Message-ID: <6385673.1075860870980.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 16:11:41 -0800 (PST) From: lmfoust@aol.com To: aberdy@aol.com, arthur.goldsmith@att.net, acooper2@columbus.rr.com, darango@houston.rr.com, djoraholmen@houston.rr.com, jdyess@houston.rr.com, eufard.cooper@att.net, khyatt@enron.com, indyandy06@msn.com, irongator@aol.com, kwangenheim@houston.rr.com, johnstonp@houston.rr.com, dmarquardt@prodigy.net, massey.r@worldnet.att.net, ronmichalski@msn.com, jpoxer@houston.rr.com, pdalessandro64@hotmail.com, dsaucier@columbus.rr.com, fshort@houston.rr.com, steveswerd@aol.com, wtruxillo@hotmail.com, tsundel@houston.rr.com, newhatley@earthlink.net, gfoust@adelphia.net, jfoust@adelphia.net, hmathews@houston.rr.com Subject: Fwd: Fw: Response to Enron Article by Michael Lewis, 3/3/02,Outlook Section Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ANSI_X3.4-1968 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-From: Lmfoust@aol.com X-To: ABerdy@aol.com, arthur.goldsmith@att.net, acooper2@columbus.rr.com, darango@houston.rr.com, djoraholmen@houston.rr.com, Judy Dyess , eufard.cooper@att.net, khyatt@enron.com, indyandy06 , IronGator@aol.com, kwangenheim@houston.rr.com, johnstonp@houston.rr.com, David Marquardt , Robert Massey , Ron Michalski , jpoxer@houston.rr.com, pdalessandro64@hotmail.com, dsaucier@columbus.rr.com, fshort@houston.rr.com, Steveswerd@aol.com, wtruxillo@hotmail.com, tsundel@houston.rr.com, Nan Whatley , gfoust@adelphia.net, jfoust@adelphia.net, hmathews@houston.rr.com X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \Kevin_Hyatt_Mar2002\Hyatt, Kevin\Deleted Items X-Origin: Hyatt-K X-FileName: khyatt (Non-Privileged).pst Ludicrous........please read the Washington Post article below. I plan to f= ax a letter to the editor. For all the negatives of the LJMs, Enron had man= y successes and our reputations should not get slammed because of the actio= ns of a handful of people! letters@washpost.com =20 Michelle --------- Inline attachment follows --------- From: To: Wayne Franklin , Tracy Harris ,= Joan Woodson , Tricia Esqueta , Ch= ristopher Daniel , Patti Ucci , Tony Sprui= ell , Don Miller , Susan R= ouse , Sheila Pardo , Sean Hymes= , Sam Zimmerman , Reggie Smith= (E-mail) , rick dumonte , rodney beasley , Melvenia Pellerin , Rajesh Dhir (E-mail) , Quincy &= JO Baltrip , Pat Slaughter , P= atrick Keelan , Pam Benson , Nancy M= . Simmons (E-mail) , Meg Wysetta , Maricela Chavez , lou diamond , Michelle Foust , Leonard Dillehay , Gustavia Lee , Lissa Boatright (E= -mail) , Lisa Pederson ,= Kishore Joshi (E-mail) , Keith DeVore , Jeff White , Frances Ortiz , Jacqueline M. Jackson , Jackie Col= eman , Terry Oswald , Joel Anderson = , Georgia Schmidt , Debora Whi= tehead , Andre Gibson , Chaun= Roberts , Digna Showers , D= ebra DeForge , Dawn Brown , Darin Meyerson , Toby Roquemore , Christie Bunting (E-mail) , Chris Foley , Brooks Wimberly , Bob Hurt , Beverly Stone Jones , Bertha = Owens , Barrett Hall , Anzar Hasa= n , Angie Lorio , an doberneck= er , Amy Rios Date: Wednesday, March 6, 2002 2:04:36 GMT Subject:=20 This is ridiculous. If I have offended anyone with this e-mail just let me = know and I will discard your name from my address book. If not, please resp= ond to this reporter. Helen ----- Original Message -----=20 From: Kathy Benedict =20 To: William Petty ; Wendy Hiatt ; Weindel, Patricia ; Wand= a Parker ; Trish Collins ; Tracy Williams ; Tom= Riley ; Tim Sundel ; Susan Entmon ; Stephen Burns ; Stephanie Kimble ; Shirley Isbell ; shilpa kadakia ; Sheryl Stone ;= Sharon Strong ; Scott Wohlander ; Scott Massey ; Sa= ndy Verma ; Ryan Frazier ; Ruth Lancaster ; Rosa Jaramillo ; Roberto Martinez ; Richard Miller ; Register, Andrea= ; Rebekah Rushing ; Rebecca Pickett ; Phyllis Anzalon= e ; Patty McLeod ; Pam Benson ; nvtj@hotmail.com ; NicoleSc11@hotmail.com ; = Nicholas Jack ; Ms. Dan Ayers ; Monique Shankle ; Mary Sullivan ; Mary Jo Johnson ; Mark Reese ; Mark Meigs ; Maggie Valles ; Luis = Bravo ; Louis Allen ; lmldjw@hotmail.com ; lino100@msn.com ; Kristin Harrelson = ; Krista Kisch ; Kim & Mark Lerro ; Kendall