February 6, 2005 - The Ming Report http://www.mingreport.com made its debut on February 9, 2002. That first essay was titled THE AXIS OF AVARICE – Tales of Enron. We wrote:

“McLane Layton, Administrative Assistant to Senator Don Nickles R-OK; Drue Pearce, former GOP Alaska State Senator; Joe Garcia, a former Florida energy regulator all have something in common. They all made George Bush's short list for nomination to the Federal Energy Commission. Something else. According to Kevin McCoy writing in the February 7 edition of USA Today each of them were interviewed by Enron Executives as part of the Whitehouse vetting process. None of them were appointed to the $130,000 a year position.

“It raises grave questions when a private corporation subject to regulation by the Commission is part of the process for selecting the regulators. It is especially troubling when the corporation has been a major contributor to the Presidential campaign. It is even more troubling when it is the only energy company playing a part in the official nomination process. Here is the quo that Enron got for the quid!

“We have all read how Chairman Herbert crossed Ken Lay and was replaced. We have all read that two of the Commission nominees came from Ken Lay's list. Now we have confirmation that the nominee vetting process ran through Enron Towers.” http://www.mingreport.com/articles/2002/february/enron.htm

The essay went on to quote the transcript of Jeff Skillings’ testimony before the Congressional sub-committee investigating the Enron debacle and deride that testimony as a “Sergeant Schultz” defense. (Shultz was the clueless Nazi guard in the WWII comedy Hogan’s Heroes. His signature line was, “I know nothink!”)

With the third anniversary of the Ming Report upon us Enron is back in the news as evidence of Ken Lay’s energy giant manipulating Western States’ electrical supplies and running beta testing of its pirate raid tactics in Alberta, Canada became public. http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/financialpost/columnists/story.html?id=c4f5a99f-1163-4bde-8c59-93fa113e0b74

In 1999, while its Chairman, Ken Lay was heading up financial support for then Texas Governor’s drive for the White House, Enron was honing its piratical techniques in Canada. During the run-up to the 2000 Presidential campaign Enron pirates were raiding in Washington and Oregon. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/snohomishcountynews/2002170372_enron04m.html By 2000, with their techniques carefully honed, Captain Lay’s pirate crew moved on to the big score – California where their depredations brought down a Governor.

We wrote three years ago, “When this house of cards reached the height of ENRON TOWERS it couldn't be sustained any longer. The asset values had to be written down, the debts came due and the cash was gone. How did the regulators miss this scam? The real question is still unasked and unanswered.” That question is still unanswered. The Energy Task Force records are still hidden. Nothing changes except the date.