Friday, January 18, 2002

News from Democrats.com

Enrongate Ensnares Jeb Bush

If there's a Bu$h scandal, you can be sure that Little Brother Jeb is involved. So it comes as no surprise that Florida's pension fund lost $300 million in Enron's collapse. Jeb claims to be a hero because he recently fired the pension fund manager, Alliance Capital Management. But why did he hire the firm in the first place? The chairman of Alliance is Frank Savage. Savage is on the board of directors of - you guessed it - Enron. So why did Jeb give his state's pension funds to a director of Enron in the first place, and why did he wait until he lost $300 million before firing him? Could a $6,500 contribution from Enron to Jeb in 1998 have influenced him? Jeb's campaign manager, Karen Unger, says "Gov. Bush has never been swayed on an issue by a campaign contribution. He cannot be bought." Hey Karen - tell that to a judge! Read the Bussflash story here.

Florida's State Pension Fund Continued to Buy Enron Stock As the Company Imploded; State Pension Official is Coleman Stiponovich, Whose Brother Masterminded Katherine Harris's Moves to Steal the Election!

"The state Board of Administration fired Alliance Capital Management Corp. last month, saying it was troubled by the New York financial adviser's decision to continue buying Enron shares for the fund after indications of the company's financial problems became public. One of Alliance's executives, Frank Savage, was also a board member of Enron and a major contributor to political campaigns…'We've been investigating,'' said Coleman Stipanovich, deputy executive director of the State Board of Administration, which oversees the pension fund. 'If Alliance did anything improper or was unduly influenced by Savage, we could sue Alliance, but we have made no decision on that'… Stipanovich said state officials did not learn until late last year of Savage's tie to Enron." Hold the phone! A Jeb Bush appointee -- Coleman is the brother of 'Mac' Stiponovich – the Tallahassee lobbyist who masterminded Katherine Harris' moves to steal the election. Both brothers served key roles in Jeb's campaigns. Read the Sun-Sentinal story here.

Senator Gramm Lied About His Role in Enron Debacle

In December, Phil Gramm's press secretary said "Senator Gramm took no role, had no say, and did not vote on the energy futures provisions." But "on December 15, Gramm curiously turned up as co-sponsor of a bill with the same name, the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which did deregulate energy futures and which, without undergoing the usual committee hearings and preliminary votes, was immediately attached as a rider to an 11,000-page appropriations bill." So reports James Ridgeway in the Village Voice.

Phil and Wendy Gramm Belong In Jail

No two people played a greater role in Enron's massive fraud than Phil and Wendy Gramm. "In December 2000 Mr. Gramm was one of the ringleaders who engineered the stealthlike approval of a bill that exempted energy commodity trading from government regulation and public disclosure." Wendy "was chairwoman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 1988 until 1993. In her final days with the commission she helped push through a ruling that exempted many energy futures contracts from regulation, a move that had been sought by Enron. Five weeks later, after resigning from the commission, Wendy Gramm was appointed to Enron's board of directors." Together, Phil & Wendy enacted the laws and regulatory policies that let Enron get away with financial murder. They belong in jail - after they turn over their Enron profits to Enron's employees. Read about it in the New York Times.

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