Enron & NC

A few things to keep in mind as you drink in the verdicts against Enron execs Lay and Skilling:

• North Carolina was not untouched by the scandal, with a big (5%) drop in the state employee pension fund announced late in 2002 blamed in part on $100 million in stock losses thanks to Enron, Tyco and AOL Time-Warner. There were also hundreds of Enron employees and retirees in the state who lost out when the company collapsed.
• Enron and Lay played a supporting role in a Democratic attack on Liddy Dole, who spent September 20, 2001 at a fundraiser—just a “little luncheon” she said—at Lay’s Houston mansion. This at a time when most politicians were laying off such things and Dole said she had “suspended” her campaign.
• And, lest we forget, Lay was trying like mad to get North Carolina to follow California in deregulating its power industry. In addition to hiring the well-connected lobbyist George Kitchens, Lay tried to get Kitchens appointed to a board studying a deregulation proposal.

Business North Carolina noted in its November 2003 issue:

Legislative documents and other sources show ex-Enron Chairman Ken Lay quietly attempting to strong-arm Asheboro Republican Harold Brubaker, then House speaker, into naming Enron chief lobbyist George Kitchens to the study commission. Brubaker refused.

Then, of course, the whole California thing happened, the secret accounts were exposed, the bubble burst and The Smartest Guys in the Room went away.