"John K. Taber" wrote:
> Chuck Grimes <cgrimes at rawbw.com> wrote:
>
> > Do the phrases like `damage control,' `plausible deniability', ring a
> > bell?
> [snip]
> > Justice will re-focus on the business executives, who will all blame
> > it on the accounting firm. The accounting executives will blame it all
> > on mis-communication with middle managers. Instead of pursuing the
> > investigation up the ladders of political power, the FBI/Justice will
> > move down the ladder into the business realm. There will be calls for
> > legislative reform, but for the sake of bi-partisanship, congressional
> > Democrats will do nothing. Hearings will proceed and various boards
> > and commission will promise to do better. Calls for a special
> > prosecutor will be met with charges of typical Democrat partisan
> > bickering.
>
> To back Chuck up, here is an interesting comment buried in a NY Times
> article "Justice Dept. to Form Task Force to Investigate Collapse of
> Enron" http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/10/business/10ENRO.html
>
> But some past efforts by the Justice Department to take a more
> central role in a criminal investigation of a corporation with
> influence in Washington have raised concerns about potential
> political influence over the inquiry. For example, in the 1990's,
> when part of an inquiry involving the Archer Daniels Midland
> Company was assigned to the fraud section, some critics contended
> — to the vehement denials of Justice officials — that Washington
> was trying to protect Archer, the politically influential grain
> company. Enron, whose officers have been close to both President
> Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, has exercised similar political
> influence in the past.
>
> If you own the Justice Dept, that seems like a good organization to
> investigate something that would otherwise embarrass you.
>
> Archer Daniels Midland is still irritating me to this day with its
> smarmy ads on PBS.
>
> --
> John K. Taber
--
Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University michael at ecst.csuchico.edu Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901