Dems: Learn about Enron Ed

Press release from the Democratic Party of Virginia:

During Saturday’s debate, lobbyist Ed Gillespie will attempt to recast himself as a “small businessman.” Don’t be fooled. He conveniently leaves out that he spent most of his career as a multi-million dollar Washington lobbyist for companies like Enron. To make sure that Virginians have all the facts, today we released a new video, “Cashing Out,” and revamped EnronEd.com.

“Ed Gillespie’s career as a Washington lobbyist made him millions, but cost thousands everything they had,” said DPVA Executive Director Robert Dempsey. “Virginians deserve to know Enron Ed’s history of fighting for special interests at the cost of working families. Virginia simply can’t afford Ed’s retainer.”

While Enron committed the largest corporate fraud in U.S. history, Ed Gillespie and his firm made $700,000. In fact, he was so integral to Enron’s lobbying strategy that an Enron employee said, “It was was Eddie [Gillespie], not [Enron CEO] Ken Lay, who got us to people in the White House and Congress.”

Ed Gilliespie won’t mention that he used his Washington connections try to further deregulate energy markets and allow Enron to defraud its customers and jack up electric bills. Or that he formed a front group of his special-interest lobbying clients to promote the Enron-backed Bush/Cheney energy plan that would have allowed Enron to further it’s fraud even more. Ed Gillespie won’t mention that when Enron collapsed, 20,000 Americans lost their jobs, their pensions and their savings.