Since we are often told that there is benefit in learning from our past, let's return to it for a few lessons.
1. Mr and Mrs. Phil Gramm
Enron was a large campaign contributor to Texas Senator Phil Gramm. In 1992, his wife, Wendy, was the chair of the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission. She moved to exempt Enron's energy-swap operation from government oversight, then days later resigned and took a job with Enron on its audit committee.
2. Ken Lay Chairman/CEO who sold 1.8 milllion shares for more than $101.3 million.
3. Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney met six times with Enron executives while writing up this nation's energy policy which benefitted Enron 17 ways. and then refused to tell Congress anything about those meetings. Cheney also met with Ken Lay during the California energy crisis. The day after the meeting, Cheney said the Bush administration would not support price caps on energy in California, a move that cost Californians and made Enron billions.
4. Joe Lieberman
Joe Lieberman was the first to call for an investigation, but now it's come out that his staff met with Enron, in fact his former top aide was an Enron lobbyist. Lawmakers want SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt to recuse himself from the investigation because he worked for the law firm that has represented Arthur Andersen.
5. karl Rove had over $250,0000 worth of Enron Stock
6. Arthur Anderson
Enron paid this accounting firm with a troubled past $1 million a week to keep their books. As soon as the accounting firm found out there would be an investigaton of Enron, they destroyed thousands of documents. Now, it's come out that Enron was shredding documents too.
7. Bill Clinton and the Democratic Party
Ken Lay played golf with Bill Clinton. Clinton helped Ken Lay get a $3 billional power plant project in India for Enron. Four days before the deal went through, Enron gave $100,000 to the Democratic party.
SOURCE: http://www.hereinreality.com/enron.html
AND IN CONCLUSION: First of all keeping the corrpution in perspective, we must first recognize which party is the worst of them all. I think we have a much better chance of cleaning up the Democrats than the Republicans.
This is what I mean when I write that "bipartisanship" does not mean very much to at least 90% of the Americans in this country whether they realize it or not. "Bipartisanship" according to its current definition means: Rich Democrats agreeing with Rich Republicans.
We the people need to change that definition of "bipartisanship" from a political to an economic definition: the Rich agreeing with the poor. And the representation being allocated in proportion to number of people, not ownership of assets.
