Progressive Democrat Issue 78: THE ENRON REPUBLICANS

Why does the conviction of Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling matter so much? Because it is a blow to the Culture of Corruption that is so much a part of the Bush Administration. Halliburton Repubclians like Tom DeLay and Roy Blunt and Randy Cunningham (now in jail) think that they and the giant corporations that back them are above the law. Enron was one of those corporations with deep connections to Bush and the Halliburton Republicans and the conviction of their top executives hits very close to home for the neo-cons in the Republican party. From Salon.com:

Ken Lay was George Bush's number one financial backer. During the 2000 election campaign, Bush frequently flew on Enron corporate jets. Bush's first cabinet included a former Enron executive, Thomas White, as Army Secretary, and two former Enron advisers, Lawrence Lindsey (Bush's first chief economic adviser) and Robert Zoellick (Bush's first United States Trade Representative).

Vice President Dick Cheney met numerous times with Ken Lay to discuss energy policy. Lay was instrumental in the hiring of his hand-picked Texas buddy Pat Wood as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Lay's influence likely led to the Bush administration's do-nothing stance on the California electricity crisis. Do we even need to mention Wendy Gramm, the wife of Texas Senator Phil Gramm (R) and chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission? Just five weeks after a ruling in which she exempted Enron from certain forms of federal regulation that could have cost the company a great deal of money, she quit and joined Enron's board.

Let's keep the Bush administration in perspective. Some of the best friends of the Bush family are relatives of Osama bin Laden. Some of Bush's closest economic advisors are Enron execs who are guilty of corruption or are Halliburton execs who get no-bid contracts from the Federal government no matter how much they overcharge the taxpayers. Bush, Cheney and many of today's Congressional Republicans are corrupt as hell and the downfall of Enron may be the closest hit they've taken since the Abramoff-Republican scandal.