This article came out today in this week's issue of Business Week.  This story is one of three stories in a package that Business Week ran on Ene this week.
Steve Kean asked that I email this story to you ASAP

NOVEMBER 12, 2001
BUSINESS WEEK 
FINANCE
By Mike McNamee


Commentary: Enron's Clout Won't Sway the SEC


For Securities & Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey L. Pitt, the SEC's
investigation into Enron Corp. (ENE ) could hardly have come at a worse
time. The future of Pitt's ambitious agenda of reforms in securities
regulation could depend on how well he handles this case.

Enron's political clout and close ties to President George W. Bush create
real risks for the SEC. Enron CEO Kenneth L. Lay is a longtime Bush backer,
and the company was the biggest corporate contributor to the President's
campaign. A Bush appointee, Pitt is attempting a delicate balancing act. He
has made it clear he wants to speed up the SEC's enforcement, in part by
rewarding companies that cooperate with probes. But he insists the SEC will
still come down hard on true corporate miscreants--and knows that any signs
of let-up could jeopardize the rest of his reform agenda.

Enter the Enron probe. The fine shadings of securities enforcement--where
most cases are settled by negotiated penalties, not court-imposed
fines--often make it hard for outsiders to tell whether the SEC is being
tough or lenient. But Pitt must go out of his way to make it clear that the
Enron case is handled by the book--getting the same strict scrutiny from the
SEC as any other, less connected company.

For now, top SEC aides say that's happening. The SEC Enforcement Div. in
Washington is looking into whether Enron adequately disclosed to
shareholders the risks of its complex deals with Andrew S. Fastow, the
company's former chief financial officer. Agency insiders say Pitt and his
fellow commissioners will be briefed on the case as it proceeds. But they
insist Pitt hasn't heard from the White House or Enron's other political
allies.

TOP LOBBYIST. Enron's connections are numerous. Besides Lay's links to Bush,
an Enron director, Wendy Lee Gramm, is the wife of Texas Senator Phil Gramm,
top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee. And Enron spreads its
lobbying budget--$2.13 million in 2000--across both parties. Just this year
it hired four lobbying firms with Democratic roots. Enron says it lobbies
heavily because it operates in regulated industries. It notes that electric
utilities outspend it 35 to 1.

On Oct. 31, a special committee of Enron's board hired William R. McLucas,
former SEC enforcement director, to represent it. McLucas should know that
any attempt to muscle the stock cops is likely to backfire. Pitt, who joined
the SEC out of law school in 1968, "remembers how the [Nixon-era] SEC
tainted itself by turning a blind eye to [fugitive financier] Robert Vesco,"
says an agency veteran. Pitt has too much riding on the Enron probe to let
its connections sway his judgment.

McNamee covers finance in Washington.





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