Kenneth Lay was one of 25 business executives on Clinton's Council on Sustainable Development. He advised Clinton on energy issues. (Source: Washington Post, Jan. 13, 2002; PageA01, "Enron Also Courted Democrats: Chairman Pushed Firm's Agenda With Clinton White House") 

Clinton Enron Nexus

-August 1993. New President Bill Clinton takes his first vacation, a ski weekend to Vail, Colorado. Who shows up to visit with Clinton? Ken Lay, Enron CEO.

"A tired-looking Clinton, off on his first real vacation since becoming president, seemed reluctant Saturday morning to admit to reporters that he was having a good time. He kept mumbling stuff about health care being the next big ticket item on his domestic agenda. But by evening, he'd had such a good time on the local links with Ford, golf legend Jack Nicklaus and Houston's own Ken Lay, chairman of the Enron Corp..." (Source: The Houston Chronicle, August 16, 1993, Monday, 2 STAR Edition SECTION: A; Pg. 5; "Clinton Takes Real Vacation")

-1994/1995 Clinton Administration "makes a sale" for Enron. Enron and the administration work together to win Enron the contract for a power plant in India. Clinton uses resources from the CIA to assess risk and analyze the strategy of Enron's British competitor. The administration is instrumental in procuring $400 million in financing from the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

"For 18 months, the Indian power-plant deal has floated near the top of the list of 100 or so big infrastructure projects around the world that the United States Government desperately wants American firms to win. It is the first of eight big power generation projects in India, and if the American consortium could close this one, it would create a precedent likely to give other American companies an advantage in billions of dollars of follow-on deals. In years past, American officials would have offered some modest help, but only as a sideshow to bigger foreign policy concerns, from containing Communist influence in South Asia to keeping India and Pakistan from accelerating their nuclear arms race. But that was another era in American foreign policy, before the Commerce Department built what Jeffrey E. Garten, the undersecretary of commerce for international trade, calls "our economic war room."

From that Washington war room, the negotiators for the Enron Corporation, the lead bidder in the American consortium, have been shadowed and assisted by a startling array of Government agencies. In a carefully-planned assault, the State and Energy Departments pressed the firms' case. The American ambassador to India, Frank G. Wisner, constantly cajoled Indian officials. The Secretary of Energy, Hazel O'Leary, brought in delegations of other executives -- including some last week -- to make the point that more American investment is in the wings if the conditions are right.

To sweeten the pot, the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation put together $400 million in financing. And working just behind the scenes, as it often does these days, was the Central Intelligence Agency, assessing the risks of the project and scoping out the the competitive strategies of Britain and other countries that want a big chunk of the Indian market.

The big push by Washington Inc. paid off last month when the Indian government awarded the power plant project to the American consortium." (Source: The New York Times, February 19, 1995, Sunday, Late Edition - Final SECTION: Section 3; Page 1; Column 2; Business/Financial Desk; "How Washington Inc. Makes a Sale")

-October 1995. Bill Clinton recruits Ken Lay to act as a point man for Clinton in drumming up support for Fast Track legislation. Lay just happens to be an old friend of Mack McClarty.

"Two distinguished political doctors have been brought in to try to revive a nearly dead bill allowing President Clinton to secure new trade agreements with other nations.

Bill Frenzel, a former Republican member of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Ken Lay, chief executive of natural-gas giant Enron Corp., have been called in to break a year-long impasse that has blocked meaningful progress on trade pacts with Chile, the rest of Latin America, and the Pacific im.

Both men are well known to one player in that dispute - Ways and Means Chairman Bill Archer, R-Texas, whose district includes Enron's headquarters in Houston. The two also have connections to the Clinton administration. Mr. Frenzel served as a special adviser to Mr. Clinton to lobby his former colleagues on the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mr Lay has been a friend of Clinton adviser Thomas "Mac" McLarty since Mr. McLarty's time as head of Arkansas' largest natural-gas utility." (Source: Journal of Commerce, October 10, 1995, Tuesday SECTION: FOREIGN TRADE, Pg. 3A; "Outsiders Called in to End Logjam on Trade Authority")

-August 1997 Clinton hosts Ken Lay at White House to discuss upcoming meeting in Kyoto, Japan concerning greenhouse gas.

