Enron tapes: High-powered hi-jinks

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

By Jim Jelter, CBS MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 7:22 PM ET Aug. 25, 2004


SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Senator Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., seeking federal compensation for market manipulation during the West's 2000-2001 energy crisis, released two Enron tapes Wednesday that open old wounds in the region.

In the recordings, made Aug. 3 and 4, 2000, and uncovered during an on-going investigation of the crisis, two Enron executives discuss exporting 400 megawatts of power from California -- enough for nearly 400,000 homes -- to take advantage of higher prices in neighboring Southwest states.

At the same time, Bonneville Power Authority, in response to California's pleas, was sending emergency power to the state from its giant hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River.

One of the voices on the tape belongs to Tim Belden, head of Enron's Portland, Ore., trading operations, who refers to BPA's exports as "fish kill power." Listen to recordings

By releasing more water than scheduled though its turbines, BPA endangered thousands of salmon migrating on the Columbia.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/yhoo/story.asp?guid=%7B0B9D8CA8-24F4-4CEF-85DE-B05BB1064DBF%7D&siteid=myyahoo&dist=myyahoo

[LisaM]

1. I have to give Cantwell props on this one...

she is pushing this really hard. It would be nice to find out if Nethercutt had any ties to Enron so she could sink his campaign while she's at it.

[Pirate Smile]

2. I their assholishness knows no bounds.

(yeah, I made up a word - so what)

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

3. Hey I'm not the grammer police.

I've used that word myself many a time.

[murielm99]

13. Assholery...I think it has a better ring.

Maybe someone can come up with a few more, and we can have a poll.

[Cocoa]

4. I like the ones where they endorse Bush

and I predict a Kerry ad using that audio. :-)

[The Straight Story]

5. But how would this play?

They were doing 'bad things' (an overall view of the whole mess) while Clinton was in office - the spin would be that it was Bush who put a stop to it all while clinton let it run wild.

Ad: "During the years that the democrats controlled the white house, Enron was busy cheating on the books. When George Bush took office, he cleaned out the problems and brought them to justice. Hundreds of companies lied and cheated, while the democrats did nothing" blah blah blah.

As an aside, during the 90's (part of the late 90's) I worked for Enron. Glad I left when I did. They sucked ass.

[Cocoa]

6. in the tapes, they say they want Bush to win

that's the beauty of it, it destroys the Dems=Republicans meme.


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/01/eveningnews/main620626.shtml

Before the 2000 election, Enron employees pondered the possibilities of a Bush win.

"It'd be great. I'd love to see Ken Lay Secretary of Energy," says one Enron worker.

That didn't happen, but they were sure President Bush would fight any limits on sky-high energy prices.

"When this election comes Bush will f------g whack this s--t, man. He won't play this price-cap b------t."

Crude, but true.

"We will not take any action that makes California's problems worse and that's why I oppose price caps," said Mr. Bush on May 29, 2001.

Both the Justice Department and Enron tried to prevent the release of these tapes. Enron's lawyers argued they merely prove "that people at Enron sometimes talked like Barnacle Bill the Sailor."

[AndyTiedye]

14. They Talk More Like Redbeard the Pirate

> Enron's lawyers argued they merely prove "that people at Enron sometimes talked like Barnacle Bill the Sailor."

[0007]

18. I love your humor!

[blm]

9. The cheating came AFTER GOP Congress loosened regulations on them.

Clinton was on record, along with his SEC chair, proposing measures to strengthen oversight. GOP Congress carried water for the thugs. Do you really think the record will show otherwise?

[The Straight Story]

11. The record

Do you really think the record will show otherwise?

Do we really think people will listen to the record :) In a presidential campaign they look at who was in charge, as that person was responsible overall. While Clinton was in, books were cooked and .com companies were raping investors. May not be fair, but in an era of sound bytes people may well remember that more than the details.

If we tell people Bush was buddies with enron they will wonder why then the Enron folks were brought down under Bush, and not under Clinton. If we blame the repthug congress, where was clinton during this time? Was he out addressing the public on national TV about what the problems were? we cannot blame congress when it seems convienient. They may well be to blame, but we hold those at the top as responsible generally (like * on 9/11, he was in charge).

If we blame the congress then for the problems and give clinton a pass, we should do the same now (and am not talking straight logic here, talking about perception by the voting public).

Personally I think we give too much credit/blame to the president and enhance their power. Blame Clinton, Blame Bush (and sometimes that is correct), and the media follows and focuses on them. Congress, and others, get a pass except for a few mentions here and there. We need to focus on all the elected officials and people in power, as well as others (like in the .com boom, people did not always think when buying stocks at insane prices and so forth).

