In case you didn't see it 7/16/01 -- Palmer quoted
Senate power play jolts Enron  'The whole thing stinks to high heaven." That 
was the assessment Adrian Moore, executive director of Reason Public Policy 
Institute, gave of a state Senate committee's recent move to hold Enron Corp. 
in contempt for refusing to hand over subpoenaed documents.  We're inclined 
to agree. The Texas-based energy merchant has filed a countersuit in 
Sacramento Superior Court, arguing that the Senate has no right to wield 
influence beyond state borders and that putting the documents into public 
view "jeopardized confidential business information," the Register reported 
Thursday.  The court should order the Senate either to make its document 
request more specific or to drop the contempt charge and subpoena altogether. 
Robert Levy, a constitutional law expert at the Cato Institute, told us that 
Enron's point about disclosing confidential information will be its strongest 
argument in court.  While Enron can't hide behind state borders, Levy says 
the Senate's request is not tailored narrowly enough to ensure information 
that could damage Enron's market viability is not released. He said the 
Senate should have to let a judge decide whether releasing the documents is 
necessary for its investigation and avoids unfairly harming Enron.  Instead, 
the full Senate just has to approve the committee's recommendation for 
Enron's executives to become criminals. "It seems to me that's a scary 
proposition," Levy said. "Why should the Senate have such plenary power?" 
Good question.  Moore told us it's because the energy crisis has created an 
"all-bets-are-off" situation in Sacramento, where anything goes so long as 
it's attacking the energy companies. Because Enron is just a merchant, not a 
producer, of energy, it couldn't have had much at all to do with manipulating 
the market. "It's impossible," Enron spokesman Mark Palmer told us Friday. 
"We don't have anything to withhold.  We don't have an interest in high 
prices in California. We're just interested in a marketplace that works." 
Added Moore, "It's pretty hard to spin a realistic scenario where they 
(Enron) engaged in gouging." Moore said a judge's recent ruling that 
criticized Davis' allegations against energy producers gives hope the 
Sacramento court very likely could side with the law rather than the 
witchhunt. Here's hoping he's right. 





Sue Mara
Enron Corp.
Tel: (415) 782-7802
Fax:(415) 782-7854