"The Clinton administration, when calling business leaders to the White House to discuss what the United States' bargaining position on global warming should be at upcoming negotiations in Kyoto, Japan, chose John Browne of British Petroleum to represent the oil industry. But Browne is British, head of a London-based company. And Britain's new Labor government has blasted the United States for failing to go far enough to reduce greenhouse gases. So why was a Brit asked to participate? Browne has broken ranks with other oil executives to concede a buildup of carbon dioxide gases may be changing the Earth's climate. BP also happens to be the United States' largest crude oil producer with 13,000 employees in this country, company officials pointed out. Enron Corp.Chief Executive Ken Lay, who also was at the Monday meeting, said Clinton sounded Browne out on his opinions of the policies being pushed by the Europeans. Nobody seemed to worry the United States was tipping its hand. ""This is kind of early in the process,'' Lay said." (Source: The Houston Chronicle, August 6, 1997, Wednesday, 3 STAR Edition SECTION: BUSINESS; Business Digest; Pg. 1; "White House warms to BP exec")

-September 1997 Clinton helps Enron get a 3 billion dollar power-plant project in India.

"On Nov. 22, 1995, for example, Clinton scrawled an FYI note to McLarty, enclosing a newspaper article on Enron Corp. and the vicissitudes of its $3 billion power-plant project in India. McLarty then reached out to Enron's chairman, KEN LAY, and over the next nine months closely monitored the project with the U.S. ambassador to New Delhi, keeping Lay informed of the Administration's efforts, according to White House documents reviewed by TIME. In June 1996, four days before India granted final approval to Enron's project, Lay's company gave $100,000 to the President's party." (Source: Time Magazine, SEPTEMBER 1, 1997 VOL. 150 NO. 9; "THAT INVISIBLE MACK SURE CAN LEAVE HIS MARK")

-October 2000 Near end of Clinton's Presidency, but prior to the November election, a Clinton Assistant Treasury Secretary takes a position at Enron as vice president for federal government affairs. Observers call it a slap in the face to George Bush.

"Enron announced yesterday that Linda Robertson, assistant Treasury secretary for legislative affairs and public liaison, will join the Houston energy company in early November as vice president for federal government affairs. She will replace Joe Hillings, who earlier announced his retirement.

Ken Lay, chairman and chief executive of Enron, has given more than $ 290,000 of his own money to the Republican Party this year to help elect Bush, his longtime friend, president. But that didn't insulate Enron from criticism in some Republican quarters on Capitol Hill. "Enron has just slapped George W. Bush across the face. It just makes little sense," a GOP leadership aide said yesterday." (Source: The Washington Post, October 12, 2000, Thursday, Final Edition SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A23; SPECIAL INTERESTS; "Enron Hire Faces Some Partisan Fire")

Enron got from the Clinton White House during the California power crisis:

Clinton Treasury Secretary Summers and FERC Chairman Hoecker sided with Enron in opposing increased regulation of energy markets, including the critical question of capping electricity prices during California's power crisis last year.

Enron executives met frequently and dined with Clinton-appointed commissioners and their staff when they were deciding on the price cap and other contentious issues affecting California.

Enron Chairman Ken Lay attended meetings hosted by Mr. Summers in the last week of Clinton's term aimed at brokering an agreement between the state and large power generators such as Enron, which the state accused of price gouging.

Mr. Summers and Mr. Hoecking opposed price controls, and the commission repeatedly spurned California's demands for hard price caps on wholesale prices that were soaring as high as $250 per MWH.

Mr. Summers rejected a plea by Gray Davis for a federal bailout of the state's beleaguered utilities.

Mr. Summers agreed with Ken Lay on not regulating Enron and other energy derivative dealers. President Clinton signed into law an exemption for over-the-counter energy derivatives, as requested by Ken Lay.

Hard price caps were not adopted until President Bush's Chairman, Pat Wood, came on board in June.

Enron was particularly active in courting Commissioner Linda Breathitt, the swing vote on California issues. There were several meetings and dinners between Ms. Breathitt and Enron officials.

During the time the power crisis was exploding in December, 2000, Enron hosted several top commission staff members at its Houston headquarters. The sessions included lunch for the staff members with Jeffrey Skilling.

As WorldNetDaily first reported Jan. 22, Enron became one of OPIC's biggest customers during the Clinton years.

From fiscal year 1993 to fiscal 2000, OPIC gave at least $544 million in loans to Enron-related projects, the agency reported in a letter to the Senate panel. It provided another $204 million in political-risk insurance. OPIC listed only currently supported projects.

