The long arm of Enron.

Byline: The Register-Guard

From its inception as a gas pipeline company in 1985, Enron exercised extraordinary influence in Washington, successfully lobbying Congress and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to weaken the long-standing hold of utility companies over power plants and transmission lines.

It was Enron that lobbied for the first critical changes that led to deregulation of the wholesale electricity market. It was Enron that backed the 1992 Energy Policy Act, which made it possible for utility companies to let their juice flow to electricity merchants such as Enron. And it was Enron that massaged the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, securing a regulatory exemption for futures trading in energy derivatives, which later became Enron's most profitable venture.

For nearly two decades, Enron has exercised unparalleled influence and enjoyed unequaled access to the White House, Congress and federal regulatory agencies - access that was the key to the company's extraordinary growth before its recent sudden plunge into bankruptcy.

While Enron maintained personal and financial ties with President Clinton and congressional Democrats, its inroads to the current Bush administration and Republicans were the stuff of lobbying legend. Enron, Chief Executive Ken Lay and company employees have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to George W. Bush during his political career, far more than any other corporation.

Speculation abounds about the influence of Enron and other energy companies on the formulation of the administration's markedly pro-industry energy plan last year. In an astonishing show of arrogance and disregard for the law, Vice President Dick Cheney, who oversaw the administration's energy task force, refused for months to respond to congressional requests for the identities of business executives and lobbyists who met with the White House as the plan was being prepared.

Several congressional committees have begun probing Enron's dealings with the Bush administration and the company's epic collapse. As the Justice Department began its own investigation last week, a flurry of revelations have raised serious questions about potential conflicts of interest.

In a letter to Congress last week, the White House revealed that Cheney or his aides met at least six times with Enron representatives last year, including a session shortly before the company filed the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history.

Although ridiculously short on detail, the White House's disclosure suggests that Enron took full advantage of its unusual level of influence in the White House. Consider, for example, that Lay was granted a one-on-one meeting with Cheney on April 17 - at the same time the vice president was crafting the administration's energy strategy and as California regulators were squaring off with Enron over that state's power meltdown.

Enron officials also met with Cheney staffers who were drafting the energy policy proposal. There were at least five such meetings starting in February and continuing until Oct. 10, shortly before Enron officials disclosed that $1.2 billion worth of shareholder equity had been vaporized in off-balance-sheet transactions.

More disclosures followed. It turns out that several White House officials and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan also received telephone calls from Lay shortly before the company's collapse. Enron's auditing firm, whose work is under investigation by federal regulators, revealed that its employees had destroyed thousands of pages of documents related to Enron.

The White House's cryptic disclosures raise more questions than they answer about Enron's influence on an administration energy policy that calls for expanded drilling for oil and gas on public lands, expedited approval of power plants and greater use of nuclear power.

It's also unclear how much administration officials - and the president - knew in advance about Enron's collapse, one that cost thousands of unsuspecting employees their retirement savings while company officials secured their investments by dumping their stock before the company's plight became public.

Members of Congress have asked for more detailed information, but the White House has refused. That's a mistake, not only because Americans deserve to know about the extent of Enron's influence, but because the administration's refusal will serve only to whet the appetite of congressional and Justice Department investigators. Sooner or later, the administration will have to give a full accounting. Sooner is the right choice.