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Here's the real story in a nutshell.

Mid 2000: Three factors, in order of their impact, combine to leave California short of energy: 1) Failure of the state government to legislate a workable energy plan, 2) Failure of satate government to manage it's growth and 3) Mother nature delivers a short water year in the 2000/2001 winter.

Late 2000: Electrical energy reserves fall below 2% and Davis panics. Davis can't have blackouts on his political record and win reelection. Davis allows his ISO to purchase power at exhorbitant rates to avoid blackouts during the holidays. The plan works, sort of, but Davis still feels the sting.

Early 2001: Davis' political advisors whisper in his ear "you got by this time but this summer will ruin you politically". Now Davis doesn't panic. He makes a cold, calulated political decision. He enters into long term contracts at double the going rate and hides the costs in long term bonds that won't effect the budget for some time.

Mid 2001: Davis starts his "look good" plan. he loosens the state regs (that have been restricting power development for years) and then brags that he got 11 new plants on line. He also starts cranking up the rhetoric against Bush (the FERC).

Mid 2002: Davis latches on to his sole remaining lifeboat, some Enron memos, and screams "THEY'RE THE BAD GUYS" and beside Bush helped them and give us our money back.

All the while Davis has done little about reforming the state's energy policy, nothing about managing it's growth and has no idea how to pay back the bonds let alone get through the next fiscal year.

Regardless how unkind the adjectives describing Davis may seem they are certainly true. I agree with Davis ...he should go to jail.

I work in downtown Sacramento (not for Simon!) and was driving to lunch when I saw a small group of people (15) outside a tall building with signs reading "Simon+Enron=Greed" and "Enron Loves Simon", yada yada. I pulled over (missing my college days in YAF) and rolled down the window. I told the "protesters" that Simon didn't take a dime from Enron, but Gray Davis took $140,000! They all looked at me blankly, then 30 seconds later Bob Mulholland (yes, Bob Mulholland, the Democrat pitbull!) came up to my car and said, "But Bush took $750,000 from Enron!" My response was, "But Simon didn't! Davis did!" He looked at my car and saw my Bush-Cheney and Dump Davis bumper stickers and told his protesters that I was a Republican and voted for Bush and Lungren (yes, I did, I confess).

Well, driving back after lunch, I couldn't help but stop again and inform the small crowd they should walk the three blocks to the Capitol and change "Simon" to "Davis". The kid I spoke to said, "I don't care, I'm just here because I'm outta work."

Well. So the Democrats have paid protesters. Surprise, surprise.