Sprott ; Keith Halpin <= mailto:dhalpin@houston.rr.com> ; Karl Klicker ; jose13580@yahoo.com ; Johnny Ross ; Johnnie Williams ; = John Carr ; John Allario ; Jim Kuegle ; Jill Hightower ; Jessie Patterson ;= Jennifer Rudolph ; Jeff Klotz ; JanetcCareer@AOL.com ; Jana Mil= ls ; JAcque Middleton ; Jackie Coleman ; itaveras65= @yahoo.com ; islander_nique@yahoo.com ; Ihor Petrashko ; hmathews@houston.rr.com = ; Helen Haynes ; Gwendolyn Gray ; Gloria Alvarez ; Gl= enn Winship ; Gina Calderon ; George Waidelich ; Frank Rishe ; Edna King ; Dorothy = Ricketts ; Donna Wackerle ; Digna Showers ; Deno= Damaskos ; Delma Munoz ; Debbie Perrotta ; Dayna Smith ; David Coolidge ; Daryl K= itchen ; Clarion Lannom ; Cindy Lasseter ; Cindi To ; Chris Wheeler ; Cheryl Gaines ; Cheryl ; Cassandra Alston = ; Carmen Perez ; Brenda Johnston ; Brad Kohanke ; Bob Hansen ; Binky Davidson ; Bill Miller ; Bill Gathman= n ; Beverly Aden ; Becky= Jones ; Andrew Dickerson ; Allison Marchiony ; Alex= Olsen ; Alex Hidalgo ; Adam, Don ; Suzanne Kelly =20 Sent: Tuesday, March 05, 2002 4:34 PM Subject: Fw: Response to Enron Article by Michael Lewis, 3/3/02,Outlook Sec= tion =20 ----- Original Message -----=20 From: Kathy Roeder =20 To: benedict@kingwoodcable.com ; Dvegas= @kingwoodcable.com =20 Cc: Damon Silvers =20 Sent: Tuesday, March 05, 2002 12:41 PM Subject: Fwd: Response to Enron Article by Michael Lewis, 3/3/02,Outlook Se= ction Dennis and Kathy-- I need your help getting something to as many former Enron employees as pos= sible. At the bottom of my message I copied in an opinion editorial that a= ppeared in the Washington Post on Sunday. The author makes an absurd clai= m that Enron's employees somehow got what they deserved in the company's co= llapse. =20 We need as many former Enron employees as possible to respond to the Michae= l Lewis piece and counter his bizarre argument with fact. You can email le= tters to the editor to letters@washpost.com = Include your name, address, and phone number. I attached the letter that M= r. Trumka sent to the Post today. =20 =20 Wait a Minute. Didn't Enron's Employees Ride That Stock Up?=20 By Michael Lewis Sunday, March 3, 2002; Page B02=20 BERKELEY, Calif. -- Not since the corporate victims of Sept. 11 rushed to C= apitol Hill to demand financial reparations have there been so many expensi= ve beggars in one place as there are now in Houston.=20 Every few days brings another story of the terrible predicament of Enron Co= rp.'s current and former employees. Often these stories reveal a new grieva= nce they harbor or lawsuit they have filed to recover money they believe is= rightfully theirs. On Feb. 21, for instance, came word that roughly 900 Old Enronians are seek= ing cash from a pair of Houston-based relief funds, and that former auditor= Arthur Andersen LLP had put together a package to compensate, among others= , former Enron employees. These relief funds now have hundreds of thousands of dollars, largely becau= se politicians looking to unburden themselves of Enron's campaign contribut= ions have come to view the bankrupt energy trader's former employees as a p= opular cause. And Andersen seems never to have asked why it should be givin= g money to former Enron employees rather than the other way around.=20 How come? Why are Enron's employees, who helped perpetrate one of the great= corporate frauds of all time, more deserving of reparations than, say, Enr= on's creditors or, to expand the field of vision, actual poor people who ne= ver worked at Enron?=20 One answer -- the answer generally assumed -- is that the blame for Enron's= collapse falls exclusively on Kenneth Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, Andrew Fastow= and one or two other honchos. All lesser Enronians were, like mushrooms, k= ept in the dark. Perhaps in some cases this is even true. In most cases -- = above a very low level of employee -- it couldn't possibly be.=20 We now know, for example, that it took many hundreds of people to orchestra= te the huge number of spectacularly bad investments made by Enron over the = past decade. Many hundreds of people were at the same time very highly paid= . How could it not occur to these people that there was something odd in th= is arrangement?