"Enronitis" Ravishing the GOP!

By David Corn, AlterNet. Posted January 25, 2002.

A new and contagious ailment is spreading through Republican circles; call it "enronitis." This condition, only recently identified, strikes suddenly and brings about a state of discombobulation, causing the afflicted, in the words of one medical expert, "to talk foolishness" when he or she is confronted with questions involving a particular energy company.

A classic case of this disorder was recently displayed on Meet the Press. (Already two research teams have begun papers regarding this episode.) The newly elected chairman of the Republican Party, Marc Racicot, was asked a straightforward question by Tim Russert: "The President first said that Mr. [Ken] Lay [the Enron CEO] was a supporter of [former Texas governor] Ann Richards. In fact, Mr. Lay gave ... Bush three times more money than Ann Richards in 1994 [when Bush was challenging Richards]. And Mr. Lay said he worked with Governor Bush ... on the presidential library with his father, worked with him on the '92 convention. Why can't the president and the Bush administration simply say, 'Ken Lay was a friend, he was a big financial supporter, and we told him no [when he contacted Bush officials as Enron was collapsing]'?"

Here was Russert offering spin-advice to the GOP chairman. But since Racicot was in the grip of enronitis, he was not able to reply, "You're right, Tim. That's essentially what happened." Instead he responded, "I think the evidence is plain that, in fact, there have been a number of different opportunities to deal with people that have been supportive of you in a campaign in a variety of different races all across the country, and as a consequence of that, there may be some assumptions, or an attempt to manufacture an issue ... But the president has very plainly stated that he wants all of the facts to be investigated, all of them to be presented so that the kinds of lessons that ought to be learned from this particular episode can be learned once and for all."

The evidence may be plain, but the meaning of Racicot's sentences were not. It is not unusual for political figures to duck questions, but often it is done in a coherent manner. Racicot, according to epidemiologists studying this outbreak, probably contracted enronitis when he recently was employed as a lobbyist for Enron. Racicot claims he was merely helping the firm with a single legislative matter and was not aware of its perilous financial condition or its fraudulent essence.

Which raises the question: what's worse -- being an mercenary who wittingly tries to obtain legislative favors for swindlers or being a mercenary who is willing, for a steep fee, to win influence for a firm engaged in business he or she does not fully understand? (Trust me, if you read the recent congressional testimony presented to Senate government affairs committee about Enron's under-the-table dependence on complicated, convoluted, and shady derivatives trading, you'd know that none of Enron's political pals and fixers -- which included former Christian Coalition boy-king Ralph Reed and current Bush economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey -- could have comprehended what the Enron racketeers were up to.)

After Racicot was chosen by Bush to head up the Republican Party, he placed his lobbying career on hold, but he did not leave the law-and-lobbying firm of Bracewell and Patterson, which hired him after his term as Montana governor came to a close. So if he's no longer lobbying, what is he doing for B&P? "Strategy," says Racicot.

This is an old dodge. Former government officials and others who do not want to be tagged lobbyists frequently present themselves as government affairs strategists. They do not, as registered lobbyists do, travel the corridors of Congress and federal agencies, buttonholing lawmakers and officials to obtain preferential treatment for their corporate clients. Instead, they tell the lobbyists working for their firm or their client whom to talk to and how to plead their case. That is, they coach the lobbyists.

Racicot's Enron connection has been a mild embarrassment for the Republicans. Lucky for him and them there's still a war going on. Not uncoincidentally, one treatment for enronitis's symptoms -- though not the disease -- is distraction.

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer also has caught this virus. When asked about Lay's come-as-you-are access to the White House -- Enron reps met with Vice President Cheney's energy task force at least half a dozen times -- Fleischer retorted, "The President thinks that access should be across the board. And that's why the Sierra Club, for example, as you know, met repeatedly with the energy task force."

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »