Ken Lay Goes to Trial
Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, the masterminds of Enron, are finally going to trial and it starts today. Their company collapsed in December of 2001, wiping out nearly $60 Billion (that's with a capital B) in market capital. That's the amount of money investors would have collected had they sold their stock before the collapse. But at the last shareholder conference call before the collapse, Lay confidently told everyone they were going to hit their numbers. The reality is, had investors tried to collect, it would have been like a run on a bank with no money.
It seems that the people in Houston are still smarting from the demise of Enron. The people of Houston are upset that their solid reputation as an energy state has been besmirched by the scandal. There is serious discussion about moving the trial to a different city in the hopes of providing a "fair" trial. Gosh, I thought they were supposed to have a right of trial by peers, not by complete strangers in another town that are not quite as familiar with Enron. When the questionaires by the potential jurors are examined we find language suggesting that Ken Lay would lie to his mother if that would further his case.
Hmmm. Perhaps this might be the reason we need the corporate culture to subject themselves to another questionaire. You know, the one developed by Bob Hare to identify executives in control of billions of dollars in assets, but can be diagnosed as sub-clinical psychopaths. This could save us a lot of money and grief. I'm sure some lawyer will figure a way out of it. Then the lawyer should take the test, too. How about Bush?
One interesting comment from a Seattle Times article notes that "not one lawyer has been charged", alluding to the advice given by lawyers that helped to setup the complicated network of off-the-books loans between companies in the Enron empire. I guess the lawyers are looking out for their brothers on this one.
But by far the most interesting aspect to this whole case is the timing. The trial is expected to last 4 months. That would put us in May and would leave the trial fresh in the minds of voters when the November elections come around. Due to the complexity of the case, I would expect the jurors to deliberate for weeks, unless...their anger come out blazing for guilty verdicts and prison time.
And here's another interesting nugget. Remember Tom DeLay and his little fracas? The poor guy can't be speaker of the House anymore (thank God!). Well, it gets more interesting. One of the men associated with that scandal also happens to be associated with the Enron collapse. Meet Jack Abramoff. Apparently, some of the expenses incurred by DeLay while traveling abroad were charged on a credit card issued to Abramoff. This man helped to engineer the Republican Majority we have sitting in Congress right now.
There are some who say that it's normal for a ruling party to lose seats in Congress during a mid-term election. Bush is making white noise about how positive things are in his speeches so that Republicans in Congress can have something to defend when they face their constituents back home. Word has it that he plans to be very general without discussing major policy initatives in his State of the Union address. If this trial airs out the dirty laundry the way I think it will, it will push them over the edge - of losing their majority in Congress. And not by a small margin. No wonder they're in such a hurry to appoint justices to the Supreme Court.
Now the press is starting to look at the relationship between Karl Rove and Abramoff. It seems that the vast majority of the phone numbers, addresses and email addresses captured through illegal eavesdropping have lead to dead ends or innocent Americans. Perhaps they weren't looking for terrorists at all. Or worse, perhaps the term "terrorists" includes political opponents.
Check out the Q&A in the last link between reporters and Scott McClellan, the White House spokesperson. When pressed about the connection between Karl Rove and Jack Abramoff, he evades the question like Sugar Ray Leonard evading punches. Notice how he places the burden on the press to provide their own answers. Now just watch the Freedom of Information Act requests fly!
I think now the president is getting closer to ground zero. Not New York ground zero. But the point where he was prior to the day that he sat in an elementary school reading to school children while planes were crashing. Many may remember how the press made fun of his gramatical errors. Some made light of the fact that Congress was slow to pass his legislation if at all. Some even uttered the phrase "lame duck". Funny how few would listen to him before 9/11.
Maybe what the president needs is a good shot of dopamine so that he'll have the idea that he can stop trying to get things done. Who knows, with our luck, he might just spend more time at the ranch having informal meetings with Rove and Abramoff, while taking in the sights of protestors down the road.
Mr. Scott
It seems that the people in Houston are still smarting from the demise of Enron. The people of Houston are upset that their solid reputation as an energy state has been besmirched by the scandal. There is serious discussion about moving the trial to a different city in the hopes of providing a "fair" trial. Gosh, I thought they were supposed to have a right of trial by peers, not by complete strangers in another town that are not quite as familiar with Enron. When the questionaires by the potential jurors are examined we find language suggesting that Ken Lay would lie to his mother if that would further his case.
