15 January 2002
Scandalous
Like Den Beste, I've been hesitant to write much of anything (outside of the comments for the weblog headlines) because it's unclear, despite the wishes of some Democrats, that there is a political scandal. It seems likely that Arthur Andersen's reputation is now shot to hell, and deservedly so, and it seems likely that there is most certainly a criminal scandal. The Bush Administration as well as Congress seem to be pursuing those, in their own way, and more power to them.
It's unfortunate that even the hint of scandal brings out such glee and frenzy among the DC press and politicos. It's also unfortunate how rarely the people at the center of such "scandals" are punished, and how frequently the tangential, low-level officials who might have made an inadvertent misstatement during hearings are pursued by justice officials under political pressure to find a guilty party, any guilty party. It's those sorts of people who often spend their life savings beating unfair charges (or sometimes copping a plea to avoid such bankruptcy). The buzz over Enron will be dead a year or so from now, but a number of undeserving people will be made to pay. And maybe a few deserving people.
It will also be a chance for Congressional Democrats to pry into Texas politics, and "discover" all sorts of shenanigans. Ken Lay is from Texas. Bush is from Texas. Lay was consulted on energy policy, in Texas and in DC. There must be an evil conspiracy. Heaven forbid anyone consult him because the whole world believed, for a time, that Enron was the future of world energy. That explanation is just not nefarious enough. It will be even more fun if (retiring) Senator Gramm and (retiring) Representative Armey, not to mention Tom Delay, can be dragged into the proceedings. They're Republicans, after all. And they're from Texas. And so is Ken Lay. And that will be too juicy for the Terry McAuliffe Dems to resist.
[Posted @ 11:51 PM CST]
