The Enron tapes

By Michael Fraase

Thursday, 03 June 2004 07:52PM CDT

Section: Business

You think they would have learned after Nixon.

CBS News has obtained tapes of Enron energy traders conversing among themselves about how badly they were sticking it to consumers back in the heyday of California’s experiment with a deregulated energy industry. The tapes are from Enron’s West Coast trading desk and prove that Enron’s traders deliberately drove up prices by ordering the the temporary shutdown of power plants.

To date, former Enron chairman Ken Lay has been Mr. Untouchable, the only high-level Enron employee who hasn’t been indicted. That should change soon based on the CBS tapes:

“Government Affairs has to prove how valuable it is to Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling,“ says one trader.

“Ok.“

“Do you know when you started over-scheduling load and making buckets of money on that?

Before the 2000 election, Enron employees pondered the possibilities of a Bush win.

“It’d be great. I’d love to see Ken Lay Secretary of Energy,“ says one Enron worker.

That didn’t happen, but they were sure President Bush would fight any limits on sky-high energy prices.

“When this election comes Bush will f———g whack this s—t, man. He won’t play this price-cap b———t.“

Crude, but true.

“We will not take any action that makes California’s problems worse and that’s why I oppose price caps,“ said Mr. Bush on May 29, 2001.

Only one question: how much longer before we institute the model uniform code for corporate responsibility?

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