GIVE IT BACK, GEORGE: THE LAY LOOT THAT BOUGHT THE WHITE HOUSE

Greg Palast:

Under the racketeering law, RICO, even before a verdict, anything bought with the proceeds of the crime goes into the public treasury.

But there seems to be special treatment afforded those who loaded up on the 'bennies' of Ken Lay's crimes. If the G-men don't know where the tainted loot is cached, try this address: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Ask for George or Dick.

Ken Lay and his Enron team are the Number One political career donors to George W. Bush. Mr. Lay and his Mrs., with no money to pay back bilked creditors, still managed to personally put up $100,000 for
George's inaugural Ball plus $793,110 for personal donations to Republicans. Lay's Enron team dropped $4.2 million into the party that let Enron party.

OK now, Mr. President, give it back - the millions stuffed in the pockets of the Republican campaign kitty stolen from his Enron retirees.

And what else did Ken Lay buy with the money stolen from California electricity customers? Answer: the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Just before George Bush moved to Washington, Kenny-Boy handed his hand-picked president-to-be the name of the man Ken wanted as Chairman of the commission charged with investigating Enron's thievery. In a heartbeat, George Bush appointed Ken's boy, Pat Wood.

Think about that: the criminal gets to pick the police chief. Well, George, give it back. Dump Wood and end the "de-criminalization" of electricity price-gouging that you and Cheney and Wood laughably call
"de-regulation." Give us back the government Lay bought with crime cash.

And while we're gathering up the ill-gotten loot, let's stop by Brother Jeb's. The Governor of Florida picked up a cool $2 million from a Houston fundraiser at the home of Enron's former president long AFTER the company went bankrupt. Enron, not incidentally, obtained half a billion of Florida state pension money -- which has now disappeared down the Enron rat-hole.

And Mr. Vice-President, don't you also have something to give back? In secret meetings with Dick Cheney in the Veep's bunker prior to the inauguration and after, you let Ken and his cohorts secretly draft the
nation's energy plan - taking a short break to eye oil field maps of Iraq. Let us remember that the President's sticky-fingered brothers Neil and Marvin were on Enron's payroll, hired to sell pipelines to the
Saudis. The Saudis didn't bite, but maybe a captive Iraq would be more pliant.

While we're on the subject, read this letter from The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Pat Wood (here's an intro) --

Dear Chairman Wood:

We have received a copy your June 7, 2004 letter to Senator Barbara Boxer and are appalled at your indifference to both already established facts surrounding Enron's gaming of California ratepayers and to the suffering of Californians due to market manipulation perpetrated by companies that you regulate.
Most disturbing is the misstatement of conclusions already reached by your agency and that you show far more empathy for the discredited positions of Ken Lay, who first recommended you as a utility commissioner to then-Governor Bush, than for Californians. Despite the revelation by CBS News of taped conversations among Enron employees revealing overtly criminal behavior by Lay's employees (and explicit acknowledgement that Mr. Lay himself was in on the schemes), you have once again dismissed evidence of one of the largest crimes against consumers in our nation's history.
• You state: "the Commission found no evidence that there was market manipulation specific to the long-term contract negotiations and no evidence of unfairness, bad faith or duress in the negotiations of the long-term contracts."
In fact, that conclusion contradicts the findings of your own agency. According to FERC's "Final Report on Price Manipulation in Western Markets" of March 26, 2003 the manipulated spot market prices "significantly influenced" the energy prices agreed to in longer term contracts. Your agency found that "forward power prices were distorted" and FERC even developed "a detailed statistical analysis providing estimates of the extent of the distortion based on a certain level of distortion in spot power prices." Your claim that the awful behavior of Enron and its energy generation and trading counterparts did not improperly alter the environment in which California's long-term contracts were negotiated cannot be reconciled with the findings of your agency or the plain history of California's energy crisis.