Oh, What a Tangled Web We Weave

By: Bridget Gibson

"You must cut costs ruthlessly by 50 to 60%. Depopulate. Get rid of people. They gum up the works."

- Jeffrey Skilling, Enron President, 1997

On February 9, 2001, the USS Greenville (a nuclear submarine) performed an "emergency blow maneuver" smashing the hull of the Ehime Maru, a Japanese fishing trawler and sinking her within minutes. There were thirty-five souls on board, twenty-six which were rescued and nine, including four high school students, went missing and are presumed dead. The suddenness of this accident astounded the public.

A military trial was held for the Captain, yet there seemed to be many pieces to this puzzle that have continued to elude the light of day. It would appear that sometimes when things happen, it is not possible to obtain all of the facts leading to an occurrence. It is only in hindsight and with research and concern that many things become known.

Last week, Enron Energy, the behemoth of trading fell by its own sword. Concern for the stability of the transmission of electricity led me to wonder what other companies are in danger of being taken out along with Enron's massive failure. Each of us knows our local provider's name, but do we know where and how they obtain the "supply" that keeps our lights on, that keeps our houses warm, that keeps water flowing through the taps?

Thus, it was in attempting to understand the perfidious nature of Enron, Inc., that I have come upon some interesting information. Enron has been duping the public, the SEC, its employees, and its stockholders for many years. It has done this through the obfuscation of facts and by tangling its financial dealings with more knots than a hangman's noose. It may take years to untangle its misdeeds and corruption.

The low hanging fruit may yield interesting notes: Wendy Gramm, wife of Senator Phil Gramm - who, by the way, has announced that he will not run for re-election next year - sat on the Board of Directors and has been named in a lawsuit with Amalgamated Bank. Ms. Gramm was the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) prior to sitting on the Enron Board of Directors. She placed on the agenda of the CFTC the entire deregulation scheme. Did she do this at the behest of Enron and Kenneth Lay?

Kenneth Lay, CEO and Chairman of Enron, was the number one contributor for G.W. Bush's presidential bid; a man who refused last week to appear before a Congressional inquiry; a man who now admits that even he did not understand how his company operated. Ken Lay was the "darling" of Wall Street and close friend to George W. Bush and to his father, George Herbert Walker Bush. Now, Ken Lay doesn't get his phone calls returned for fear that perhaps his "bad luck" will rub off. One would have thought that Enron's millions would have bought more lasting friendships.

James A. Baker III, former Secretary of State under G.H.W. Bush, was a consultant for Enron and the Florida "point man" for G.W. Bush during the disputed election of 2000. Mr. Baker was on the Board of Directors at Reliant Energy (formerly Houston Industries) at the time of many of his "speeches" regarding the impending failure of our economy if Mr. Bush were not declared the immediate "winner" of Florida's electoral votes. In 1993, Mr. Baker secured a contract with the Kuwaiti government for Enron that doubled the price of electricity to the Kuwaiti public. Did Mr. Baker have an ulterior motive? Did he know that Mr. Bush would declare on January 29, 2001 that he "would not force Duke, Reliant and Dynergy not to sell electricity" to Californians? Did he believe that G.W. Bush would help Kenneth Lay write our Energy Policy and allow the abuse of the public trust to become so blatantly obvious?

Richard Priory is the CEO of Duke Energy. The value of Mr. Priory's stock options, including retirement benefits and other perks were roughly $845,000,000 (yes that is $845 million) in the year 2000. Mr. Priory's political contributions on behalf of Duke were so obscenely large that alarmed investors attempted to prohibit the company from making them. Duke's Board of Directors (under Priory's leadership) voted the motion down, stating that Duke's "participation in the political process" was too valuable to sacrifice. I guess Mr. Priory priorities are in the right place.

Frank Wisner, of CIA fame, was placed on the Board of Directors on October 28, 1997. Mr. Wisner had once been the Undersecretary of State for International Security Affairs. Mr. Wisner was the Ambassador to India from 1994 to 1997, and as such, he muscled through a contract for the Dahbol power plant construction for Enron. Within the first year, Enron collected as many as 27 human rights violation charges, as well as depleting all the water from the villagers wells. I am not quite sure what Mr. Wisner's duties were as a consultant, but I wonder if his position with Enron left him in charge of economic espionage?

Many other corporations are in an "at risk" position due to Enron's financial lack of ethics. Those companies include Williams Energy, with an exposure of less than $100 Million (does that mean $99,999,999.99?). We all have seen those lovely Williams Energy commercials. You remember the ones I refer to: Where the camera pans across the countryside showing the scar that is left after an oil pipeline has been placed across meadows, mountains and valleys. Why advertise that? What is the Williams Energy Company trying to sell us on anyway?

Then there is Aquila Energy, another energy trading megalith with an exposure of $50 Million. In 1998, Anthony Schnur and Ken Wyatt founded Aquila Energy Capital Corporation. Jay Brehmer was on the Board of Directors. And on February 9, 2001, Anthony Schnur, Ken Wyatt and Jay Brehmer were taking a joy ride on the USS Greenville.

The daily cost to have the USS Greenville at sea is approximately $25,000. You can only get a ride on this vessel by being very well connected to someone in high places. The cost of the salvaging of the Ehime Maru will exceed $20 Million. The taxpayers will pick up the tab for that. It sure appears that the working individual is expected to take care of a lot of things these days, paying for a number of accidents that probably could have been prevented had the helm been manned by someone who cared about lives that are lived by those without a golden parachute.