The Export-Import Bank, another federal overseas economic-development agency, gave more than $650 million in loans to Enron-related projects over the same period, confirming WorldNetDaily's earlier reporting.

Between 1993 and 1995 alone, Ex-Im Bank supported Enron deals in India, Turkey, the Philippines and China worth nearly $4 billion, making the Houston-based company one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Clinton administrations export policy. The head of the federal bank at the time, Kenneth Brody, is a close friend of former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, having worked with Rubin at Goldman Sachs. In his financial disclosure report, Rubin listed Enron among firms with which he had significant contact at his Wall Street firm. Former Enron CEO Ken Lay offered Rubin a seat on Enrons board in 1999, as he was resigning from the Clinton administration.

The Senate panel asked for data back to 1985. "It appears the agency made no loans to Enron-related businesses from 1985 to 1992," during previous Republican administrations, said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, ranking committee member.

Current outstanding balance on all the Clinton-era federal loans to Enron-related projects is $965 million, according to documents. With the insurance liability, the federal agencies' indirect exposure to Enron-related projects approved by the Clinton administration totals nearly $1.2 billion.

"These loans obviously were a tremendous benefit to Enron's operation," Grassley said, particularly since commercial banks rarely finance such long-term projects in unstable foreign markets.

A committee investigator told WorldNetDaily that the panel is reviewing confidential memos written or received by OPIC and Ex-Im Bank officials regarding the Enron transactions.

Former OPIC head Ruth Harkin was appointed by Clinton after her husband, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, campaigned vigorously for Clinton in '92 and '96. The senator was one of the ex-president's biggest boosters during his impeachment trial.

Prior to joining the Clinton administration, Ruth Harkin was a top corporate lawyer at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, a Washington firm that includes Clinton pal Vernon Jordan and Democratic power broker Robert Strauss. Akin Gump has listed Enron among its clients.

Ex-Im Bank board members during the Clinton years include Jackie Clegg, wife of Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Maria Haley, a former aide to Clinton in Little Rock and ex-wife of John Haley, who was convicted in the Whitewater investigation.

Dodd served as co-chairman of the Democratic National Committee during the '96 Clinton-Gore campaign. Clinton appointed Clegg vice chair of the Ex-Im Bank board in June 1997.

Haley has ties to the crooked Riady family who operate the Lippo Group out of Jakarta, Indonesia. The Riadys ran afoul of federal bank regulators after they took control of the Worthen Bank in Little Rock in the 1980s. Haley's long-time law partner, Mark Grobmyer, a Clinton golfing buddy, is a Lippo lobbyist.

While at Ex-Im Bank, documents show Haley OK'd federal loans for Indonesian projects worth more than $40 billion, including many involving Lippo and its subsidiaries.

Clinton replaced her on the board with Vanessa Weaver, who was forced by the Senate Banking Committee to recuse herself from Lippo transactions after a 1999 Investor's Business Daily story exposed her close ties to Lippo executive John Huang.

Both Huang and James Riady have since been convicted of fraud relating to Clinton-Gore fund-raising.

Two Enron executives -- Joseph Sutton and Rebecca McDonald -- have served on the Ex-Im Bank's advisory committee.

Enron, which usually backs Republicans, gave more than $150,000 to Clinton's party during the 1996 election cycle.

Yet another federal agency, the Trade and Development Agency kicked in more than $1.1 million from 1992 to 2001 for foreign projects involving Enron or its subsidiaries. It also sponsored 11 visits to the U.S. by foreign officials who participated in Enron-related projects. (Source: World Net Daily, January 22, 2002; "Senate probes Clinton loans for Enron deals")

Like many new technologies in the early stages of commercialization, there have been problems to solve. For instance, Zond learned an important lesson from the Texas wind facility: Lightning can wreak havoc with a wind turbine. "The main construction of our wind power plant occurred during the summer, which is our peak lightning season," says Brian Champion, former renewable site supervisor for Central and South West. "We had a generator on one turbine destroyed by lightning before that turbine ever operated. That was a little hint that something was not quite right." Even when the turbines were properly grounded, lightning strikes occasionally damaged motors on the turbine and knocked out communication links between the turbines and the power plant's operations center.

