SCHWARZENEGGER, KEN LAY & $9BILLION RIPOFF OF CALIF.

> STOP, THIEF!  
> I foretell a sorry day for California.
> How fast can you get THIS word out?
>
> palast@gregpalast.com wrote:
>
> Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 21:11:27 -0400
> From: palast@gregpalast.com
> Subject: Arnold Unplugged
>
> ARNOLD UNPLUGGED
> It's hasta la vista to $9 billion if the Governator is selected
>
> by Greg Palast  -  Friday October 3, 2003
>
> It's not what Arnold Schwarzenegger did to the girls a decade back that
> should raise an eyebrow. According to a series of memoranda our office
> obtained today, it's his dalliance with the boys in a hotel room just
> two years ago that's the real scandal.
>
> The wannabe governor has yet to deny that on May 17, 2001, at the
> Peninsula Hotel in Los Angeles, he had consensual political intercourse
> with Enron chieftain Kenneth Lay. Also frolicking with Arnold and Ken
> was convicted stock swindler Mike Milken.
>
> Now, thirty-four pages of internal Enron memoranda have just come
> through this reporter's fax machine which tell all about the tryst
> between Maria's husband and the corporate con men. It turns out
> that Schwarzenegger knowingly joined the hush-hush encounter as
> part of a campaign to sabotage a Davis-Bustamante plan to make
> Enron and other power pirates then ravaging California pay back
> the $9 billion in illicit profits they carried off.
>
> Here's the story Arnold doesn't want you to hear. The biggest single
> threat to Ken Lay and the electricity lords is a private lawsuit filed
> last year under California's unique Civil Code provision 17200, the
> "Unfair Business Practices Act." This litigation, heading to trial now
> in Los Angeles, would make the power companies return the $9 billion
> they filched from California electricity and gas customers.
>
> It takes real cojones to bring such a suit. Who's the plaintiff taking
> on the bad guys? Cruz Bustamante, Lieutenant Governor and reluctant
> leading candidate against Schwarzenegger.
>
> Now follow the action. One month after Cruz brings suit, Enron's
> Lay calls an emergency secret meeting in L.A. of his political
> buck-buddies, including Arnold. Their plan, to undercut Davis
> (according to Enron memos) and "solve" the energy crisis -- that
> is, make the Bustamante legal threat go away.
>
> How can that be done? Follow the trail with me.
>
> While Bustamante's kicking Enron butt in court, the Davis
> Administration is simultaneously demanding that George Bush's
> energy regulators order the $9 billion refund. Don't hold your breath:
> Bush's Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is headed by a guy
> proposed by Ken Lay.
>
> But Bush's boys on the commission have a problem. The evidence
> against the electricity barons is rock solid: fraudulent reporting of sales
> transactions, megawatt "laundering," fake power delivery scheduling
> and straight out conspiracy (including meetings in hotel rooms).
>
> So the Bush commissioners cook up a terrific scheme: charge the
> companies with conspiracy but offer them, behind closed doors, deals
> in which they have to pay only two cents on each dollar they filched.
>
> Problem: the slap-on-the-wrist refunds won't sail if the Governor of
> California won't play along. Solution: Re-call the Governor.
>
> New Problem: the guy most likely to replace Davis is not Mr.
> Musclehead, but Cruz Bustamante, even a bigger threat to the power
> companies than Davis. Solution: smear Cruz because -- heaven forbid!
> he took donations from Injuns (instead of Ken Lay).
>
> The pay-off? Once Arnold is Governor, he blesses the sweetheart
> settlements with the power companies. When that happens, Bustamante's
> court cases are probably lost. There aren't many judges who will let a
> case go to trial to protect a state if that a governor has already
> allowed the matter to be "settled" by a regulatory agency.
>
> So think about this. The state of California is in the hole by $8
> billion for the coming year. That's chump change next to the $8
> TRILLION in deficits and surplus losses planned and incurred by George
> Bush. Nevertheless, the $8 billion deficit is the hanging rope
> California's right wing is using to lynch Governor Davis.
>
> Yet only Davis and Bustamante are taking direct action to get back
> the $9 billion that was vacuumed out of the state by Enron, Reliant,
> Dynegy, Williams Company and the other Texas bandits who squeezed
> the state by the bulbs.
>
> But if Arnold is selected, it's 'hasta la vista' to the $9 billion.
> When the electricity emperors whistle,  Arnold comes -- to the Peninsula
> Hotel or the Governor's mansion. The he-man turns pussycat and curls
> up in their lap.
>
> I asked Mr. Muscle's PR people to comment on the new Enron memos --
> and his strange silence on Bustamante's suit or Davis' petition. But
> Arnold was too busy shaving off his hitlerian mustache to respond.
>
>
> To receive more of Greg's investigative reports click here:
> http://www.gregpalast.com/contact.cfm
>
> Greg Palast is author of the New York Times bestseller, "The Best
> Democracy Money Can Buy" as well as "Regulation and Democracy" (with
> Theo MacGregor and Jerrold Oppenheim), the United Nations guide to
> utility deregulation. Read Palast's commentaries at
> www.GregPalast.com. Reprints permitted. Contact:
> media@gregpalast.com. The Enron memos were discovered by the
> Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, Los Angeles,
www.ConsumerWatchdog.org
--
<http://www.groundtruthinvestigations.com/>