Message-ID: <7467253.1075854949973.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 12:42:00 -0700 (PDT) From: brett.schulick@enron.com To: corbin.barnes@enron.com, brian.wood@enron.com, mark.mcconnell@enron.com, marc.hensel@enron.com, frank_vela@enron.net Subject: Lobby Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-From: Brett Schulick X-To: Corbin Barnes , Brian Wood , Mark McConnell , Marc Hensel , frank_vela X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \MMCCONNE (Non-Privileged)\Articles X-Origin: McConnell-M X-FileName: MMCCONNE (Non-Privileged).pst Washington -- Greg Simon, who spearheaded the cable open access effor= t here for America Online Inc. after leaving the Clinton White House, has s= igned up to lobby for Enron Corp., the Houston-based energy trading company= with close political ties to the Bush administration. Simon, a top media = and telecommunications adviser to Vice President Al Gore who founded his ow= n lobbying firm called Simon Strategies, filed a lobbying registration form= with the clerk of the House of Representatives on June 18. He also regist= ered Simon Strategies assistants Kristan Van Hook and Ann Morton as Enron l= obbyists. On the registration, Simon said he planned to lobby the White Hou= se, Congress, the Commerce Department and the Federal Communications Commis= sion 'in furtherance of national policies that support competitive access b= y content providers to broadband communications networks.' Simon declined = to discuss his Enron duties, except to say he was lobbing for the company d= irectly, indicating that Enron was not joining Simon's OpenNet coalition, t= he group once funded by AOL to pressure the FCC and Congress to impose open= Internet access mandates on the cable industry. 'I am not registered to d= o [Enron's] press for them. You have to talk to them about what they want t= o say to the press. That's not what they want me to do unless they give me = the go-ahead to do that,' Simon said in a phone interview. Enron is a $100 = billion energy services company with a broadband services division. The com= pany signed a video-on-demand deal with Blockbuster Inc., but the deal coll= apsed in March with both sides blaming the other for the venture's failure.= Enron chairman Kenneth Lay is longtime informal adviser on energy issues = to President Bush. He was one of 212 individuals who each raised $100,000 f= or the Bush campaign and Enron provided corporate jets for Bush campaign of= ficials, according to U.S. News and World Report. Wendy L. Gramm, wife of S= en. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), is an Enron board director, according to Enron's = company web site. U.S. News also reported that Enron empolyees gave $1.3 m= illion to the GOP last year. It also stated that three Bush administration = officials - senior adviser Karl Rove, Vice President Cheney's chief of staf= f I. Lewis Libby, and top economic policy adviser Lawrence Lindsey - each o= wned at least $50,000 in Enron stock, though Rove has moved to sell the sha= res. Sources said Simon is planning to revive the open access issue on beh= alf of Enron and the Walt Disney Co. and perhaps expand the effort to inclu= de nondiscrimination by cable operators against unaffiliated interactive te= levision providers. Enron did not return phone calls seeking comment. A Dis= ney official has said repeatedly that the company has made no decision abou= t joining any open access or ITV coalition. A source who recently met with= Simon said Simon indicated his Enron job would deal with open access to ca= ble facilities. 'What he said suggested to me that he has had conversations= with [Enron and Disney] and it does seem that those companies have somethi= ng in common on open access,' the sources said. Another source said Enron,= which owns an 18,000 mile global fiber optic network, was looking to deliv= er content from its network to end users over the last mile controlled by c= able and phone companies. 'Their interest is, essentially, access to the l= ocal loop,' the source said. Cable industry sources said they were puzzled = by Simon's latest move and didn't have a clear sense of where he would begi= n to apply pressure. One cable industry wag quipped: 'Enron is a major con= tent provider -- of oil, gas and electricity.' All Simon would say is that= he is 'representing Enron Broadband directly. Anything more you have to t= alk to Enron about. I make it a habit not to put words in my client's mouth= .' =09