The problem with lightning was not anticipated by the turbine manufacturer based in California, where the Z-40 prototypes were tested. Storms in California are paltry in comparison with the frequent, severe thunderstorms that move across the plains of west Texas during the summer.

"We've done studies of lightning strikes within a 300-mile radius of our wind facility," Champion says. "On occasion, we've seen 300 strikes a minute."

Working with the NWTC and the National Lightning Safety Institute, Central and South West and Zond found ways to alleviate the problem. They worked together to install an electronic lightning protection system in the communications cables and create better grounding around the turbines. Each turbine is now surrounded by an irrigated trench filled with copper straps and bentonite, a highly absorbent type of clay. Since the trenches were installed, the facility has not lost any major equipment such as motors to lightning.

Central and South West's Manager of Technology Development Ward Marshall is excited about solving the lightning problem. "The best lightning/wind energy research center in the world is in Fort Davis, Texas," he boasts. "No one in the world has studied lightning to the degree we have at our wind farm." Thanks to the turbine verification program, utilities throughout the Great Plains will be able to reap the benefits of Central and South West's experience.

The turbine manufacturer also profited from the experience. "The turbine verification program has been very valuable for us," says Dr. Amir Mikhail, vice-president of engineering at Zond. "It allowed us to move quickly from a prototype unit into full production. At the same time, we've been able to see how our machine operates in different environments."

WIND FACILITY PROVIDES CLEAN, RENEWABLE ENERGY TO THOUSANDS IN THE MIDWEST

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, September 24, 1998

The world's largest single wind power generation facility will be dedicated this Saturday, in the Midwest plains near Lake Benton, Minn. Constructed, owned and operated by Enron Wind Corp., the wind turbines in use at this facility are based on an earlier machine developed in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy.

"Minnesota has shown visionary leadership in developing clean affordable energy from the immense untapped power of wind," said Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson. "We are excited that Enron developed this technology with technical contributions made by the Department, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration with Enron for the development of their next generation wind turbine."

Electricity generated by this wind facility is sufficient to power 43,000 homes and will displace greenhouse gasses equivalent to removing 50,000 new cars and light trucks from the road. Power is being purchased by the Northern States Power Company (NSP), a utility with a service territory that includes much of Minnesota, and parts of Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, and Michigan. NSP has been actively involved in wind energy for years and is now reaping a new crop from these Minnesota farm lands.

The Energy Department's Wind Program has played a key role in supporting Enron Wind Corp. as they have become the current premier wind turbine company in the United States. The Department partnered with Zond Energy Systems, the manufacturing arm of Enron Wind Corp., for the development and field testing of their 550 kW Z-40 wind turbine, the predecessor to their 750 kW turbine used in Lake Benton. The Department's Wind Program is currently in partnership with Enron Wind Corp. for the development of their next generation, 1000 kW wind turbine which is targeted to greatly enhance the competitiveness of wind energy and open up large markets in the Midwest.

A primary goal of the wind program is to develop wind energy technologies that are cost-effective and reliable and can be deployed widely throughout the country. To help Enron Wind and other wind companies verify the performance of their new wind turbines, the Department joined forces with the Electric Power Research Institute to create the Turbine Verification Program, which evaluates companies' early production units in small projects with utilities.

Such projects in Texas, Vermont, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, and Alaska have allowed wind companies to make many improvements in the design and operation of their new turbines, while providing the host utilities an opportunity to learn about wind power. The Department is also helping U.S. wind companies certify that their turbines meet international standards, and allow them to compete in rapidly growing international markets for wind energy. Dan Reicher, Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, will represent the Energy Department at the dedication.

Department of Energy
R-98-127

WORLD'S LARGEST WIND POWER FACILITY DEDICATED.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, September 17, 1999

Storm Lake, Iowa - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) tomorrow will help dedicate the world's largest wind power generating facility in Storm Lake, Iowa. Owned and operated by Enron Wind Corporation, the new facility will employ technology jointly developed and tested by DOE and Enron.

"The turbines at Storm Lake will allow us to better utilize the vast resource of wind power," said Energy Secretary Bill Richardson. "This public-private partnership is producing tangible results that will support the continued development of wind technologies and speed wind power to the open market."

The fastest growing world wide energy source for the past decade, wind power capacity in the United State's currently totals approximately 2,500 megawatts, enough electricity to supply more than 800,000 typical U.S. households. Today's wind technology is capable of delivering electricity at a cost of between 4 and 6 cents per kilowatt hour. In 1980, wind capacity provided less than 10 megawatts of power at a cost of approximately 40 cents per kilowatt hour.

