What WAS (is) Davis's role in the Enron coverup?

[truthseeker1]

If he wasn't involved, why hasn't Davis defended himself? Why was it Bustamante who filed the lawsuit against Enron? Why did Davis barely run a campaign?

[ScrewyRabbit]

1. I seem to recall

that Davis was explicitly stating that Enron and others were gouging California, and he pleaded for the Feds to step in and put caps on the market. But it was Cheney who sat back and chuckled that the market should just regulate itself, ie, California you're on your own.

[dutchdemocrat]

2. If you want to know what went down, go here.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=478765

read this and follow the link to the story

00000000

It is more clear

This is an article describing the actual meeting. This is also excellent reportage and somewhat more objective. I am on edit, reposting the whole thing so it is more clear...

http://newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2003-08-28/essay.asp


Total amnesia
Arnold can’t seem to recall anything about his secret meeting with Enron’s Ken Lay. Perhaps this will refresh his memory.

By Jason Leopold

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ken Lay leave Gray Davis and California ratepayers in the dark.

Arnold Schwarzenegger isn't talking. The Hollywood action-film star and GOP gubernatorial candidate in the state’s recall election has been unusually silent about his plans for running the Golden State. He hasn’t yet offered a solution for the state’s budget deficit, an issue that largely got more than 1 million people to sign a petition to recall Governor Gray Davis.

More importantly, however, Schwarzenegger still won’t respond to questions about why he was at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills two years ago where he, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and junk-bond king Michael Milken met secretly with former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay, who was touting a plan for solving the state’s energy crisis. Other luminaries who were invited but didn’t attend the May 24, 2001, meeting included former Los Angeles Laker Earvin “Magic” Johnson and supermarket magnate Ron Burkle.

While Schwarzenegger, Riordan and Milken listened to Lay’s pitch, Davis pleaded with President George W. Bush to enact much-needed price controls on electricity sold in the state, which skyrocketed to more than $200 per megawatt-hour (four to five times the price it was a year earlier). Davis said that Texas-based energy companies were manipulating California’s power market, charging obscene prices for power and holding consumers hostage. Bush agreed to meet with Davis at the Century Plaza Hotel in West Los Angeles on May 29 of that year--five days after Lay met with Schwarzenegger--to discuss the California power crisis.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT



http://newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2003-08-28/essay.asp

[truthseeker1]

6. Yeah, I know all about Arnold and Enron

Posted several messages here for people to forward that story on to the newspapers (with little response I might add) but I want to know what the story is with Davis and Enron. I'm almost convinced there must have been something more to it, because Davis went down without a fight. He didn't defend himself, he didn't point a finger at Arnold/Enron, nothing, zilch.

[Nicholas_J]

7. In order to deal with the crisis

and the massive rolling blackouts California was experiencing (In Part becasue Enron was having power shunted out of the state at one point, and thsne sending it back from outside of California in order to sell California its own electricity at higher rates.

Davis agreed to the increased prices enron was gouging in order to prevent the entire state from blacking out for weeks, and so he is blamed for spending too much money.

A set up. thats all. Davis was taken, but there wasnt much he could do about it.

[genius]

3. There are documents linking Arnold to Enron

Arnold met with Cheney and Delay and they planned out our energy fiasco. Davis had nothing to do with it. He just doesn't have the courage to do what he needs to do.

[Octafish]

4. Davis talked about it.

Media refused to cover it.

As to why he didn't label the Body Nazi ENRON's poster boy in his ads and so forth, I can only guess it was on the advice of his campaign experts who could advise him to keep things "clean."

[truthseeker1]

5. Well, that was a big mistake if you ask me

THAT's the kind of substance that moves voters these days, not sex scandals. People are tired of hearing about candidates personal lives.

I kept hearing how Davis was such a formidable opponent in campaigns and plays dirty. I kept waiting for the dirt to come out. I mean the real dirt. He deserved to lose since he didn't even defend himself.

[Tinoire]

8. Every Californian KNOWS how hard Davis fought Enron

Night after night he was on television talking about it and fighting them as no outside Democrat came to his aid. Both the DNC and the DLC were mum as if their tongues had been given to Enron in exchange for Enron contributions to their campaigns. Lieberman was a big receipient of Enron's largesse.

I am not a Centrist. I don't even like Centrists but Davis did a DAMN good job as Governor and he did fight. Maybe people who live outside of California needed to be reminded of that but we didn't.

Not even the Republicans needed to be reminded of that- they wouldn't have listened anyway because they're just as pig-headed as Democrats when they decide they don't like someone.

[truthseeker1]

9. Bullshit

Lots of Californians have been too frickin' busy in the last couple of years just trying to keep their jobs to pay attention to what's going on politically (including myself and my husband - we were both laid off in 2002). NO, not every Californian knew. There are lots of people not paying attention to this stuff. We finally were awakened to it all with the invastion of Iraq (and being unemployed we had more time to pay attention to it). Now I'm politically awake and active, and of course, I feel it's important for everyone to be a responsible citizen and pay attention too and not be duped. But I do remember what it was like to work 12-15 hours a day and married to my job, working so hard to try to keep that job, and not have time to give a shit. So I relate to everyone who's not aware of what's really going on.

That's why Davis needed to step up to the plate in the last couple of months to remind people what he did, but no, he acted like he was already conceding and gave no one any reason to keep him around. People voted for Arnold yes, because of his celebrity primarily. But he showed passion (faked or otherwise) and neither Davis nor Bustamante showed signs of life.