=20 We also know that some large number of employees answered former CEO Skilli= ng's call to create a phony trading floor, so that analysts visiting from W= all Street would have the impression that Enron was doing more business tha= n it actually was.=20 Many of these people -- to judge from their newspaper quotes -- seem to fee= l that the Potemkin village exercise is proof of corruption at the top of E= nron, and thus of their case that they were defrauded by their evil masters= . Actually, it shows that a lot of people should have known that something = was wrong all along, and that the corruption, or delusion, extended down in= to the Enron ranks.=20 We also know, from Enron vice president Sherron Watkins's now famous letter= to Lay, that Enron's corrupt partnerships were something of an open secret= within the company.=20 Indeed, everything we know so far about Enron suggests that many, many empl= oyees were, at the very least, willing accomplices to the schemes dreamed u= p by their bosses. And now they want their money back! They are like access= ories to a failed bank heist who demand restitution because the police conf= iscated their share of the take. I can think of two reasons they should be = shamed into silence.=20 The first is the example it sets. The Enron case as it is currently playing= out sends the following message to corporate employees: You aren't respons= ible for what you do. Turn a blind eye toward corporate deceit, or even par= ticipate in the deception, and, so long as you aren't one of the top bosses= , you will enjoy the moral status of the victim. It's already hard to be a whistle-blower. This incentive structure makes it= even harder. One of the striking things about Enron is that no one came fo= rward and blew the whistle on the company. (Watkins has been cast in the ro= le, but all she really did is beg her boss to orchestrate an artful coverup= so she could continue to make lots of money.) Why will the people who work= at the next Enron behave any differently? The second reason to ignore the yelps and whimpers of Old Enronians is basi= c justice. The phony accounts Enron ginned up for many years allowed it to = pay its employees as if they actually were conducting hugely profitable bus= iness. Even those who were profitably engaged were probably grossly overpai= d for their efforts. In short, they've already made out like bandits. Why g= ive them more money?=20 I know, I know: the retirement plan! Eight hundred and fifty million dollar= s in worker savings vanished!=20 Somehow the media reports suggest Enron forced its employees to keep their = savings in Enron shares. In fact there was a brief period last fall, from O= ct. 29 through Nov. 12, in which the 401(k) plan was frozen and Enron's emp= loyees were unable to sell their shares. The stock during that span fell to= $9.24 a share from $13.81, a small step in the long plunge from more than = $90 to pennies today. The only shares workers were restricted from selling = outside that window were those pumped into the plan by the company as a mat= ch for part of each employee's contribution. (Those shares couldn't be sold= until the worker turned 50.)=20 For the most part, workers held shares voluntarily and could have sold them= , and diversified their portfolios, at any time. The reason they didn't is = that they were greedy: They had seen Enron's stock rocket and decided the s= mart thing to do was bet that it would keep rocketing. It's sad for them th= at it didn't, but should the rest of us be responsible for them, any more t= han we feel responsible for people who sunk their life savings into TheStre= et.com Inc.?=20 Probably there are a few Old Enronians -- lowly clerks, some blue-collar ty= pes out in the field, the mentally incompetent -- who deserve a helping han= d. But I'll bet they aren't the ones who are now hollering for it. Michael Lewis is a columnist for Bloomberg News, where a version of this fi= rst appeared. ? 2002 The Washington Post Company