An Enron Tale of Strange Bedfellows

The PUC approved the merger, and it wasn't long before the darkest suspicions about Enron's plans were vindicated. The company raised rates, tried to soak ratepayers with the cost of its failed Trojan nuclear reactor and moved to put some of the company's most valuable assets on the block.

Enron's motive had indeed been to get access to the hydropower of the Northwest, the cheapest in the country, and to sell it in the California market, the priciest and, in part because of Cavanagh's campaigning for deregulation, the ripest for exploitation. Two years later, the company Cavanagh had hailed as "engaged, motivated and committed" put Portland General on the auction block.

Today, some House Republicans want to treat the Enron collapse as a criminal matter, while Democrats talk about cleaning up accounting rules and plugging holes in the regulatory system. The outrage over the inability of Enron employees to sell company stock from their 401(k) plans while higher-ups absconded with millions may doom President Bush's promised onslaught on Social Security.

There are many morals in Enron's collapse, and the role of the Green Guys seal of approval shouldn't be forgotten.

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Alexander Cockburn writes for the Nation and other publications.