American Politics Journal

The Final Straw
Hebert's Testimony Exposes Lay's Power within the Bush Junta -- and Exposes Bush to Serious Trouble
By Tamara Baker

Jan. 22, 2002 -- SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA (APJP) -- Ever since the news about Enron broke, scores of folks have been hunting around for "the Smoking Gun": the one item that would, incontrovertibly, prove that there were deep, illicit, impeachment-worthy connections between George Walker Bush and the man who bought him, Kenneth Lay.

The past few weeks have seen tantalizing hints of the Smoking Gun's presence. Its appearance has been deduced from the evidence left behind:

The refusal of the judge hearing the case, a Republican named Lee Rosenthal, to immediately freeze the assets in the 3000-plus cash stashes set up by Mr. Fastow (and the list of juicy Enron and James Baker/Carlyle Group connections she possesses)

The recusals of John Ashcroft and the entire Houston, Texas, US Attorney's office, because of deep and lucrative ties to Enron and Lay

The illegal shredding, done by both Enron and Arthur Andersen, of Enron's documents long after they had been requested for viewing by the government

The many contacts made by Enron bigwigs and the Bush minions -- contacts that include Karl Rove's working in 1997 to get former Christian Coalition golden boy Ralph Reed a cushy job with Enron

The fact that the Bush Junta has repeatedly lied about its relations with both Enron and Kenneth Lay -- first denying that any contacts had been made at all during last year; then admitting several contacts, but trying to minimize them with the quickly-debunked lie that Lay supported Ann Richards in the 1994 Texas gubernatorial campaign

The fact that the State of Texas, under Governor Rick "Goodhair" Perry, George W. Bush's handpicked successor, chose to keep buying Enron stock for its pension funds well into November of last year: long after it was obvious that Enron was in a death spiral, and barely three weeks before Enron declared bankruptcy.

But all of these things, by themselves, aren't the Smoking Gun. They reek strongly of cordite, but they're not the Smoking Gun that proves that Enron and the Bush team were in an illicit embrace.

It turns out that what was missing wasn't so much a Smoking Gun as a Final Straw, the one crucial piece of evidence that, taken with every other piece, marks the point at which the weight of evidence suddenly tips irrevocably against the Bush Junta.

Former regulator: Enron tried to manipulate policy
January 15, 2002 Posted: 2:26 PM EST (1926 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The former chairman of a federal regulatory agency
painted a dark portrait Tuesday of Enron, saying the huge energy company had
sought to manipulate energy policies to its own advantage.
"Everything they espoused to Congress and to state leaders was always what's
in the best interests of Enron, never what's in the best interests of
American energy companies," said Curtis Hebert Jr., a former commissioner
with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in the Clinton administration. He
also served as FERC chairman in the Bush administration until the end of
August.

What's so big about this? Read on:

Two Bush Cabinet secretaries have acknowledged that Enron Chairman Kenneth
Lay called them last fall, alerting them to the company's financial woes. But
they said the conversations did not result in any intervention or action on
the government's part.

In an interview with CNN, Hebert -- who left the FERC in August -- said Lay
had wanted the agency to "mandate regional transmission organizations."

"When I told him that I didn't think it was the right thing to do and also
that there was no legal basis for it under the federal Power Act, he told me
that he and his company, Enron, could no longer support me as chairman,"
Hebert said.

Did you get that, boys and girls?

When Curtis Hebert didn't do what Kenny Boy wanted, Kenny Boy told him he was finished -- and in August 2001, less than seven months after George the Lesser moved into the White House, he was indeed finished.

And of course, we know why:

He said Lay never succeeded in influencing him to change policy. "I never
saw Ken Lay as a huge energy player," Hebert said. "I think a lot of people
did. I saw him as a trading company. That's why I never really allowed him to
exert any type of influence over me on what power companies or what utility
companies should be doing in this energy industry."

According to Hebert, the lesson of the Enron scandal is that "integrity matters."

The other lesson, embodied by Mr. Hebert himself, is that one person really can make a difference. Curtis Hebert's testimony shows that, to George W. Bush's sorrow.