Machine at Work

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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/13/opinion/13KRUG.html?th

 

July 13, 2004

OP-ED COLUMNIST

Machine at Work

By PAUL KRUGMAN

 

From a business point of view, Enron is a smoking

ruin. But there's important evidence in the rubble.

 

If Enron hadn't collapsed, we might still have only

circumstantial evidence that energy companies

artificially drove up prices during California's

electricity crisis. Because of that collapse, we have

direct evidence in the form of the now-infamous Enron

tapes — although the Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission and the Justice Department tried to prevent

their release.

 

Now, e-mail and other Enron documents are revealing

why Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, is one of

the most powerful men in America.

 

A little background: at the Republican convention,

most featured speakers will be social moderates like

Rudy Giuliani and Arnold Schwarzenegger. A moderate

facade is necessary to win elections in a generally

tolerant nation. But real power in the party rests

with hard-line social conservatives like Mr. DeLay,

who, in the debate over gun control after the

Columbine shootings, insisted that juvenile violence

is the result of day care, birth control and the

teaching of evolution.

 

Here's the puzzle: if Mr. DeLay's brand of

conservatism is so unpopular that it must be kept in

the closet during the convention, how can people like

him really run the party?

 

In Mr. DeLay's case, a large part of the answer is his

control over corporate cash. As far back as 1996, one

analyst described Mr. DeLay as the " chief enforcer of

company contributions to Republicans. " Some of that

cash has flowed through Americans for a Republican

Majority, called Armpac, a political action committee

Mr. DeLay founded in 1994. By dispensing that money to

other legislators, he gains their allegiance; this, in

turn, allows him to deliver favors to his corporate

contributors. Four of the five Republicans on the

House ethics committee, where a complaint has been

filed against Mr. DeLay, are past recipients of Armpac

money.

 

The complaint, filed by Representative Chris Bell of

Texas, contends, among other things, that Mr. DeLay

laundered illegal corporate contributions for use in

Texas elections. And that's where Enron enters the

picture.

 

In May 2001, according to yesterday's Washington Post,

Enron lobbyists in Washington informed Ken Lay via

e-mail that Mr. DeLay was seeking $100,000 in

additional donations to his political action

committee, with the understanding that it would be

partly spent on " the redistricting effort in Texas. "

The Post says it has " at least a dozen " documents

showing that Mr. DeLay and his associates directed

money from corporate donors and lobbyists to an effort

to win control of the Texas Legislature so the

Republican Party could redraw the state's political

districts.

 

Enron, which helped launch Armpac, was happy to

oblige, especially because Mr. DeLay was helping the

firm's effort to secure energy deregulation

legislation, even as its traders boasted to one

another about how they were rigging California's

deregulated market and stealing millions each day from

" Grandma Millie. "

 

The Texas redistricting, like many of Mr. DeLay's

actions, broke all the usual rules of political fair

play. But when you believe, as Mr. DeLay does, that

God is using you to promote a " biblical worldview " in

politics, the usual rules don't apply. And the

redistricting worked — it is a major reason why

anything short of a Democratic tidal wave in November

is likely to leave the House in Republican hands.

 

There is, however, one problem: a 100-year-old Texas

law bars corporate financing of State Legislature

campaigns. An inquiry is under way, and Mr. DeLay has

hired two criminal defense lawyers. Stay tuned.

 

But you shouldn't conclude that the system is working.

Mr. DeLay's current predicament is an accident. The

party machine that he has done so much to create has

eliminated most of the checks and balances in our

government. Again and again, Republicans in Congress

have closed ranks to block or emasculate politically

inconvenient investigations. If Enron hadn't

collapsed, and if Texas didn't still have a campaign

finance law that is a relic of its populist past, Mr.

DeLay would be in no danger at all.

 

The larger picture is this: Mr. DeLay and his fellow

hard-liners, whose values are far from the American

mainstream, have forged an immensely effective

alliance with corporate interests. And they may be

just one election away from achieving a long-term lock

on power.

 

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company