The annual output at the Storm Lake site is projected to equal the electricity created from burning 1.3 million barrels of oil. With 257 wind turbines each capable of generating up to 750 kilowatts, the facility will, on average, generate enough electricity to supply 71,000 American homes or 191,000 people. The electricity will be purchased by Mid-American, headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa and IES Utilities, headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

The Energy Department's wind program has played a key role in supporting wind resources nationwide. The Department partnered with Zond Energy Systems, the manufacturing arm of Enron Wind Corp., to develop and test a 550 kilowatt (kwh) Z-40 wind turbine, the predecessor to the 750 kw wind turbine used in the new Storm Lake facility. The DOE is currently working with Enron Wind Corporation to develop a 1000 kwh wind turbine, which will greatly enhance the competitiveness of wind energy and open up large markets in the Midwest.

The Department's Wind Powering America initiative, announced by Secretary Richardson in Burlington, Vermont in June, will provide aid the continued development of wind energy in the United States. The goals of the initiative are to supply at least five percent of the nation's electricity needs with wind by the year 2020; triple the number of states which have more than 20 megawatts of wind capacity to 24 by 2010; and increase the federal government's use of wind generated electricity to five percent by 2010.

The Department has also joined forces with the Electric Power Research Institute to create the Turbine Verification Program to help wind companies verify the performance of their new wind turbines. Such projects in Texas, Vermont, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, and Alaska have allowed wind companies to make improvements in the design and operation of their new turbines. The Department is also helping U.S. wind companies meet international standards and compete in the rapidly growing international wind energy markets.

Dan Reicher, DOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, will represent the Energy Department at the Storm Lake dedication event.

- DOE -
R-99-252

Enron Corp. grew in the 1990s from a small Texas natural gas company to a $50 billion global energy-trading giant with extensive help from the Clinton administration.

The company's international stature grew remarkably in the 1990s, to a point that Clinton officials sought its help in solving problems big and small, including drumming up support for the global-warming treaty, promoting economic development in the war-torn Middle East and Bosnia and drafting the details of an arcane bankruptcy reform measure.

One key success for the company was getting the administration to propose a new round of world-trade negotiations on energy services, an industry Enron dominated at home and hoped to turn into a trillion-dollar enterprise abroad.

Documents released by the Treasury Department show that President Clinton's trade representative, Charlene Barshefsky, seized upon the idea, offered to her by a coalition of energy companies headed by Enron, and presented it almost verbatim in World Trade Organization negotiations in May 2000. Other nations agreed in March 2001 to start discussions on energy services, with the aim of lowering regulations and other barriers to trade.

With the help of more than $1 billion in subsidized loans and insurance from Clinton agencies, Enron also built dozens of international projects, from a natural gas pipeline in China to clean-burning power facilities in Brazil and the Gaza Strip, according to a top Clinton official. The projects are said to have dovetailed with Mr. Clinton's twin goals of promoting American business overseas and encouraging environmentally friendly energy development.

"The whole world was just waking up and becoming export oriented" in the 1990s, and Enron was on the cutting edge of the globalization wave, said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

"Clinton was a big supporter of companies doing business overseas. He was a huckster for corporate America, and that's how he got big contributions" from companies such as Enron that had global ambitions, the official said.

Enron, its political action committee and its employees contributed more than $1.5 million to Democratic candidates and causes during the Clinton years.

While Enron and Mr. Clinton shared many interests, the official said he was shocked at how successful Enron was with the administration; it won approval for 19 of 20 loan applications it made for its far-flung and often risky international projects. The largest of those, in Dabhol, India, has since failed and may become a liability for U.S. taxpayers.

"They were great pros at working Washington, there's no doubt about it," the official said, ranking Enron among the most formidable corporate lobbying powerhouses with dozens of Washington representatives to push its interests in the 1990s. "The reality is, that's what our democracy begs for. You can't knock the fact that people play that game well."

The Clinton official noted the irony that Enron contributed more to Republican candidates but seemed to get more for its money from Democrats.

"We think it is a function of the government to support American companies and their workers. But conservatives say that's baloney," he said. Despite receiving generous campaign contributions from Enron, the Bush administration denied Enron requests for assistance as it was spiraling toward bankruptcy last fall.

