Letters to the Editors

Hunt for scandal in Enron case turns up little

You have to hand it to the media -- they never stop trying. Ever since Sept. 11, they've been looking for some kind of scandal to hang on an extremely popular George W. Bush, but just haven't been able to get any traction. Now comes Enron, which seems tailor made for the occasion. With so many big-money ties to the administration, surely there must be something that could tarnish the image of the White House, and the two Big Oil men who run it.

In his Jan. 12 article (Event underscores Enron-Bush tie), Adam Smith takes great delight in making this implication. He even goes a step further, linking Jeb Bush to the Enron gravy train. What Smith fails to mention, however, is that Enron has made sizeable donations to Democrats as well as Republicans. Among them are such liberal stalwarts as Tom Daschle ($6,000) and Charles Schumer ($21,933) -- and this doesn't even include the $931,715 in soft money donations made to the Democratic Party between 1995-2001.

Granted, Republicans have received more money from Enron than Democrats, but to use this as evidence of a quid pro quo is absurd. One need look no further than the Bush Treasury Department, which refused requests from Enron officials to intercede on their behalf with that banks that held the company's loans. If that's the kind of loyalty their money bought, it would have better been spent elsewhere.

At the very least, this represents sloppy journalism. At worst, it's a deliberate attempt to make our president and our governor appear guilty by association. If the Times editorial board is wondering why so many people see a liberal bias in the mainstream media, they should start with their own newspaper and work their way up from there.
-- Marc Giller, Clearwater

It won't be easily swept under the rug

The morality (better yet, immorality) tale confected by Enron executives is a story of mischievous misbehavior of the corporate rich and powerful. We have had Michael Milken, Ivan Boesky, the infamous hedgers of Long Term Capital among others, but none reached the heights of cold-blooded capitalism of Kenneth Lay and associates.

This is a scenario of compounded evil. Someone called it "the perfect storm" of its kind. Coupled with the normal doses of corporate greed (which will never go away) are elements of political machinations reaching deep into Washington, cruel and unusual punishment of company employees, collaboration with an apparently seedy player in international accounting circles, and worst of all, a bad attitude. So far there is no show of penance much less a desire to want to put things right. Lay and his cohorts are pariahs if not downright criminals.

Red-faced politicos are scurrying for cover. The class action suit of thousands of employees who lost their life savings should have a robust impact on the public for a long time. It will keep the Enron case on the front pages for years, and Washington won't be able to sweep this one under the rug. It may be the best thing that ever happened for John McCain's campaign reform bill.
-- Edward Rapp, Inverness

Don't forget the Democrats

Re: Big donations can undermine the donor, too, Jan. 12.

Sara Fritz, your Washington bureau chief, mentions in her article that the friendship of George W. Bush and Enron chairman Kenneth Lay may have convinced the public to buy Enron stock.

What Fritz fails to mention is that most of the Enron stock was bought during the eight years of Bill Clinton's presidency and that he was also a good friend of Lay and was also a recipient of funds from Enron. She also failed to mention that Bush did not "bail out" his good friend and keep his company from going belly up.

Fritz does not mention any major Democrats that also had their hands in Enron's pockets. Possibly she can inform us, in her next article, which Democrats we should be careful of.
-- Van E. Vergetis, Holiday

Coming to grips with Enrongate

Let's say it and get it over with, "Enrongate." Here we go again. Still another Washington scandal. The news is appalling, rife with allegations about people in high office, and their knowledge regarding the collapse of Enron at the expense of its stockholders. Questions about political contributions, coverups, and the destruction of pertinent and possibly damaging files and records abound.

It seems that people in high office have no fear of scandal. Can it be that our government and judicial system are deemed to be too soft, too easy to forgive, unwilling to pursue and indict? Can perpetrators, men of influence, knowingly bankrupt a huge corporation at the expense of employees and their savings without fear of being caught and tried?

Those left with worthless stock and few options are looking for answers. It is going to cost money, but I sincerely hope Enrongate proves their case and that those involved in this fiasco are found, severely punished and shamed by their perverse and selfish actions.
-- Orfeo Trombetta, Seminole

The wheels of scandal turn

Re: Officials defend their silence on Enron calls, Jan. 14.

Not too long ago, I recall the Clinton administration getting raked over the coals. There was Travelgate, Whitewater, Vincent Foster's suicide and the Monica Lewinski scandal. My firm belief has always been that what goes around, comes around. We are now entering the second year of the Bush administration and the Enron Corp. (which contributed heavily to the Republicans), has collapsed.

