BUSH AND REPUBLICANS SHOULD GIVE UP ILL-GOTTEN GAINS
by Greg Palast
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Their associates have to cough up the goodies too: lady friends must
give up their diamond rocks.
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 stolen from Enron retirees then stuffed into the Republican campaign kitty.
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.
So, Mr. Law and Order President, please follow the law and give up the
Energy Plan that Mr. Lay bought with other people's money.
When I worked as a racketeering investigator for government, nothing
was spared, including houses bought with purloined loot. Let there be
no exception here. It's time to tape up the White House gate and hang
the sign: "Crime Scene: Property to be Confiscated. Vacate Premises
Immediately."
***
Greg Palast is an internationally recognized expert on electricity
deregulation and power company racketeering. Co-author of the United
Nations guide to power industry regulation, Palast's investigation of
Enron won Britain's prize for top business story of the year in 1998
(with Antony Barnett of the Observer). Palast investigated Enron's
influence on the Bush Administration for BBC Television's newsnight and
his expose of Ken Lay's manipulation of the California power markets
and litigation won a 2004 Project Censored Award from California State
University at Sonoma's Journalism School. Palast's book, the New York
Times bestseller, "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy," includes a
summary of his investigations on Enron: "California Reamin': the real
story of deregulation and the power pirates."
To read more of Palast's writings or view his BBC film, "Policy or
Payback?," go to www.GregPalast.com
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