That contrasts with the working relationship Enron had developed with the Clinton administration. One internal Enron document says the Clinton White House sought Enron's assistance in getting China and India to participate in the Kyoto global-warming treaty, mindful that the accord faced a key obstacle in the Senate: Lawmakers were loath to ratify any treaty that left out major developing nations whose greenhouse-gas emissions were projected to soon outstrip the emissions of the United States.

"The administration is concerned about getting China and India into the family of nations committed to" reducing emissions of carbon dioxide through an international-trading regime championed by Enron, said company lobbyist John Palmisano in an October 1996 memo describing how the company was working with the Clinton administration and environmentalists to secure support for the treaty.

Mr. Palmisano said the White House specifically suggested that Enron consider expanding its natural gas business by building clean-energy projects in China, a heavy user of coal, which is the biggest source of carbon emissions. In April 1999, three years later on a trade mission to China, Commerce Secretary William M. Daley announced a first joint venture between Enron and Beijing to build a natural gas pipeline.

It was one of more than a dozen Clinton trade missions in which Enron Chairman Kenneth L. Lay and other company executives accompanied the commerce secretary and touted Enron's international projects.

Enron expected to earn big money from its clean-energy projects under the Kyoto treaty. The accord rewards such projects with "credits" for carbon reductions that Enron expected to be able to resell at a large profit to other companies seeking to comply with the treaty. Enron was positioning itself to be a pioneer in the huge international emissions-trading market envisioned under the treaty.

At the time Mr. Palmisano wrote his 1996 memo, Mr. Clinton and Enron had hopes that other countries would agree to let companies like Enron build projects in Third World nations and then resell the credits they earned to other companies a provision that would have made the energy giant's projects in China, India, Brazil and other developing countries more lucrative.

Negotiators at subsequent U.N. talks, however, did not agree to authorize such "joint implementation" projects in developing countries, although a provision authorizing such projects in former Soviet bloc states was included in the treaty.

"This means that Enron projects in Russia, Bulgaria, Romania or other Eastern countries can be monitized in part by capturing carbon reductions for sale back in the U.S. or other Western countries," Mr. Palmer said in a December 1997 memo trumpeting the Kyoto treaty as a "victory" for Enron that would drive up its stock price.

"This agreement will do more to promote Enron's business than will almost any other regulatory initiative" because of the premium the treaty places on projects involving natural gas and renewable energies like wind power another area of expansion for Enron, Mr. Palmisano wrote. "Enron has immediate business opportunities which derive directly from this agreement."

Enron saw the potential to work with Mr. Clinton from the day he was elected, noting in a November 1992 company newsletter that Mr. Clinton's energy and environmental policies would aggressively expand the use of natural gas because it emits only half as much carbon as coal. The newsletter also notes that Al Gore, Mr. Clinton's vice president, was one of the strongest proponents of a global-warming treaty.

By the end of the decade, Enron built on its success by winning Mr. Clinton's approval for its proposal on energy services trade. Enron had evolved from a producer of physical infrastructure like pipelines and power plants into the leading international energy trader, earning most of its money buying and selling intangible financial assets.

Enron got considerable help along the way from Clinton Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers and other top officials by winning regulatory exemptions for its domestic activities.
It hoped to amplify those gains by pushing for the same kind of deregulated markets overseas.

Mr. Lay made a pitch for Enron's vision of a deregulated, global energy market to delegates at the ill-fated world trade talks in Seattle in December 1999. But although those negotiations fell apart amid anti-globalization street protests, Enron's dream of beginning a round of trade talks on energy services survived when talks resumed the next spring.

While Enron's lobbying achievements at times were sublime, the company was no shirker of details when money was involved. It sought and received help from the Treasury Department to gain more favorable tax treatment of its overseas energy projects. Enron complained that its efforts to expand overseas were being undermined by obscure provisions of U.S. tax law, and it lobbied both the Clinton and Bush administrations to remove the impediments.

Enron didn't shy away from inserting itself into even the most arcane matters that stood in the way of business.

Documents show that company lawyers provided the Clinton Treasury Department with line-by-line legislative language to be included in the bankruptcy-reform bill to ensure the quick settlement of energy derivative contracts in the event of bankruptcy.

Ironically, the bankruptcy provision never became law, and Enron was unable to take advantage of the procedures when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Dec. 2. (Source: The Washington Times, April 8, 2002; "Clinton agencies assisted Enron rise")

WASHINGTON - "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall."

