Florida's Bush/Enron Connection Timeline
February 15, 2002
March
7, 2001 -- Enron Lobbyist Bill Bryant e-mails Gov. Jeb Bush requesting
a meeting between Enron chairman Ken Lay and Gov. Jeb Bush to discuss
energy deregulation.
March 7, 2001 -- Gov. Jeb Bush e-mails Bryant back saying "I
would love to meet with Ken."
April 17, 2001 -- A 2 p.m. phone call between Gov. Jeb Bush and
Enron chairman Ken Lay appears on Gov. Jeb Bush's daily schedule.
January 18, 2002 -- In an e-mail response to Katie Baur regarding
a public records request from the Miami Herald asking for documents regarding
communications between the governor's office and Enron, Gov. Bush says
"I remember one meeting with Azurix and none with Florida Gas. Nothing
happened from the Azurix meeting." The meeting with Azurix -- an
Enron subsidiary --happened in September 1999. Gov. Bush does not mention
the Ken Lay phone call from nine months earlier.
January 28, 2002 -- Gov. Bush is asked whether he had discussed
his desire to deregulate Florida's wholesale electric market with Enron
representatives, Bush thought for a moment before shaking his head and
saying no. He said the only company to meet with him about deregulation
was Duke Energy. (Tampa Tribune 2/7)
February 6, 2002 -- Gov. Bush's Communications Director Katie Baur,
responding to a question about Gov. Bush's phone call with Ken Lay, is
quoted in the February 7 So. Florida Sun-Sentinel saying: "Enron
was the seventh-largest corporation in the nation. They requested a meeting
with the governor. They got a phone call. ... Nothing came of the phone
call. There's no story here."
February 7, 2002 -- "I don't think I talked to him (Enron
CEO Ken Lay). I don't remember talking to him," (Jeb) Bush said Thursday.
(AP, Feb. 7, 2002)
Enron
took role in state policies
It shaped a Florida plan for deregulation, an Enron lobbyist says.
posted 02/08/02
By CHRIS DAVIS and MICHAEL POLLICK SARASOTA HERALD-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
Enron Corp. played a key, behind-the-scenes role in the formulation of Florida's energy deregulation plan -- Energy 2020.
The Houston-based energy brokerage wanted Gov. Jeb Bush's administration to focus first on allowing independently owned power plants in Florida.
That would allow Enron to quickly move into Florida and set up one of the first "merchant" plants, which sell their electricity to the highest bidder. Enron has been blocked from making money in Florida from merchant plants, because state laws ban plants that don't sell primarily to Florida customers.
For the full article:
http://www.heraldtribune.com/frontpage/story.cfm?ID=61780
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