I do feel that certain politicians and utility types are trying to "spin" his indictment to make it seem he/Enron is guilty of things other than he is being charged. That disturbs me.
I agree with snopercod that there should be some outrage in regards to some of the political sniping going on and the seemingly abuse by the justice dept. (Yes, Martha appears to have been railroaded, but she also appears to have done some pretty dumb things for a former broker and someone on the stock exchange board! I think she deserves a new trial and I think that the agent who lied deserves a trial and possibly some jail time.)
I do fear that there may be a shark-like "feeding frenzy" where the Justice Department has tasted "blood" of corporate crime and is going wild. That bothers me. However, dilberately going after some of the folks at Tyco & WorldCom and some other companies for their corrupt practices is also just fine with me.
I also feel the Ken Lay, if he is at all competent, should have had some inkling that his CFO and auditors were crooks and if so, he had a responsibility to have done something about it. Even though corporate america likes Board Members and CEO's who leave quitely, I personally like the style of the Roy Disney's and others who when they see a problem, really take a stand and let the stockholders know about it. I find such honesty important if the stockmarket is going to be a vehicle to solve our social security problem so individuals feel comfortable in investing their retirement money in it.
I want Board Members to stay up nights worrying about corporate decisions and makeing sure they aren't being feed BS by management. I want the Board Audit Committee to grill the independent auditors to make sure another A Anderson situtation never happens. I want CEO's & CFO's to have to sign and personally attest to the accuracy of SEC filings and know that if the filings are used to dupe stockholders that the CEO and CFO may spend a lot of free time in a federal jail somewhere. I also want to know that when I talk to my broker, that he isn't under intense pressue to sell some stocks that will make his company's investment banking branch extra fees or when an analyst recommends a stock it is because of what the company is doing and not kickbacks via stock issuance or banking revenues.
To that extent, I want the Justice Dept. to "clean some corporate house," but fairly and not by running over the legal framework of this country.
Somebody should box his ears. Oh wait, it looks like somebody already did.
"The new indictment accused Lay, Skilling and Causey of enriching themselves through salaries, bonus, grants of stock and stock options.
I'd be enriching myself through a salary if I could find a job. Maybe I'd better not, now that it's a crime in America.
If Lay was "enriching himself" as a "reward" for that process, then he would deserve a criminal indictment.
If corporate officers don't want to take those risks, they don't deserve those fat salaries. There are plenty who will do that job for less.