This week, this old nursery rhyme has taken control of this column. From Washington to Pittsburgh by way of New York City and Los Angeles with important detours to China, Japan, India, Mozambique, Croatia, England, Germany and elsewhere in the world, we have been watching and reading about the great fall of Enron.

What a fall and from what a great wall! The Enron Corporation's 50-story building had always cast a shadow on Houston's South Street, and it glittered in the sunlight as Enron began to fall and stockholders scrambled to dump their shares. And Enron's shares were dumped - the value of company shares fell $22 billion (yes, that's a "B"!) in the past six weeks!

"All the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put Humpty together again." As in the nursery rhyme, so in fact.

Enron, the Texas-based international energy giant now seeking escape from bankruptcy, faces huge problems with even attempting to put its mirror-like combine back together again. And, despite the "King's men" having help with the heavy lifting from the White House, Congress, the courts and hundreds of faceless bankers and bean counters, this Dumpty just won't fit together anymore.

Even the new name of Dumpty reflects on a stricken giant. Shares valued at $90 each this August are selling for 10 to 26 cents. These once wonder-shares have been degraded to "junk" as thousands of investors rapidly dumped 173.6 million shares. Dumpty Enron, facing losses worldwide that add up to more than $5 billion, now is a monster under stress - and it is a monster that is both shameless and insatiable.

Dumpty is sniffing around its key creditors (J.P Morgan, Chase and Citigroup) for what is called "debtor-in-possession" loans of more than $1 billion. This shows the truth behind the adage that if you owe a bank enough (Enron owes some $3 billion), you own the bank.

The geniuses of the 21st-century marketplace will now learn a sobering and exceedingly painful truth. The kindly, gentle and truly awful socialist pediatrician, Dr. Benjamin Spock, was effectively responsible for Dumpty Enron's collapse and for much else that is wrong with our Republic today.

Because of the genial old doctor, generations of decent American babies developed into troll-like kids ready to stamp and scream until they got what they wanted. Undisciplined, and having forfeited love for abhorrence, they became gargoyle-like adults, liberally laced with Prozac, whose creed was, "If you get away with it, it's cool. Getting caught is bad, so be more careful next time." Dumpty Enron got caught!

The so-called "popular press," in its usual searches for the clay feet with which they invest every well-known person, will now try to link Enron's present woes to the White House. Too bad, guys, you should have started investigating Enron's ties (ties not links) in 1993 and onward to the sales team of Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Ron Brown.

Congress is to initiate hearings as to what went wrong with Enron. It's a safe bet to assume that a major part of the investigation will center on Enron's 5,000 Houston employees who may be jobless within a few days. Jobless and learning that their pension plan was based on company stock that has lost 99 percent of its value. As they live on their unemployment and Social Security pittances, these unfortunate thousands can think about how their employer and its accountants, Arthur Anderson (paid at $1 million a week), inflated profits on paper and scaled down the company's debts. To get away with that kind of "little illegality," a close-mouthed loyal staff is vital. Already prosecutors from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Internal Revenue Service, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City and Houston are finding voluble and knowledgeable witnesses eager to cooperate. Subpoenas for individuals and records are now being served.

Yet with so many politicians from both political parties being the recipients of Enron's political donations in both hard and soft money, objective justice may not be easy. Moreover, Enron was generous to the last cent of other people money! Its corporate leaders funded business schools and scholarships, and gave and gave to the United Way! Even Houston's giant sports arena, home to the Astros baseball team, carries the name "Enron Field," a little vanity that cost a mere $100 million for a 30-year deal.

Enron had the best brains that money could buy, but gave the word "ethics" a whole new meaning. The cowboys of Dumpty Enron talked up a storm about ethics; but only a few at the top realized that "ethics" was an acronym for "Enron thinks how income can (be) stolen."

That's a stretch; but look at their 1994 sales team - Clinton, Gore and the late Ron Brown - a trio unlimited and uncontrolled in their cunning and greed.

In what seems to be eons ago, before Gov. Bill Clinton became president, the late, much loved and little lamented Ron Brown was Clinton's good friend and a power broker in the National Democratic Party. Ron Brown had a friend, a congressman from Houston, the late Mickey Leland, who died in 1989. Until his passing, Leland was a shining light in the Congressional Black Caucus and a dedicated socialist, who was one of the Institute for Policy Studies' delights.

