Kenneth Lay of Enron Convicted

It's been a long time in coming but the verdict today is guilty. Given that I'm from California and that Kenneth Lay's company was one of several energy companies deliberately manipulating prices in 2000 and 2001 and that my wife and I had to pay through our noses like millions of other Californians, I cheer his verdict and wonder what took so long. The verdict, however, did not address the energy manipulation itself but rather a few of the other frauds Skilling and Lay committed. The Los Angeles Times has the story:

Former Enron executives Kenneth L. Lay and Jeffrey K. Skilling were found guilty today on most counts in their landmark conspiracy and fraud case.

In the end, the jury of eight women and four men embraced the testimony of a parade of former Enron executives who said Lay and Skilling lied publicly about the energy company's financial health and condoned, if not actively encouraged, the use of accounting tricks to boost reported profits and hide debt.

The verdicts, which were reached after the jury deliberated for more than five days, were read aloud in a Houston courtroom.

Lay, 64, the company's former chairman, was found guilty on all six counts of fraud and conspiracy. Former chief executive Skilling, 52, was found guilty of fraud and conspiracy in addition to one count of insider trading, 19 counts in all; he was acquitted of the nine remaining insider trading charges. One of the fraud counts against Skilling included the misstating of Enron's financial situation during the California energy crisis.

Skilling and Lay are having trouble admitting their guilt and that to me is a reflection of America's corporate culture over the last twenty-five years during which time corporations brazenly sold a philosophy that 'greed is good' and executives placed themselves above the law and the good of their workers, investors and communities. That culture has not ended. Not by a long shot.

No one should forget that in the years before its collapse Enron was a heavy contributor to the Republican Party and that Kenneth Lay was very much involved in Bush's campaign and even gave Bush the use of his private jet at times. Given the ties of President Bush and Vice President Cheney to people like Kenneth Lay, it's going to take time to bring the corporate culture back to a more responsible and ethical stance. Former oil executives Bush and Cheney will never be a willing part of the solution. Nor will their Republican friends in Congress.