The Enron Tale
The Washington Post
Wednesday, January 23, 2002; Page A16
If reports of their activities are correct,
both the treasury and commerce secretaries
listened to top Enron executives, then
declined to take any action ["Enron's
Influence Reached Deep Into Administration,"
front page, Jan. 18].
Unless people believe that government
officials should refuse to listen to the
concerns of the business world, then our leaders
did what they should have done: nothing.
We may need to revisit financial reporting
requirements for publicly traded companies.
But the government should not attempt to
serve as a "big brother" investment adviser.
FRED MAYES
Upper Marlboro
•
Let's see. Enron Corp. made large contributions
to the political campaigns of President Bush and
Attorney General John Ashcroft.
Thirty-five Bush administration officials
held Enron stock, and several others
were paid consultants to the company.
Vice President Cheney and his energy task
force met with Enron executives at least
six times while developing a national
energy policy, and Mr. Bush's proposed
economic stimulus package would have provided a $254 million rebate to the corporation.
Although it may turn out that Enron's ties to the administration are perfectly legal, I
would find little comfort in such a
conclusion. The ability to buy influence
and favors at the highest levels of government
may be permitted by law, but that doesn't
make it right.
JODY MARSHALL
McLean
•
Enron excelled at avoiding corporate taxes
by using offshore, secret accounts. Such
accounts are essential to terrorists, for
example, but apparently that has not been
sufficient cause to demand much change in this system.
Just how serious is the Bush administration about eliminating this loophole? Such financial secrecy
is a threat to the public
safety and to the stock market system.
Restoring the faith of the American public
will take more than dog-and-pony shows at airports.
CHARLES ADAMS
Bethesda
•
What are the odds that anyone of consequence
in the management of Enron will be punished
in any significant way for the
offenses committed against the company's
own employees -- let alone the investing public?
If severe justice is not meted out here,
then what will it take?
Is our government so bribed and so steeped
in corruption that no mega-corporation outrage,
no matter how egregious, is too
much?
LESLIE K. LEAR
Timonium
•
I find it interesting that Arthur Andersen
CEO Joseph Berardino would have the gall
to say that Enron failed not because of
faulty accounting but "because the economics
[of the Enron business] did not work"
[front page, Jan. 21].
While there may be some truth to that claim,
it would have been nice if Enron's financial
statements accurately reflected the
faulty economics instead of misrepresenting
the company's financial condition.
Misleading financial statements provide little
incentive to management to make the changes
necessary to make the economics work.
If there is any justice, Arthur Andersen
should find that the economics of doing a poor
job of auditing do not work.
MICHAEL RESING
Arlington
In response to the Jan. 17 front-page
article "Legislators Rush to Dump Enron Money":
Legislators who received money from Enron
should establish an escrow account and place
the funds there for disbursement to
Enron employees swindled by the company's
top executives.
The top executives at Enron, and those
at the Arthur Andersen accounting firm,
also should have their assets frozen or
placed in escrow for future redistribution
to Enron employees who lost all of their
invested savings in this unfortunate and criminal act.
JAMES RICHEY
Oxon Hill
•
George Will's assertion that Enron's political contributions "bought no Washington help
in Enron's crisis" missed the point [op-ed,
Jan. 17]. The real scandal is not
who knew what and when as Enron's house
of cards began to collapse, it is how and why that
house was built in the first place.
Enron's undue influence on government
led Congress and industry regulators to
change the rules of the game -- rules that
might have protected employees and average
shareholders from executive malfeasance.
This is the sort of corruption that
campaign reformers seek to mitigate.
Still, it is surprising that Mr. Will,
who blamed Enron's spectacular failure
on the "arrogance of executives," believes
that executive arrogance is unique
to Enron or that arrogance can't buy
influence with money.
STEVE SHEPHERD
Millersville
© 2002 The Washington Post Company |
