Category Archives: Enronarama

First view of the Women of Enron Via the Chron, which at least had the decency to not do any dime store moralizing as it was gleefully exploiting the story and snapping color photos. This Enron model highlights one of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Women of Enron update Apparently, the women who will be featured in Playboy‘s Women of Enron pictorial will be signing copies of their issue on Thursday evening, according to the Chron‘s Ken Hoffman, who is always an invaluable resource in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Business is brisk at the Linda Lay upscale resale shop, according to Chron society columnist Shelby Hodge. THERE were no fancy invitations and no “open for business” signs at 1302 W. Gray. But customers started arriving on Friday and before … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Someone alert Mickey Kaus, Enron’s back on the front page and about to get nasty. The White House said it has been gathering and reviewing documents, e-mails and entry records of visitors and interviewing people with relevant information, and it … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Back when KausFiles was still its own site and had actual archives, Mickey Kaus snickered that Democrats’ glee about using Enron to bash Republicans was overdone and premature. Take a look at the top story from today’s Chron and tell … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Chronicle readers give a thumbs-down to Linda Lay’s upscale resale shop idea. Two of them also criticize Houston’s Leading Information Source for giving Linda Lay free publicity on Page 1. It’s gonna be a fun summer, I can just tell. Continue reading →

Linda Lay, the former First Lady of Enron, is set to open an “upscale secondhand shop” in Montrose in order to help friends and family with cash flow problems. I used to live about four blocks from the location given … Continue reading → Continue reading →

In better and more relevant news, Playboy is in town to shoot the Women of Enron feature, scheduled for the August issue. Apparently, a couple of local homes will be used as backdrops for some of the shoots. Must really … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The still permalinkless Mickey Kaus takes a poke at Rick Berke for this article in which Berke says that Enron will be a big political issue for the Democrats. Snarks Kaus: Does anyone, from the distant historical vantage point of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

So former Enron executives are getting sued left and right by defrauded stockholders. They’re likely going to lose many of these lawsuits. Do you feel a bit sorry for them because they could lose their homes and fortunes? Please. This … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Karin and Larry note that Playgirl magazine is now looking to do a photo shoot on The Men of Enron. I think between this and the promised Playboy feature, we can safely say that the whole Enron thing has reached … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Playboy is inviting current and former Enron employees to audition for a Women of Enron pictorial. I heard the teaser for this on the news but didn’t catch the segment, which was no doubt presented in a restrained and dignified … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Newly released information says that questions surrounding Enron’s off-books partnerships started surfacing in 1999. This story refers to some “prominent Houstonians” who were allowed to invest in some sweetheart deals. I can’t wait to hear more about that. Continue reading →

It was Houston-based law firm Vinson & Elkins’ turn to get spanked by the Tauzin Tribunal yesterday. As with executives at Enron and Arthur Andersen, they applied the we-know-nothing defense, which was about as well-received as Jeff Skilling’s last performance. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Jeff Skilling’s lawyers announce that he did too tell the truth to Congress. They went on to denounce as “scurrilous” a report that the HFD had been called to battle a three-alarm blaze in his trousers. “At no point were … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Linda Lay Award for Sycophantic Interview Least Likely to Generate Hometown Sympathy goes to Jeff Skilling for his pathetic appearance on Larry King Live. Continue reading →

The Ballpark Soon To Be Formerly Known As Enron Field is now officially The Ballpark Formerly Known As Enron Field. Enron will get some money back in the bargain. As long as none of it goes to Lay, Skilling, or … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Jeff Skilling denies all in his testimony to the Senate. What a scuzzball. This is my favorite bit: In Tuesday’s hearing, Skilling clashed with senators over his stock sales, repeatedly blamed auditor Arthur Andersen for signing off on questionable accounting … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Enron exec (she’s still with the company) and whistleblower has placed no limits on what questions she’ll answer. Keep quiet, Kenny Boy. It ain’t gonna matter. Meanwhile, the oh-so-poor Lays have sold their cottage in Aspen for $10 million, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Andrew Hofer has explained the concept of derivatives to us non-financial whizzes, but though Hofer’s prose is as lucid as one can be for such a topic, I guarantee that you’ll enjoy Joe Bob Briggs’ explanation of Enron’s business more. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Salon’s readers (mostly) give Katherine Mieszkowski the business for her sweeping generalizations of Houston. Ginger notes something we both missed the first time around, that Mieszkowski hails from Clear Lake. And as she notes, that explains a lot. Continue reading →

Chronicle political columnist John Williams makes this interesting observation about Enron: For all the lobbying power Ken Lay had, the company “never won a big government contract in Houston.” Continue reading →

I don’t know what Linda Lay hoped to accomplish with her bid for sympathy on the Today Show recently, but judging by these letters to the editor, she failed pretty miserably. Continue reading →

Vice President Dick Cheney is refusing to turn over documents connected to President Bush’s energy plan. The GAO may file a lawsuit against the White House to force them to give it up. I don’t know what Cheney is hiding, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

A former Enron employee is making money by selling T-shirts which bear anti-Enron slogans. Head over to his site if you’d like to buy a shirt that says “My boss got a retention bonus, all I got was this T-shirt.” Continue reading →

Conventional wisdom (scroll to “The Gating Factor”), even in Blogland, appears to be settling on the idea that the Enron mess is a business scandal, not a political scandal. That may be true, but with all of the money that … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Looks like perhaps Ken Lay won’t walk away from all this with his spoils intact. Pretty much all of the income he got from Enron is apparently fair game in the multitude of civil lawsuits that have been filed by … Continue reading → Continue reading →

If you’re not completely Enroned out by now, listen to this interview from NPR (you need Real Audio) with Erica Bess Duncan. Erica is a friend of mine who is still with Enron. Her unit, Enron Online, has been bought … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This article in Salon claims that the Enron collapse has been a September 11-like shock to Houston. “Whereas Sept. 11 was a shock for the nation and indeed the world, this is a second shock for Houston, certainly not of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Brian Linse makes the case that President Bush is tainted by his association with the Enron crowd. Says Brian Regardless of what illegal shenanigans the Enron boys may or may not have gotten up to in the past, Bush will … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Wall Street Journal blames the fall of Enron on Bill Clinton. Well, more specifically, they attempt to blame Enron’s sharp practices on “the moral climate” of the Clinton years: We’d say it’s also impossible to understand Enron outside of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

So another nugget which was carefully obscured by Enron’s opaque accounting was the fact that the company paid no income tax for four of its last five years. They took advantage of numerous loopholes which allowed them to launder profits … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Will Vehrs cites some sobering comments from Joseph Britt about Enrongate and its magnitude as a news story. I’ve had my fun piling on Enron and will continue to do so, but Britt is dead right – In the end … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Today Arthur Anderson fired the lead Enron auditor, citing the “massive destruction of documents” as the SEC started investigating Enron. Other accountants on this team were recalled from Houston and/or put on administrative lead. Stay tuned, kids. It’s gonna be … Continue reading → Continue reading →