The Latest Casualty

of the Enron debacle, Ken Lay is another in the countless toll of bankruptcies, divorces, suicides, murders, and other tragedies resulting from this corporate meltdown.
I couldn't say if he was some prince of darkness, or just another poor schlub hounded to death by law. He certainly didn't look like anything special in person, at least after he was busted.
(Note to shareholders and creditors; state law prevented Enron from taking out nonqualified deferred compensation or "dead peasant" policies on their Texas employees)
For years he was the toast of the town here, a supporter of many good causes. Many local officials testified that he was a good corporate citizen who would step up and do his share when there was heavy lifting to be done.
Whether being a bottomless war chest for Bush and DeLay
served good or evil is moot, but I wonder if Lay and company could have remained simple hometown heroes if certain powers in Washington hadn't allowed them to play so fast and loose with the rules that they came to think that they could get away with the whole candy store.