Hmmm. Perhaps this might be the reason we need the corporate culture to subject themselves to another questionaire. You know, the one developed by Bob Hare to identify executives in control of billions of dollars in assets, but can be diagnosed as sub-clinical psychopaths. This could save us a lot of money and grief. I'm sure some lawyer will figure a way out of it. Then the lawyer should take the test, too. How about Bush?
One interesting comment from a Seattle Times article notes that "not one lawyer has been charged", alluding to the advice given by lawyers that helped to setup the complicated network of off-the-books loans between companies in the Enron empire. I guess the lawyers are looking out for their brothers on this one.
But by far the most interesting aspect to this whole case is the timing. The trial is expected to last 4 months. That would put us in May and would leave the trial fresh in the minds of voters when the November elections come around. Due to the complexity of the case, I would expect the jurors to deliberate for weeks, unless...their anger come out blazing for guilty verdicts and prison time.
And here's another interesting nugget. Remember Tom DeLay and his little fracas? The poor guy can't be speaker of the House anymore (thank God!). Well, it gets more interesting. One of the men associated with that scandal also happens to be associated with the Enron collapse. Meet Jack Abramoff. Apparently, some of the expenses incurred by DeLay while traveling abroad were charged on a credit card issued to Abramoff. This man helped to engineer the Republican Majority we have sitting in Congress right now.
There are some who say that it's normal for a ruling party to lose seats in Congress during a mid-term election. Bush is making white noise about how positive things are in his speeches so that Republicans in Congress can have something to defend when they face their constituents back home. Word has it that he plans to be very general without discussing major policy initatives in his State of the Union address. If this trial airs out the dirty laundry the way I think it will, it will push them over the edge - of losing their majority in Congress. And not by a small margin. No wonder they're in such a hurry to appoint justices to the Supreme Court.
Now the press is starting to look at the relationship between Karl Rove and Abramoff. It seems that the vast majority of the phone numbers, addresses and email addresses captured through illegal eavesdropping have lead to dead ends or innocent Americans. Perhaps they weren't looking for terrorists at all. Or worse, perhaps the term "terrorists" includes political opponents.
Check out the Q&A in the last link between reporters and Scott McClellan, the White House spokesperson. When pressed about the connection between Karl Rove and Jack Abramoff, he evades the question like Sugar Ray Leonard evading punches. Notice how he places the burden on the press to provide their own answers. Now just watch the Freedom of Information Act requests fly!
I think now the president is getting closer to ground zero. Not New York ground zero. But the point where he was prior to the day that he sat in an elementary school reading to school children while planes were crashing. Many may remember how the press made fun of his gramatical errors. Some made light of the fact that Congress was slow to pass his legislation if at all. Some even uttered the phrase "lame duck". Funny how few would listen to him before 9/11.
Maybe what the president needs is a good shot of dopamine so that he'll have the idea that he can stop trying to get things done. Who knows, with our luck, he might just spend more time at the ranch having informal meetings with Rove and Abramoff, while taking in the sights of protestors down the road.
Mr. Scott
posted by Mr. Scott at
10:18 PM
2 Comments:
I just have to respond to your "'fair' trial" remark. In order for the system to work we must assume the defendant is innocent. Even if the guy is a slimy jerk and has practically self-incriminated himself. It's a double standard. If he was a sypatetic character everyone would be clamouring to move the trial to Alaska.
One other thing. I disagree with your prediction that Republicans will loose their majority. True, the pattern suggests that the majority will loose seats but with jerrymandering of house districts and the bovine attitudes of Americans these days, I think Republicans will hold on a bit longer.
By
Anonymous, at 7:22 PM
Abigail,
A lot of the angry Houstoners *are* Republicans. If their only choice is to vote out the incumbent, then they are going to look for alternatives. And when that happens, they lose momentum.
Also, take note that reporters are going to make news out of the connection between Rove and Abramoff if it can be explained. I imagine this will never get air except on the news magazines (60 Minutes, for example). But it will get a lot of print. And that could have a profound effect at the polls. Both Republicans and Democrats suffered the economic effects of the Enron bankruptcy. Since the Republicans are in power, they are the most likely to lose, as the scapegoat.
As to the presumption of innocence, the idea of being judged by your peers comes from another idea: that your peers know you well enough to be a judge of your character and the likelyhood that you committed a crime after reviewing the evidence.
There is a part of my that says "they made their bed, now let them sleep in it" with respect to their difficulty getting impartial jurors. On the other hand, everyone is entitled to make at least one humongous, incredibly stupid mistake in their lives.
Mr. Scott
By
Mr. Scott, at 6:06 AM
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