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'Suicide' Baxter Talked About Hiring a Bodyguard
The Independent - London ^ | 1/28/2002 | David Randall

Posted on 01/28/2002 7:54:34 PM PST by ex-Texan

'Suicide' Baxter Talked About Hiring A Bodyguard

By David Randall

Palm Royale Boulevard is not the kind of street where you expect to see fancy sedans parked up at two in the morning.

The tree-lined road runs through Sugar Land, one of Houston's snazzier suburbs. Everyone has off-street parking here, especially if they own a brand-new Mercedes like the one the patrolling officer could see by the kerb with its lights out. As he got closer he could make out a figure in the driver's seat. He tried the door, but it was locked. It was only when he broke the window that he discovered the body of J Clifford Baxter, graduate of Columbia Business School, former Enron executive, and now the very recently dead repository of knowledge about what really happened in the biggest corporate scandal in history.

He had been shot in the head. Once. Beside him lay a gun and a note. We now know the gun was a .38 calibre revolver. What we don't yet know is precisely what the note said, but ABC television, quoting sources close to the investigation into this apparent suicide, say it referred to Enron and the pressures that were piling up on this happily married, 43-year-old father of two and which built up in his mind until the one way he could see out of it all was to put a bullet in his head.

And the pressures were considerable. The company he used to work for had become the biggest ever corporate bankruptcy, and revelations were coming daily about how its directors, Baxter among them, had hidden losses offshore while selling shares for hundreds of millions of pounds. When the share price collapsed, the staff's pensions were practically worthless. There was politics, too. Enron threw money at politicians like confetti at a wedding. Baxter, concerned about all this, had spoken out in the Enron offices, and then left the firm suddenly last May. And congressional investigations were under way. Officials wanted to speak to Baxter and see documents still in his possession. He knew an awful lot.

That is why, according to colleagues, he was worried. He had briefed lawyers, and, according to Jerry V Mutchlen, president of the charity Junior Achievement of Texas, where Baxter sat on the board, "was depressed and disappointed about all that had happened". Another former business associate went further. Baxter, he said, broke down in tears during a phone call two days ago. He was even, the businessman added, "talking about perhaps needing a bodyguard". After all, he knew a lot. Maybe more than anyone imagined. Until Enron imploded in the autumn, Clifford Baxter seemed to be a man who had it made; more than £20m made, in fact, from selling Enron shares alone. He lived with his wife, Carol L Whalen, in a half-a-million-dollar colonial-style home in Sweetwater, much the toniest part of Sugar Land, had a son of 16 and an 11-year-old daughter, and was wealthy enough to fund a charitable foundation named after him and his wife. It gave to causes such as a local Catholic church and the Republican Party. He also had a 72-ft yacht, Tranquility Base, on which he had spent much time since leaving Enron. He seemed, according to Ross Tuckwiller, general manager of the Houston Yacht Club, happy there. But he also knew a lot. Maybe that was why, according to friends, he was planning to buy a faster boat and use it to travel.

It must have all seemed a far cry from the day in 1991 when the Columbia MBA (top of the class of '87), then aged 32, joined a small energy company called Enron. As it grew into one of the largest corporations in America, Baxter rose quickly, becoming chairman and chief executive of Enron North America before being named chief strategy officer for Enron Corporation in June 2000 and then vice-president the following October. He was an aggressive and sometimes successful deal-maker, but he also led the acquisitions that became two of Enron's costliest errors: the purchases of Portland General Electric and Wessex Water. According to colleagues, he worked hard and played hard, taking his family to Disney World every year. Enron president Jeff Skilling said he was well liked for "his sense of humour and straightforward manner". Skilling was an expert on Baxter's straight-talking. After all, according to a memo sent to Kenneth Lay, the company boss and buddy of President Bush, by Enron whistleblower Sherron Watkins, Baxter "complained mightily to Skilling and all who would listen about the inappropriateness of our transactions". She knew that he knew a lot.

By the time Watkins wrote this memo Baxter was three months into his post-executive role with Enron. But although it was now his yacht and family that saw most of him, he had not left Enron completely. Contrary to initial reports, Baxter had been retained as a consultant and his Enron pass was found on his body on Friday. His death was relayed to Enron employees in a four-line email that made no mention of suicide.

His lawyers were also informed. On the morning of his death they had been negotiating with congressional officials over their request to speak to Baxter, see his documents and, possibly, have him formally give evidence to the hearings now under way. Representative James C Greenwood, Pennsylvania Republican and chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said on Friday: "It seemed to us that he was a pretty highly placed insider at Enron who had understood exactly what was wrong there." A lot of people, you see, knew that he knew a lot.

But we won't know what he knew now. Along with the documents shredded by the auditors from Andersen, the testimony of J Clifford Baxter will remain one of the untold mysteries of the Enron affair, however far into the recesses of George W Bush's administration and corporate America it eventually reaches.

But Baxter's documents may yet speak for him, and the FBI is now investigating his death. The real smoking gun on the seat of the Mercedes parked on Palm Royale Boulevard may yet prove to be Baxter himself. After all, he knew an awful lot.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: enronlist
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Guess he wanted a bodyguard to help him kill himself ?

DUH!