With all due respect, maybe Vice President Dick Cheney isn't hiding from Osama bin Laden after all. Perhaps he is trying to hide any connection he has had with Enron. I have a strong hunch that the coals are going to get pretty hot and some fat-cat behinds may even get burned. This event may even call for a special prosecutor to be appointed. Kind of like Kenneth Starr. Only this time, let's do it right! Appoint a Democrat!
-- JoAnn Lee Frank, Clearwater

The problem: flawed public officials

Re: The Enron connection, Jan. 12.

I believe your Saturday editorial on Enron misses the point. While the losses of the employees and investors are shameful, these are symptoms of the problem and those tragic symptoms will be repeated unless the causes are eliminated.

Enron legally purchased influence with gifts and contributions. It was an investment intended to directly benefit the corporation, and Enron gained access to public officials that was not available to others.

But the problem is not the law. It is the morality of our public officials. There is a simple, realistic solution. Regardless of what the law allows, public officials could just say no to those gifts.
-- Bob Hackworth, Dunedin

Moving money into corporate pockets

Ringing clear and sounding good, like all good sloganeering and propaganda should, the conservative platform of selling privatization of everything from Social Security and schools to forest and fisheries management should in truth scare all of us out of our collective wits. We need look no further than Enron and all its strange bedfellows. The care and compassion this corporation has shown to the workers who built it should make every red-blooded, hard-working American take a long hard look at the people who own and manipulate these corporations.

Privatization, at least as put forward by this current bunch of crown princes of conservativism, isn't a great opportunity for us and our country. In fact it is a risk of unimaginable consequence whose true purpose as policy is to transfer as much of our hard won wages to the pockets of corporate America, from where it should then "trickle" back down to us and our life savings.

Watch carefully, America, every time the little guys are skewered by the big guys and lose their life savings to their stock options. These options then become cash, which then become political contributions, which then become dangerous slogans to protect this upward spiral of our money. Left to their dangerous policies, these complicitous money-mongers will have left nothing but a much poorer class of struggling workers and a more fabulously rich class of irresponsible corporate princes. History has much to say about societies that aren't wise enough to truly understand the simplistic slogans offered to them by smiling demagogues. Listen and learn and you will find that history tells us it almost always ends badly if they are left to their greedy ways.
-- Mike Blowers, Pinellas Park

Political correctness mocks our heritage

Re: Statue's new faces fuel criticism in N.Y., Jan. 12.

A statue being made that depicts three white firefighters raising the American flag over the rubble of the World Trade Center has fallen victim to "political correctness." It is now proposed to have one white, one black and one Hispanic firefighter raising the flag.

Would this criticism have been brought up if it were originally three black or Hispanic firefighters? I do not mean any disrespect with this question, as I would be just as proud of these men. When firefighters are risking their lives to save someone, I don't stop to judge them by their race or color of their skin but as brave men doing their job.

When a historic event takes place, nothing should be altered, as it shows disrespect in its purpose and is an insult to the actual people who made it happen. What's next with this political correctness nonsense? Are they going to revise the famous statue of our soldiers raising the flag at Iwo Jima, making sure it is politically correct?

Political correctness is becoming a mockery to our heritage.
-- Jack Burlakos, Kenneth City

Statue shouldn't change history

Re: Statue's new faces fuel criticism in N.Y.

Why didn't the people involved in changing the faces on the statue just make up an image of their own instead of stealing an image that someone else captured on film? Why couldn't they just leave it as it was? Are they afraid that some group will object to creating it as depicted by the picture, or are they trying to make something out of something that wasn't there?

The statue shouldn't be made to honor anyone who wasn't there. Those three firefighters did the job and they alone should be immortalized in the statue. If you are going to change it, why not make it a firefighter, a police officer and an office worker? They all lost lives there, too.

Don't change history!
-- Russell Singleton, retired Cincinnati firefighter, New Port Richey

Share your opinions

For e-mail users: Letters can be sent by e-mail to letters@sptimes.com. E-mail messages must be text only and cannot include attachments. If you're using a word processing program to write the message, you must use its "Save as" function to save it as a text file, then import it into your e-mail program. Please include your return e-mail address, as well as your name, mailing address and phone number, in the text of the message.
--

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright