May 30, 2002 - HARTFORD (APJP) -- Don't let the twang, the cowboy hat and line-dancing boots fool you.

The Bush family hails from Connecticut, not Texas. Their roots run much deeper in the rocky soil of the mannerly Nutmeg State than in the hot sands of the gun-totin', cow-pokin' Lone Star State. Indeed, most of the extended Bush clan never left Connecticut, and George Sr. and George Jr. always have a port in the storm here.

One of those ports is Gov. John G. Rowland. Rowland is the golden boy of the Republican Party, a smooth-talking, young (45), faux moderate who has often been spoken of as a possible Vice Presidential replacement should Bush seek reelection or Cheney be led away in handcuffs. Last fall, Rowland was named chairman of the Republican Governors Association, and he is currently running for his third term as governor of Connecticut. He is-or was, until a month ago-the odds-on favorite to lead a pack of 27 Republican governors up for reelection with a landslide victory over an inexplicably timid state Democratic Party's candidate.

Gov. Rowland is such a close friend of the Bush family that when the president visits the Nutmeg State, he refers to the governor as "Johnny" and the two of them hug affectionately, like long lost friends. That photogenic hug, however, may haunt Rowland the way Sammy Davis Jr. was never allowed to forget his kiss of Richard Nixon.

First, Rowland's bear hug speaks of an intimacy with a president who is not popular in Connecticut -- John McCain beat him soundly here in the Republican primary and Al Gore whipped him here in the presidential election. Second, and most importantly in an election year, Rowland's bear hug has all the staying power of a bear trap. That is, it comes with a heavy price tag that may drag the once popular two-term governor right out of office.

The reason is as simple as one word: Enron.

Enron is a tailor-made designer logo for Republican financial chicanery, greed, deceit and hypocrisy. Just saying the word instantly conjures an image that once easily catapulted Democrats into office: fat cats sticking it to the little guy. Whether the Democrats will capitalize on this elsewhere is another matter. But they finally have someone in Connecticut who is willing to do the job. And because of this, that someone has leapt from a faceless pack of candidates to take a commanding lead for the Democratic nomination.

That someone is Bill Curry, a one-time golden boy of the Democratic Party who, after losing to Rowland in the 1994 governor's race, went to work as an advisor to President Bill Clinton. Written off as a bitter has-been by the state's fawning pro-Rowland press, Curry has nonetheless found his footing in the past month, and his campaign is gaining traction. Whether or not his surge convinces the status quo-loving pundits is unimportant, because it's resonating with the famously independent Connecticut voters.

The reason: "Johnny" Rowland is almost as deep into the Enron scandal as "Kenny Boy" Lay. The Bush bear hug gives it away.

That is, during his watch -- in December 2000, to be precise -- Rowland met with three Enron executives to discuss, according to him, a fuel cell project in Danbury. Not only did the fuel cell project never come to fruition, but the timing of Enron's further dealings with the state could not be more suspicious.

Four days after Rowland met with Enron officials, the board of the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority (CRRA), an "autonomous" agency whose directors are appointed by the governor and legislature, unanimously approved a contract in which the CRRA advanced $220 million to Enron. For this wad of the taxpayer's dough, Enron agreed to buy energy from the CRRA's trash-to-energy facility for $2 million a month over the next 11 years. When Enron collapsed, the $220 million in public funds was lost, and the CRRA was forced to raise the rates it charges towns for trash disposal to make up the loss.

In the ensuing investigation, it was learned that Rowland's co-chiefs of staff were both intimately involved with CRRA and that one of his largest contributors was an Enron consultant. Also, Enron made an $80,000 soft-money commitment to the Republican Governors Association (which Rowland heads) and another, separate contribution to Rowland's campaign "war chest."

While the whole sordid affair has been made to appear like a complicated transaction that baffles even the disingenuous Gov. Rowland, it sounds pretty simple to most people. How much more simple could it be? Sleazy Texas oilmen come in, sweet talk one of Texas oilman Bush's best buddies, who happens to be the governor of Connecticut, and four days later they walk off with over 200 million dollars that belong to the people of Connecticut.

And yet, showing the arrogance of power that seems to be genetically encoded in Republican office holders, Rowland blithely dismissed the scandal in a recent interview with David Broder of the Washington Post. Perhaps because Broder is (inexplicably) dubbed the "dean of Washington press corps," Rowland was feeling his oats and let his guard down, telling Broder that the scandal is nothing but "a lot of connect the dots. . . . It's kind of a fun little web they can put together, but it's pretty hard to explain to people. The good news is I don't think anybody in the state cares who my chief of staff is."

He also said that, "If the Enron thing weren't a national story, it probably wouldn't have much juice."

Rowland's smug dismissal notwithstanding, Bill Curry isn't having any trouble explaining it to Connecticut voters.

"The flip, cynical tone of the Governor's remarks is astonishing to me," said Curry. "State taxpayers lost $220 million dollars because of an illegal loan engineered by the Governor's top staff and here's the Governor taking refuge in the public's supposed inability to 'connect the dots'. Gov. Rowland actually believes that no one would really care about the greatest financial loss in state history if it weren't connected to a national news story."

Curry continues: "What is astonishing is to hear the Governor talk about the issue only in terms of political tactics, never in terms of ethics -- the deal is rife with campaign cash and influence-peddling at the highest levels of state government. Criminal and civil investigations are underway, and nearly everyone who was in charge is out of a job. But the Governor thinks we can't 'connect the dots?' And here I thought I was the only person the Governor underestimated. It turns out he underestimates us all. It's comforting, in a way."

Ed Ericsson, Jr., an investigative reporter for Hartford Advocate, has been far ahead of the field on this story. He put it this way to me in an email:

Rowland says it's too complicated to explain to people, and Broder obliges by not explaining it. The real story here is ENRON LIVED ITS LAST 6 MONTHS ON CT'S MONEY. THE STORY TO TELL IS, HOW WOULD THE NATION -- AND THE WORLD--BE DIFFERENT IF ENRON RESTATED ITS FOURTH QUARTER 2000 PROFITS IN MARCH OR APRIL OF 2001 -- WHICH IT WOULD HAVE HAD TO IF ANYONE AT CRRA DID SOME DUE DILLIGENCE AND THE $220M DIDN'T COME THROUGH IN MARCH? AND THEN ENRON DECLARES BANKRUPTCY CIRCA JULY. THE FUROR AROUND BUSH, ARMY SECTY WHITE, A PILE OF OTHERS IS HITTING FULL STRIDE THEN JUST ABOUT THE TIME THE RECOUNTS IN FLA ARE COMPLETED. BUSH'S POPULARITY IS IN THE SHITTER. THEN SEPT 11 . . . AND INSTEAD OF OBSCURING THE ENRON STORY THE TERRORIST ACT PILES ON. WE'D BE IN A DIFFERENT WORLD TODAY, MAN, AND A LOT OF INSIDERS AT ENRON WOULD BE MILLIONS -- 10S OF MILLIONS -- POORER BECAUSE THEY WOULD NOT HAVE HAD SUCH A LONG GRACE PERIOD IN WHICH TO CASH OUT.

Instead we get a lunch money story.

Well, maybe not. A federal grand jury issued subpoenas to the CRRA as part of an investigation "into the possible commission of a felony."

When they connect the dots, perhaps Rowland's face will magically appear.