From 1984, when Enron was conceived, Brown and Leland were there snapping up unconsidered trifles of money for use in their campaigns against the free market. Mickey was able to ease a lot of Enron's early problems through the Houston City Council by playing his "equal opportunity card." He had also become an African expert who initially took the Enron message to that continent, a chore that was taken on by Ron Brown, Clinton's secretary of commerce, before the latter met his untimely death in a highly controversial plane crash in Croatia. (Untimely, because had Secretary Brown lived, he would have faced multiple criminal indictments that could have precipitated an even earlier fall for Bill Clinton and his gang.)

Now we get to that old puzzle about chickens and eggs, and what came first! Ron Brown, Al Gore and Bill Clinton introduced Enron to market managers in Russia, China, Indonesia and India. In India, Enron quickly became involved in one of that country's most massive corruption investigations, contracts were canceled and Enron was out.

On the other hand, Enron introduced the Clinton team to Lippo Industries and thence to China's People's Liberation Army (a wonderful source of political cash), to John Huang, another good provider and to nameless, numberless Arabs who never arrived with empty pockets. If we look at a list of those attending coffee klatches at the White House, we can learn why a storm of doubtful deals enabled Enron to quickly control one-quarter of the world's electricity and natural gas. But, that wasn't enough. The ever-so-greedy Dumpty moved in to water deals in Massachusetts and Europe, paper mills in Canada, gas pipe lines throughout the world, fiber optics, television, mutual funds and information gathering. In turn, that led to risk analysis, a name that those clever Texans quickly changed to "reward realization!"

The rewards were good! Enron, with sales assistance from Tony Lake, then Clinton's national security adviser, persuaded the impoverished, war-torn country of Mozambique to sign a $770 million electric power contract. Mozambique signed because Tony's salesmanship was persuasive. If the Mozambicans didn't sign, he indicated that their congressionally approved $44 million U.S. aid payment would never be made.

And there was the Croatian caper. In the days when Franjo Tudjman was Croatia's dictator and pretending to be both a reformed communist and best friend of America in the Balkans, poor Franjo had a problem. He and some of his very best friends were wanted as war criminals by the Hague's International Court of Justice. Enron wanted a power contract with Croatia. Enron offered a deal to Tudjman. Sign up with us and we will use our gang in Washington to make sure you and your friends don't go to jail.

Tudjman signed. Enron made a heap of money. Nobody went to jail. Everyone was happy - until Tudjman died of cancer. Then the lid was off, his Croatian Democratic Union was defeated and the new boys in power in Zagreb could not believe how much of their budget went to pay the electricity bills from Enron.

Somebody - probably another Dr. Spock child eager to tell on his peers - prattled! Under quiet pressure from the Croats, another deal was made and a couple of guys were charged as war criminals. Electricity costs went down (but not to the consumers) and as a part of the deal nobody talked, except about the wonderful vacations that they were enjoying in the Caribbean.

This could be called a "cautionary tale." There are two cautions. The first: Beware of the Spock babies now that they are nearing retirement and losing whatever sense they had. The second: Investigators all, beware, as you look into the depths and shallows of Enron you may, if you are truly unlucky, find the truth. And, if you do, these truths won't make you free, just well informed.

Since Sept. 11 and the anthrax outrage, some government departments have expanded and dispersed around the Washington region. One department, identified by the usual alphabet soup of letters and much concerned with gathering and processing intelligence and information from all over the world, now finds itself in a building where, a few floors below its official quarters, there is a restaurant and bar.

The deputy director of this government enterprise is a gentleman with a liver like the soles of an old boot. He sits in the bar from 10 a.m. until noon. Then he leaves for lunch; but he resumes his bar watch at 2.30 p.m. and leaves with his car pool at 5 p.m.

Our poster boy does not waste his day. Throughout his vigils, colleagues from other agencies visit him with their reports and requests. Information is exchanged and even one or two job applicants have been interviewed. And, of course, every day and every hour, his flatterers and flunkies, who make sure that his check is paid, surround the deputy director.

With cold weather forecast, the prospects of stories from warm, comfortable quarters, while appealing, are canceled out by a hereditary need for cups of strong tea! (Source: The Tribune Review, December 9, 2001; "Clinton-Gore sales team eased Enron's path to success")