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Ken Lay Speaks Email Print

By btyarbro
12/13/2005 01:24:40 PM EST

NOW!!  If you hurry, you can probably pick up your name tag and get to your seat before The Man comes in.

Oh, wait. Tickets have been sold out since December 8th.  Guess we'll have to wait for the transcript on the website.

Ah well, so many indictments, so many crimes, so little time.

Using the same PR tactics Bush is using to try to turn the tide in his falling poll numbers, Ken Lay is addressing the nonprofit (do these guys even understand that term?) group, the Houston Forum as I write this.

The web site for this group is all ready to post Lay's speech and remarks as soon as it concludes today.  While the group claims to invite famous speakers on a variety of topics, previous speakers include the following:  John McCain (who was there yesterday), Michael Chertoff, George H. W. Bush, Jim Baker, Condi Rice, Tommy Franks, Rudi Guiliani, Clarence Thomas, and, well, you get the picture.  A few others, like Jane Goodall and George Foreman also appear.

Probably the most intriguing thing posted on the web page is their "mission," words from the first leader of the Texas Republic:  
"...in the diversity of opinion Democracy may rest securely." --
Sam Houston, 1859

They also add:
Individuals invited to speak from our platform come from a diverse mix of backgrounds and experiences as the current schedule reflects. They speak from The Houston Forum's platform as it is considered one of the most prestigious venues in America.

The audiences who come to hear them are Houstonians interested in the free exchange of ideas and in living and working in a community that is open to our world.


Well, some people believe what they read, you know.

Here are the details:
J.W. Marriott Exhibition Center
5150 Westheimer
11:30 a.m. - 12 Noon - Member/Guest Nametag pickup
12 Noon - 1:30 p.m. - Luncheon Program

Though it's been four years since Enron collapsed and Lay has still been on the loose (building his defense, no doubt), he has been more outspoken than most current GOP defendants.

This is from his July 8, 2004 post-indictment press conference:

"As CEO of the company, I accept responsibility for Enron's collapse, as I've said before. However, that does not mean I knew everything that happened at Enron and I firmly reject any notion that I engaged in any wrongful or criminal activity."

A few outlets are reporting this, including Bloomberg and the Houston Chronicle.

Read both, for additional scraps of information, as well as this, which reports on the ruling that the executive bonuses must be returned and repaid.

It was made public today that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert McGuire, a Dallas-based judge sitting in Houston for this case, ordered Friday that the bonuses in question were fraudulent and improperly preferential.

Good news for former Enron employees.

Lawyers David McClain and Mark Maney of Houston represented the employee committee and said today that this $20 million is in addition to $50 million already recovered through negotiation and litigation.

"This is a complete vindication of the Employees Committee's claims that there was actual fraud in Enron's attempts to reward favored employees and executives on the eve of bankruptcy," said Maney in a statement.

According to those close to the case, disbursements will probably not be paid out until the end of 2006.

Hmm. Maybe just in time for the troops coming home?


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Ken Lay Speaks | 7 comments (7 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
Ken Lay/ Enron (5.00 / 2)
They are one and the same - both rotten to the core.  

Portland (Ore.)General Electric (PGE) is owned by Enron.  Since 1997  - I believe - PGE/Enron has collected over $7,000,000 from its rate payers in the Portland metro area for the county business income tax.  In the same time period, they have actually paid a whopping $3,631 in taxes.   In a class action suit, a group in Portland has taken them to court.  Yesterday PGE/Enron's attempt to have the case dismissed was heard and it failed, all the claims against PGE/Enron remain and the suit will move forward.  Hopefully it will make for some good theater in the court.  

But I have to wonder - what would any government agency I pay taxes to say if I only paid .05% of the actual taxes have owed (and did pay)  for the last 8 years?  

by dansk47 on 12/13/2005 08:10:26 PM EST

Speakers (none / 0)
Last year, I was sent by my boss to a session on "leadership."  First speaker?  Rudi Guiliani.  After delivering a forty minute speech in which he mentioned now fewer than five times how "proud" he was that Bush was president on 9/11, and the "leadership" Bush displayed, Rudi then took questions from the audience.

First question: where would America be without great moral leaders like yourself.  I am not kidding, the guy called Rudi a "great moral leader."

The second speaker was Jack "The Knife" Welch.  In his sharp, down-east accent, he then spent thirty mintutes explaining how firing people was doing them a favor and how keeping people on "in a job they're really not the best for" was the worst thing you could do to them.  He also talked about CEO salaries, saying "some people want to limit your salary.  They say you should make no more than 300 or 400 times what your employees make.  Don't you let them do that to you!"  That line drew a standing ovation.

The final speaker was Stephen Covey, he of the "seven habits."  Covey actually turned out to be a soft-spoken man, whose speech emphasized family, taking care of the people you worked with, and making moral decisions.  The guys who had cheered for Welch walked out on Covey.

And that's what I learned out leadership.

by Devilstower on 12/13/2005 03:16:58 PM EST

I'm sorry to say (none / 0)
I'm a leadership consultant.

But I speak a different language.

With any justice at all, though, we'll see some fine examples of "leadership" marching off to the courts soon.

Lay, (who is trying the Scrushy defense), Skilling, Libby, Rove, DeLay, Frist, . . . help me count the crooks.

Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle. FDR

by btyarbro on 12/13/2005 03:48:59 PM EST

Martha Stewart (none / 0)
I remember when Martha went to jail for her moronic actions. She deserved it. That's true. but her crimes were nothing next to those of these jokers.

When Martha went to jail, the Repuglinuts I work with called for 20 years in Attica.

Mention Lay, though, and they drone on about the injustice.

Oy!

Political Cortex -- Brain Food for the Body Politic

by Tom Ball on 12/13/2005 04:30:22 PM EST

Still no transcript (none / 0)
available, but here's a snippet from his "golden nuggets" today:

Lay blamed former Enron executives Andrew Fastow and Michael Kopper for despicable and criminal deeds that brought down the company. "We did trust Andy Fastow and sadly, tragically, that trust turned out to be fatally misplaced," he said.

Flanked on the podium by Texas and U.S. flags, and a gold and red-themed Christmas tree, Lay read from a prepared text in which he attacked the Enron Task Force and Justice Department for prosecuting the accounting firm Arthur Andersen, destroying the company and then dropping the case. He said the task force has been attempting to criminalize normal business practices.

Lay said most of what has been reported about the company has been false or distorted, and attributed its collapse to the financial community. The company's trading partners lost confidence in Enron, Lay said, clearly signaIing a ``run on the bank'' defense.

It's also a sign, I think, that NO ONE has posted anything on the discussion/commentary page available at the site.

Did he leave them speechless?

Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle. FDR

by btyarbro on 12/13/2005 04:56:28 PM EST

No doubt, (none / 1)
Lay has nerve.  Last year, he wrote an editorial in the WaPo stating that he was a poor victim of the heating up of dem politics before Election 04.

It's as though they all were taught the same line.

by D Cupples on 12/14/2005 03:10:14 AM EST

They were. (none / 0)
It's just that some have also been drinking the Kool-Aid longer than others.

Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle. FDR

by btyarbro on 12/14/2005 10:23:48 AM EST

[ Parent ]
Ken Lay Speaks | 7 comments (7 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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