inducements.
Lawsuit Against Enron Alleges Conspiracy
Unfazed by the bogus and contrived energy crisis, the San Francisco City
Attorney is filing a lawsuit against Enron and 11 other companies.
The filing says that Enron "conspired to restrict supplies and drive up
prices" costing consumers additional charges "on the order of 1 billion
dollars."
Washington's Governor Locke says President Bush needs to take
counter-measures or the economy will suffer on a national level.
"If the federal government doesn't act, you're going to see a lot of jobs go
away, a lot of business close down . . ." says Locke. "We need help from the
federal government immediately to help stabilize the situation."
Is this Enron's first visible and public Bush payoff?
It just might be the best "energy crisis" money can buy.
