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In Houston, little Enron fascination

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published May 6, 2006

HOUSTON - The fraud and conspiracy trial of Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay and former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling gave Houston tour manager Sandra Lord what she thought was a great idea: the Enron Tour.

Pack a bus with Enron junkies and show them all the hot spots: Skilling's mansion and Lay's high-rise in the city's wealthiest enclave, River Oaks. The gleaming 50-story glass tower, now empty, that was Enron's headquarters. A bar where Enron workers once hung out. An import store that used to be Jus' Stuff, an ill-fated high-dollar thrift shop run by Lay's wife, Linda.

The media that poured into the nation's fourth-largest city to cover the Enron trial loved it.

It fell flat with the public.

"As far as it affecting the day-to-day lives of Susie Q getting ready for the prom, or her kids are graduating or they're trying to get into pre-K, you know, this is just not high on the radar screen," said Lord, owner of Discover Houston Tours.

While the biggest fraud trial to emerge from the recent era of corporate scandals presaged by Enron's 2001 collapse has gained much national attention, ex-Enron employees and other Houstonians are going about their lives without dissecting the case over watercoolers.

Some curious onlookers have dropped in on the trial from time to time, even former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy, who was acquitted in his own fraud trial last year.

Most say they are more interested in the outcome than the journey through the premier criminal case to emerge from the December 2001 descent into bankruptcy proceedings of the seventh-largest U.S. corporation. Enron's collapse wiped out about 5,600 jobs by the end of 2001, almost $2.1-billion in pension plans and more than $60-billion in market value.

Those losses have left a bitter taste for some, however.

"I just want Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling to join Andy Fastow in jail," said Sherri Saunders, who worked at Enron for 24 years before the collapse. Fastow, Enron's ex-chief financial officer, admitted running schemes to help the company manipulate earnings and hide debt.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy more than two years ago and testified against his former bosses. He also agreed up front as part of his plea deal to serve a decade in prison.

"I heard Ken Lay saying something on TV about how he's fighting for his life. Well, so am I," Saunders said. "I lost my whole retirement. I'm going to be 59 this year and I have no retirement because Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling took it away from me."

Now employed at a Houston hospital, Saunders said the trial only comes up in conversation if she reveals she used to work at Enron. She said she remains proud to have worked there despite the scandal, but holds Lay, Skilling and other top executives responsible for Enron's failure. But she nixed any plans of dropping in on the trial.

"There were days I thought I needed to go down there, but then I thought, why do I want to waste my vacation time?" she said.

For others, their fascination with the trial comes because they were pulled into the scandal by the wide net that prosecutors cast.

"When you go through something like this, it becomes such a personal experience for you that you want to see how other trials are conducted," said Sheila Kahanek, a former in-house accountant who was acquitted in a 2004 fraud and conspiracy trial over an Enron power barge deal.

Kahanek, who is now a consultant, said her interest stems largely from comparing her own experience with the justice system to that of Lay and Skilling, particularly when it comes to strategies and judicial rulings.

The trial comes up regularly in conversations Kahanek has with friends and neighbors who know about her experience. Otherwise, "No one's talking about it," she said.

[Last modified May 6, 2006, 08:22:09]