ENRON: Got what they deserved.

[Mr 5 0]

Whenever you have a big public scandal of any kind - especially where politics and big money are involved, as with Enron - and a major player ends up dead as a result of suicide, a thousand gullible people jump up and say 'murder' and the media encourage it to sell papers and draw viewers. Doesn't mean it's true.

Cliff Baxter, an Enron director, 'retired' from Enron (he was only 43) last spring and he left in part due to his concern over the questionable business practices Chairman Kenneth Lay was engaging in. He worked for Enron for ten years and cashed out his 401(k) and stock options for about 30 million when he left the company, which was perfectly legal and proper as the company was still doing O.K. then.

Supposedly he was distraught over being sued by stockholders, called before congressional committees, smeared as a crook and a bum due to his association with Enron. He couldn't deal with the humiliation and stress. Very sad.

I don't believe anyone will go to jail over the Enron debacle and if I had been Cliff Baxter, I would have made sure my hard-earned dough was sheltered in off-shore accounts and then faced the music.

Congressional committees have little power except to humiliate you and Baxter appeared to be a 'good guy', who tried to sound the alarm about the 3-card-Monte style of bookeeping Enron was playing and when his pleas fell on deaf ears, he bailed and took his 401(k) stash with him, just as anyone else would have done.

Maybe Baxter wasn't as 'clean' as he appeared or maybe he knew too much and was going to blow the whistle and was killed, but I strongly suspect that Cliff Baxter, at 43, simply saw his whole life going down the drain; his business reputation, his professional and personal pride, his accumulated fortune, maybe his marriage and family, the whole thing. Couldn't deal with it.

Some folks are a lot more resilient than others.

In any case, it's a tragedy. This whole Enron scandal is going to leave a lot of high-powered folks with scars. A shame, but what goes around, comes around or as the bible says; 'What a man reaps, so shall he sow'.

Clifford Baxter reaped death, probably by his own hand. Sometimes, the Mercedes, the mansion, the money just aren't worth it. Good object lesson.