On November 29, 2001, the Wall Street Journal ran an article, "Running on Empty-Enron Faces Collapse as Credit, Stock Dive and Dynergy Bolts" in which they reported, "Previously, even though Enron's practices had worried some regulators, the Bush administration had kept its distance. Over the last decade, the company and its chairman, Mr. Lay, may have been Mr. Bush's biggest financial backers, donating nearly $2 million to his campaigns. Before the company's recent problems came to light, Mr. Lay enjoyed unusually good access to top administration officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, who earlier this year drafted a new national energy plan that seemed to lean heavily on Mr. Lay's suggestions."
Based on this report, from a newspaper highly supportive of the Bush-Cheney administration, it appears that the National Energy Plan was at least in part an effort to help one of Bush's largest contributors.
From the New York Times more light is shed on the secrecy. In particular,
note the paragraph describing what happened when an analyst asked a pointed
question about the balance sheet: cursing ensued! In other words, we are
not going to tell you.
---------------------------------------
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/30/opinion/30LASH.html?todaysheadlines=&pagew
anted=print
November 30, 2001
Bankrupt Analysis
By ADAM LASHINSKY
"SAN FRANCISCO -- In early 2000, Enron, the natural gas pipeline company
turned online phenomenon, held a daylong conference in Houston for Wall
Street analysts and investors. The audience, packed with financial experts
on the natural gas and power industries, was wowed by all the talk of
Enron's online capabilities, especially its rapidly growing business of
electronically matching buyers and sellers of numerous commodities like
electricity and even network bandwidth.
The analysts were particularly receptive when Jeffrey Skilling, then Enron's
president, suggested that the company's money-losing broadband network
business alone was worth $29 billion, or an extra $37 a share. He even had a
nifty PowerPoint slide to explain his company's proper stock price.
Unsurprisingly, Enron's shares skyrocketed by more than 50 percent in the
first half of that year. Enron, it seems, had become an Internet company,
and decidedly old-economy energy-industry analysts were loath to be left
behind. Many openly acknowledged their lack of understanding of Enron's new
lines of business - but hey, the company told such a good story. Why quibble
over a few murky details?
Now Enron teeters on the brink of bankruptcy, and it's tempting to paint its
demise as a series of extraordinary events driven by behind-the-scenes deals
hidden by questionable accounting. And in fact, there's no doubt that the
company was engaged in some pretty unusual deals, and that it was less than
forthcoming about them.
One of the lessons of the Internet boom is that it's often difficult for
analysts to understand and evaluate new kinds of businesses. And executives
like Mr. Skilling, who once swore at an analyst during a conference call for
asking a pointed question about Enron's balance sheet, don't do much to
foster the kind of open inquiry that could lead to better information.
But the Enron debacle is also emblematic of another problem that has become
all too evident in the last few years: Wall Street's loss of objectivity.
Investment banks make far more money from underwriting or merger deals than
they do from broker fees. Analysts at these firms often face conflicting
loyalties. They can be put in the position of having to worry as much about
whether a chief executive might find a report offensive as whether an
investor might find it helpful.
In early 2000, Enron let it be known that it was considering a separate
public offering for its Internet operations. Analysts who raised prickly
questions about an initial public offering could be assured that their firm
wouldn't be chosen for the underwriting. That I.P.O. never happened, of
course, as Enron's plans for the broadband business collapsed. Nevertheless,
Wall Street failed to ask the questions that might have protected investors
from Enron's plunging market value."
-------------------------------------------------------
Obviously, there are very shady dealings around the Enron-Cheney
relationship that need the full attention of Congress, the SEC, and the US
Justice Department. The energy plan wasn't about energy independence at
all
or it would have addressed conservation much more seriously.
Donna Fezler
03/22/02 03/29/02 04/4/02 04/1/02 Enron asks Bankruptcy Judge for Executive Bonuses
Stunning Depths of Government Collaboration with Enron Revealed Enron was built with $7 billion (with a "b") of your tax dollars.
The Army Secretary's Business
BBC to broadcast documentary on ENRON
03/23/02 Arthur Anderson claims Federal Government does not have Constitutional Jurisdiction in shredding case. Given that the Enron case stretches across borders, my opinion is that the "Laws of other nations" clause may apply here. However, it would be interesting if the Enron case did result in reminding the public that the Federal Government is NOT supposed to be in the law enforcement business, which is reserved to the states.
03/25/02 Rumsfeld, White, and ENRON
03/26/02 
White may have had inside information when he sold his Enron stock
03/26/02 
Links between Enron and the War On Terror It's all about the oil
03/17/02 Anderson destroyed tons of evidence
03/17/02 Connecticut Authorities received bonuses after signing deal with Enron
03/12/02 The Enron-Cheney-Taliban Connection?
03/14/02 Arthur Anderson to be charged in Enron Fraud.
03/15/02 03/15/02 US pulls plug on all future dealings with Enron and Anderson
Bush Flatly Refuses to Hand Over Energy Papers: "a threat to executive authority" Impeachment, followed by a decent tarring and feathering!
03/06/02 Bush and Enron were business partners
03/08/02 
BREAKING: ENRON GAVE MONEY TO TALIBAN Used CIA as business agents in Afghanistan
03/07/02 Enron's links to the bin Ladens
03/04/02 Enron's code of ethics I know, I know, but at least it LOOKED good for a while.
# 02/23/02 ENRON MAINTAINED FAKE TRADING FLOOR TO TRICK ANALYSIS INTO THINKING BUSINESS WAS GOOD If this isn't fraud, what is?
# 02/20/02 ENRON's new $5 billion black hole Who and what is WhiteWing Associates?
# 02/25/02 Congressional investigator fears there are more Enrons out there.
# 02/25/02 ENRON at heart of Argentine collapse Argentine government’s Minister of Public Works says George W. Bush visited in 1988 to push transfer of Argentina's public energy into ENRON's private hands
02/04/02 ENRON inquiry in disarray Is there anyone working on the investigation who really wants it to go anywhere?
01/29/02 ENRON: Cash, Sex, and Fast Living Sounds like the final days of Rome
01/27/02 New York Times chart plots ENRON meetings with officials against stock price decline
02/07/02 Enron exposed the shady practices corporate executives use to swindle their investors ... and which congress ignores as long as those donations keep rolling in.
How Enron looted the public
How Enron looted the public, part 2
Enron scandal gets worse
Enron "only company to warrant an entire Amnesty International report, a chilling catalogue of human rights abuses from India to Latin America"
Wall Street looked other way while Enron collapsed.
02/12/02 ENRON Exploding The rich got richer, the poor got screwed, life goes on an usual in corporate America
