Food for the Conspiracy theorists

ABCNEWS.com : Blackout Probe Focuses on Ohio Utility

Consumer groups say FirstEnergy has been able to avoid tight scrutiny because it has spent millions of dollars on lobbyists and campaign contributions.

In 2002, FirstEnergy gave $1,044,807 to political parties — 70 percent to Republicans and 29 percent to Democrats — the 10th-largest amount contributed by an energy and natural resources company and the sixth-largest amount contributed by an electric utility, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. FirstEnergy spent another $2,259,975 on lobbying in 2002
In June, the CEO of FirstEnergy, Peter Burg, hosted a fund-raiser for Vice President Dick Cheney that raised $600,000 for President Bush’s re-election campaign.

And when he first prepared to move into the White House, Bush appointed the president of FirstEnergy, Anthony Alexander, to serve on the administration’s energy transition team.

“That kind of connection buys you access,” said Tyson Slocum, research director of Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy Program. “And they’ve had an enormous amount of access in Washington, D.C., and as a result there hasn’t been enough scrutiny of the company’s investments and business operations.”

I just find it interesting that Bush holds the president of a sloppily run energy company that values campaign contributions over safety regulations and is responsible for the largest blackout in North American history in such high regard that he’d give him a temporary cabinet post.