SAUNDERS: American inmate

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 5/28/6 | Debra J. Saunders

[SmithL]

ENRON'S Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling are about to trade their corporate suites for prison cells. Sometimes the system works. As prosecutors argued and jurors apparently agreed, Enron collapsed -- not because of bad press or market forces beyond executives' control -- but because of criminal choices and "outright lies."

In retrospect, it boggles the mind that Lay and Skilling thought their lawyers could talk their way out of a conviction. It was smooth talk, after all, that sealed their fate. Jurors were especially incensed that Lay assured Enron employees that the company's stock was a great buy in 2001, even as he was selling some $70 million worth of it. "I thought that was a disgrace," pronounced juror Don Martin. No lie.

These convictions bolster the Bush administration's admirably tough take on white-collar crime. Yes, Dubya gave Lay the nickname Kenny Boy. And yes, according to a Center for Public Integrity report, Bush has received $736,800 from Enron since he ran for governor in 1994. But the donations didn't stop his Justice Department from prosecuting the one-time big donor. And the big money didn't help Lay when he tried to get former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and former Commerce Secretary Don Evans to help Enron avoid bankruptcy.

This administration also successfully threw the book at biggies at WorldCom, Tyco and Adlephia Communications Corp. On the political-corruption front, the Bush Justice Department has won guilty pleas from U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-San Diego, uber-lobbyist Jack Abramoff and three former GOP congressional aides.

Still, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi rails against the GOP "culture of corruption."

And in the most boneheaded political move of 2006, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., just handed her extra rope.

This has been a sorry year for congressional ethics.

[newfarm4000n]

All of congress are crooks. It just whether or not their corruption endangers national security or not.

[Eccl 10:2]

Can somebody post a list of corrupt business leaders found guilty during the Clinton administration?

I thought so...

[Roy Tucker]

Mark Rich won a pardon from Slick Willie while his ex-wife did the horizontal mambo with our Commander in Chief. Does that count?

[Eccl 10:2]

LOL - I guess that constitutes a conviction in a Democratic administration.

[BIGZ]

ENRON'S Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling are about to trade their corporate suites for prison cells. Sometimes the system works

Fannie Mae, Frankllin Raines, cooked the books to a greater extent than Lay did , yet the Government pensions him off at $1.5 million a year. Gorlick and her cronies on the board were also beneficiaries of Million dollar bonuses?

Prosecute, bet me.

[libstripper]

The underlying circumstances of all of the big corporate scandals developed under the Clinton administration and came to light under Bush. Clinton was out to see the stock market run up however he could to protect himself from impeachment. He was also on the take in every way he could think of. IMHO he deliberately encouraged this misconduct and/or deliberately looked the other way while it was going on to keep the bribes flowing to himself and to keep the artificially inflated market up long enough to avoid conviction. As far as he was concerned, what happened later didn't matter.