1 posted on 01/28/2002 7:54:34 PM PST by ex-Texan
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To: ex-Texan
Your link is to the Santa Barbara Independent.
2 posted on 01/28/2002 8:01:29 PM PST by M. Thatcher
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To: ex-Texan; _Jim
...and the FBI is now investigating his death...

Just more conspiratorialists hugh _Jim.

3 posted on 01/28/2002 8:05:11 PM PST by DoughtyOne
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To: ex-Texan
But we won't know what he knew now. Along with the documents shredded by the auditors from Andersen, the testimony of J Clifford Baxter will remain one of the untold mysteries of the Enron affair, however far into the recesses of George W Bush's administration and corporate America it eventually reaches.

Blatant spin. Tie the death to Bush as often as possible, and eventually it becomes conventional wisdom.

If he was offed, it was much more likely to be because of what he knew about Billy Boy Clinton.

4 posted on 01/28/2002 8:07:44 PM PST by EternalHope
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To: ex-Texan
bump to the top please
5 posted on 01/28/2002 8:13:34 PM PST by timestax
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To: M. Thatcher
Oops! Wrong link ....

This link ought to work

6 posted on 01/28/2002 8:15:15 PM PST by ex-Texan
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To: EternalHope
I believe that there are some very, very bad boys at Enron who wanted to silence Mr. Baxter ....

Wonder how long they will remain in the U.S. ?

7 posted on 01/28/2002 8:17:39 PM PST by ex-Texan
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To: M. Thatcher
Link
8 posted on 01/28/2002 8:18:25 PM PST by Senator Pardek
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To: Senator Pardek
Thanks, Senator. I can always count on you for good linkage.
9 posted on 01/28/2002 8:23:04 PM PST by M. Thatcher
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To: ex-Texan
bump
10 posted on 01/28/2002 8:24:48 PM PST by PRND21
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To: ex-Texan
I presume that donating to the Catholic Church means he was Catholic. If he was Catholic, he knows that suicide means eternal damnation. He left behind a wife and two kids, including an 11-year-old daughter.

This was a wealthly man who probably still had some of his wealth despite now owning worthless stock. If he was the whistleblower wanting to do the right thing, I don't know that he saw prison in his future. Money could buy competent legal representation.

Perhaps he was just so filled with shame that he took his own life? It doesn't add up. It sounds, on the surface at least, that he was a man who had a conscience and was trying to do the right thing.

The coroner wasn't Fahmy Malik was it?

11 posted on 01/28/2002 8:33:27 PM PST by doug from upland
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To: doug from upland
I suspect a very professional hit which has now passed several initial tests ....

Forensic firearms experts would test Baxter's hands and wrists and shirt sleeves, etc. for gunshot residue. There will be a distinctive pattern of residue and that pattern would have specific scientific characteristics. The pattern ought to match up with other evidence, including how the weapon was held when it was discharged.

My instincts tell me the wife and the victim's family ought to be requesting a second round of forensic testing to verify and confirm initial conclusions.

If the man was Catholic, or was educated in Church schools or universities, I must resist a finding of 'suicide'.

12 posted on 01/28/2002 9:13:20 PM PST by ex-Texan
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To: doug from upland, ex-texan
I've purposely ignored the Enron story, but Baxter's "suicide" cannot be ignored. This smells.
13 posted on 01/28/2002 11:15:38 PM PST by onyx
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To: doug from upland
Since he seems to have been a man of conscience, perhaps it's because of his sense of guilt that he killed himself. As for him being Catholic, he wouldn't be the first Catholic to kill himself. He talked about getting bodyguards, I wouldn't be surprised to hear he got phone calls from disgruntled shareholders who threatened him. People who have lost money have been known to kill. Remember that daytrader a couple years ago who went into the daytrading office and started shooting at people? The guy had lost thousands of dollars daytrading and took out his anger on the daytrading center.
14 posted on 01/28/2002 11:39:41 PM PST by psjones
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To: onyx
This smells.

I don't think he was in the car that long after he killed himself!

15 posted on 01/29/2002 12:35:10 AM PST by Bartholomew Roberts
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To: doug from upland
The Houston Chronicle reported that yes, the Baxter's gave quite a bit to a Catholic Church Building Fund BUT emphasized that they were not members of that church. I have not seen an "official" (back of the newspaper) obit either about funeral/memorial services, funeral home, survivors,pallbearers, etc. Everything about the death was on the front page of the paper so maybe they decided not to do the obit and keep the rest private. I have not seen today's paper yet. There might be something in there.
16 posted on 01/29/2002 1:04:38 AM PST by soozer47
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To: doug from upland
The coroner wasn't Fahmy Malik was it?
U won funi gi!
17 posted on 01/29/2002 2:05:29 AM PST by philman_36
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To: DoughtyOne
Just more conspiratorialists hugh _Jim.

Has the The Independent - London got a Reporter in Houston?

Or are they sourcing their stories from other stories/postings on the internet?

Have you figured out yet that Baxter was a long-time Enron Employee?

18 posted on 01/29/2002 5:51:46 AM PST by _Jim
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Comment #19 Removed by Moderator

To: _Jim
Jim, the stories I've been reading on the internet don't mention half of what is in this article. Have I missed some, are you saying the reporter has compiled this story...from where?
20 posted on 01/29/2002 6:00:25 AM PST by Registered
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