Volume CXXXIII, Number 18 March 1, 2002 f

Enron can teach us about finances
HUGH HILL

The Enron scandal continues, and I can only sit back with glee as the rich and powerful squirm in the spotlight of public opinion. Whistleblowers are testifying, robber baron-esque executives point fingers in front of Congress (all the while looking like kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar), Senators pour invectives at those same executives who gave them millions, the ridiculously rich are forced to halve their number of vacation homes in Aspen, and elected officials are trying to cover themselves from the lethal fallout of a Washington scandal's general insanity.

My amusement is only tempered by the sobering fact that so many investors and former employees of Enron lost their life savings because of these corrupted executives who were drunk on influence and power. I hope this might encourage the American people to remember that we ultimately get to determine money's role in politics. Not the plutocrats, lobbyists, special interest groups, or bureaucrats. Us.

As we all know, Enron gave enormous sums of money to the election campaign of our current "President." And, those dollars were not for naught. You don't give millions of your corporation's hard-earned dollars to a political campaign because you think he or she has a goofy and affable charm well-suited to Saturday Night Live.

So, when Vice President Dick Cheney put together a task force to formulate the administration's energy policy, guess who had a big part to play? That's right, our buddies at Enron. The energy task force that got together a year ago under Cheney's auspices was going to shape the nation's energy policy, and Enron would be there.

Additionally, many big corporations that donated to the Bush campaign got to be present at these meetings as well. Where is proof of this, you ask?Where else, I respond, but in the notes and documents related to those meetings.

Unfortunately, President...err, excuse me, Freudian slip, I meant Vice President Cheney does not want to turn these documents over to environmental public interest groups or to Congressional investigators.

They're invoking executive privilege. As a consequence, two suits have been filed; one by the General Accounting Office (Congress's in-house budget and oversight group) and another by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an environmental lobbying group.

Obviously, Cheney would not be so secretive if Enron hadn't been there.

That must mean there's something juicy to hide. Let's have a short historical tour of executive privilege, shall we?

Richard Nixon: I invoke executive privilege to hide my attempts to subvert the Constitution and rule like a dictator through coercive police-state tactics.

Ronald Reagan: I invoke executive privilege to cover-up my illegal dirty wars in Central America and my illegal arms dealing.

Bill Clinton: I invoke exectuive privilege to cover up the fact that i was diddling my beret-clad intern behind my wife's back.

With such an illustrious past, who knows what Cheney is hiding?

Just this week, a federal judge ordered the White House to comply with the NRDC's Freedom of Information Act request for the Energy Task Force documents by April 10. Unfortunately, that suit was filed a year ago, before Enron came to the fore. The GAO suit was only filed weeks ago. Will the Enron mess be over before Cheney is forced to reveal the level of influence Enron enjoyed in the White House?

Cheney certainly hopes so. He knows he's in a hole and is trying to minimize the impact of these revelations. The Republicans' relentless pursuit of President Clinton and the misdeeds of prior administrations have effectively destroyed the concept of executive privilege as a working defense, especially when it comes to Congress.

Cheney's only hope is in putting a hold on the NRDC's suit, which is possible. He might be able to control the release of information that will result from the White House's inevitable defeat when up against the GAO.

I personally hope that Cheney burns and burns badly on this one. When something as important as our national energy policy is planned by people who are judged by the money they donate rather than their merits, it's a serious problem.

I also hope that it encourages people to fight big money's influence in government. We know that the curtain of executive privilege will be yanked away soon enough. Then the full extent of Enron's influence will be known. You know, maybe the Republican's destruction of executive privilege wasn't so bad after all?