Terry McAuliffe is the head of the Democratic National Committee.

Week before last he was firing barbs at Vice President Dick Cheney, the W energy department and Republicans in Congress over the Enron mess.

I heard McAuliffe on CNN. He was blathering on about how unethical, underhanded and maybe even criminal (who knows?) the relationships with Republicans and Enron are.

He pointed out that Enron gave some $2 million to Republicans. He didn't mention that Enron gave a few tens of thousands to Democrats, too, but I'll forgive him that omission.

"The people out there who are hurt the most are the small people, and once again the wealthy special interests got to take their money off the table and that's what we need to investigate. ... The Bush administration is running fiscal policy the way the folks at Enron ran their company," McAuliffe told CNN.

Enron is significant because it traded energy in Houston, former home to W and lots of top names in his administration. And it's also significant that Enron is the largest company ever to file bankruptcy.

It's true that Enron CEO Kenneth Lay pretty much had Cheney's ear on energy policy. And now the Government Accounting Office wants to know about conversations about energy policy and how much influence Lay had. The GAO is willing to sue to find out.

Last week I said I thought Cheney should give the GAO what it wants.

Just open up and let the chips fall. I don't see that as undermining this and future administrations' ability to have candid discussions.

Similar situations in the future will be handled on a case-by-case basis. The next time somebody wants secret notes, the administration could cite national security or executive privilege or any other manner of reasons not to divulge.

So I agree with this McAuliffe guy on the issue of disclosure in reference to Cheney, Enron and energy policy.

If guys like Kenneth Lay get to influence public policy, it shouldn't be kept secret from the public.

And as long as we're on the topics of secrets and disclosure, I wonder if McAuliffe would like to talk about Global Crossings.

Global Crossings is a communications company that filed for bankruptcy about a week ago. Global was the fourth largest company in history to go belly up.

And for some strange reason, McAuliffe has become a lot less vitriolic since the Global bankruptcy filing. Frankly, I haven't heard a peep from him on Enron since.

That might be because McAuliffe was pretty tight with Gary Winnick, who was the chairman of Global.

It also might be because McAuliffe hooked Winnick up with president prevaricator Bill Clinton in 1999 for a round of golf.

Winnick then ponied up $2 million for the Clinton library.

But wait, there's more. According to the Washington Times and the L.A. Times, the only two major news organizations that have even touched on the story so far, Winnick helped McAuliffe turn a $100,000 investment into a whopping $18 million.

Of course, with Global stock trading at something like 30 cents a share after its bankruptcy filing, one can only assume that McAuliffe wasn't left holding any of the small chips.

I wonder how many Global stockholders had McAuliffe's same good fortune? I wonder how many didn't?

But wait, wouldn't that make McAuliffe one of the very same "wealthy special interests that got to take their money off the table and that's what we need to investigate"?

Yeah, let's investigate. Congressional hearings. Poor stockholders. Make Clinton give the money back. Make McAuliffe give the money back. Full disclosure.

According to a piece by Wes Vernon on newsmax.com, an investigation is just what McAuliffe might end up with.

Judicial Watch, the public interest law firm that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, is planning to look into Global's collapse.

And the Wall Street Journal reported last week that Global faces an investigation of its accounting practices by federal regulators.

According to the Journal, the Securities and Exchange Commission has asked the Bermuda-based Global for corporate documents and a certain letter. The letter, sent by a former finance executive, raised concerns that the company and its auditor misled investors.

Sound familiar?

Three guesses who the auditor was - Arthur Andersen.

Judicial Watch cites L.A. Times reports that show Global's bankruptcy resulted from the same type of corrupt accounting practices as Enron's.

Judicial Watch also told newsmax.com that it has filed Freedom of Information Act requests with government agencies concerning Global. Seems there was a tidy little $400 million contract awarded to Global by the Pentagon last year. That contract was set in motion by the Clinton administration and scuttled by the W administration amid concerns about the bidding process.

Quoting Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman, newsmax.com reports, "The big question is, what did Global Crossing's Gary Winnick get as a result of his golf outing and million-dollar gift to Bill Clinton?"

And ...

"Terry McAuliffe's astonishing profit reeks of political insider trading, especially given his role in selling government favors for campaign contributions during the Clinton years."

No wonder McAuliffe isn't shooting off his mouth so much anymore. [[In-content Ad]]