Kerry will not solve all our problems, they are too diverse and large for one man to fix (there are local laws, state laws, etc). Places like DU are needed for us to connect and work on all levels to address problems locally and logically.

People like YOU are needed to solve our problems. Clinton/Kerry can only do so much, and they may well overlook or not have the means to solve all problems. I am all for Kerry, but I am more for you and other people as we hold the real power here. We can win this election and have a big voice nationally, which helps, but it is the little guy here who will have the biggest impact over time.

So Kerry gets us out of Iraq, increases taxes on the rich, and so forth - but it is people like you who will get people to change their hearts/minds. There are thousands and thousands of issues, from small environmental ones to big ones, and on down the line. Kerry can do some things, but we need to keep cranking on the local level. We are what is needed to get things better, we can make the biggest difference.

I don't place my hope in Kerry, I place it here in people like us to get things done, exposed, and to help others understand the big picture.

Thanks for your input, always welcome.

[loathesomeshrub]

12. The truth is the repub congress fought Clinton on everything, and Repukes

repukes found one thing after another to distract him. He couldn't possibly have been able to fix these problems - they hid their tracks very well, and everything came out under Bush only because things were so bad, they couldn't be hidden any more

[AndyTiedye]

15. It Came Out Under Booosh Because Enron Went Bust Under Booosh

Kennyboy and his friends are above the law and they know it.
They will all be pardoned after the election.

Their rape of California was totally obvious, and it was
meant to be -- it was revenge against us for being wealthy
and Democratic.

They also robbed their own company blind, which is why it went bust.
The indictments are an election-year ploy to set up the pardons.

[0007]

19. Most Excellent!! Without a doubt

[blm]

8. Oh yeah.....I would LOVE it. Clinton was pretty naive when it came to the

thugs in Congress who thwarted his measures for greater oversight over the energy thugs and the financial sectors.

The GOP thugs were LOOSENING the laws regulating their cronies in the energy and financial sectors. FOCKIN' THUGS!

[goforit]

7. It's time for them to go.

[Tight_rope]

10. Kick...Busted again on tape...n/t

[MagickMuffin]

16. 2000 Campaign Connections

2000 campaign contributions

Enron $100,000.00

Kenny Boy & Linda Lay $100,000.00
Profile

The self-inflicted 2001 implosion of Ken Lay’s fraudulent paper tiger, Enron Corp., kicked off an extraordinary season of corporate scandals featuring a dizzying number of Bush Pioneers…who still walk the streets. The $550,025 that Ken Lay’s Enron Corp. gave Bush by mid 1999 made it his No. 1 career patron, according to the Center for Public Integrity. Lay, whom George W. Bush affectionately called “Kenny Boy,” became a master electrical power broker by mastering political power trading. “Virtually every … aspect of Enron’s operations is overseen by the federal government,” the Dallas Morning News noted in 1996. Enron even had software, dubbed “the matrix,” that estimated how much a particular regulatory change would cost. A tax dodger that received more than $1 billion in taxpayer subsidies, Enron was a huge political donor that kept a stable of ex-government officials on retainer (see Rob Mosbacher and William SchubertD. Stephen Goddard); law firm Vinson & Elkins (see Thomas Marinis); and investment firms too numerous to mention. Several Enron officials have pled guilty or been indicted for accounting fraud and manipulating California’s electricity market but its top officials remain at large. Despite a doctorate in economics, Lay has argued that he did not grasp the complex financial deals that Enron used to book huge profits--and cover up staggering losses. A report by Enron’s bankruptcy court examiner in late 2003 concluded that he and CEO Jeff Skilling “breached their fiduciary duties” because they “knew or should have known” Enron was cooking the books. The report said Lay could owe Enron’s creditors $94 million for repaying company loans with company stock.
(Above profile provided by Whitehouseforsale.org)

Jeff Skilling $100,000.00

Richard D. Kinder $100,000.00

Of course Wendy Gramm was on the Enron Board of directors, a job she received after serving on a committee that pushed through deregulation on energy futures, her husband Phil Gramm (Sr. Senator TX) helped to push thru the Senate.

Also the law firm of Vinson & Elkins, has Kay Bailey Hutchison's (Jr. Senator TX) husband as a partner.

And finally let's not forget Kenny Boy allowed Bush the use of his plane to fly all around the country to campaign during that election cycle.

Campaign contributions info I downloaded from American Politics Journal in 2000.

One last thing why can't the government seize their personal assets? They do that against terrorist, and I for one consider them all to be terrorist since they terrorized the American people by the price gouging....

[DeepModem Mom]

17. Thanks for this info, MagickMuffin, and welcome to DU!

[newyawker99]

20. Hi MajickMuffin!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: