'I Just Can't Go On,' Ex-Officer Wrote
The New York Times
April 12, 2002
By JIM YARDLEY
SUGAR LAND, Tex., April 11
- In a pained handwritten
note, J. Clifford Baxter, the
former Enron vice chairman,
described himself as tormented
and ashamed but did not
mention the Enron scandal or
whether it was leading him to
take his own life.
"I am so sorry for this," Mr. Baxter
wrote to his wife, Carol, in the
note, which the Sugar Land
police released today. "I feel I just
can't go on. I have always tried to
do the right thing but where
there once was great pride now
its gone. I love you and the
children so much.
"I just can't be any good to you or
myself. The pain is overwhelming.
"Please try to forgive me.
"Cliff."
Early on the morning of Jan. 25,
Mr. Baxter was found dead from a
single gunshot wound to the
head. His body was discovered
inside his parked Mercedes-Benz
a few blocks from his home in a
subdivision of Sugar Land, an
affluent suburb of Houston.
The Harris County Medical
Examiner's office has ruled his
death a suicide, though the
Sugar Land police have left the
case open, awaiting results on
what officials described as routine
tests involving DNA and ballistic
information. A police spokesman
said today that the case was
expected to be closed early next
week.
The existence of the note had
generated much speculation
about whether Mr. Baxter had
offered any details about Enron.
He had retired from the company
in May 2001, about seven months
before Enron filed for bankruptcy
protection. Former colleagues
said Mr. Baxter had criticized
some of the accounting practices
conducted by the former chief
financial officer, Andrew S.
Fastow, whose off-balance-sheet
partnerships later contributed to
the company's collapse.
Colleagues also said that Mr.
Baxter had clashed with Jeffrey
K. Skilling, the former chief executive, though Mr. Skilling
testified before Congress in February that the two had
been close friends.
In the days and weeks before his death, Mr. Baxter had
been named a defendant in at least one civil lawsuit filed
against officers of the company, and Congressional
investigators had subpoenaed him to testify.
The Sugar Land police department released the note late
this morning after the state attorney general ruled that it
and other related documents should be made public
under the Texas Open Records Act. Within hours, a state
judge issued a temporary restraining order on the release
of the documents after a motion was filed by Mr. Baxter's
wife.
The order came too late to prevent the release of the note.
A hearing will be held in the next 14 days to determine
whether other items, including a police report and
photographs taken at the scene, will be released.
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