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American Morning

A Texas Spin on All Things Enron

Aired February 12, 2002 - 09:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Kenneth Lay is not expected to answer any of their questions, but Congressional investigators are still eager to get a face-to-face crack at him. That should make for some dramatic, if not terribly enlightening, moments today.

And joining us now to put a real Texas spin on all things Enron, from Austin, author Molly Ivans. She has written an essay about Enron and Texas for Time.com. Good to see you, again, Molly. How are you doing?

MOLLY IVANS, AUTHOR: Hi, Paula.

ZAHN: Sow hat do you make of how your town is covering this story?

IVANS: Well...

ZAHN: Not your town, but the town of Houston.

IVANS: Yeah.

ZAHN: And I know you -- I recognize you're in Austin today.

IVANS: Exactly. It's wonderful scandal in many ways, aside from the fact that it wrecked a lot of people's lives. If we set aside that unfortunate part of it, it's a great scandal. And of course you can't have a scandal without some special loony input from Texas. And my favorite deal in this state, was that last summer our only governor, Rick Perry, appointed a former Enron executive to the Public Utilities Commission, the better to regulate energy companies, and the very next day, the governor got $25,000 check from Ken Lay.

ZAHN: Ah hah!

IVANS: And this might appear to be suspicious to some, but the governor has cleared up the whole deal. He explained that it was totally coincidental.

ZAHN: Oh!

IVANS: So now we call hime, "Old Coincident."

ZAHN: Is anybody buying that, Molly?

(LAUGHTER)

IVANS: Well, it was -- it gets even better. So, turns out that the guy he appoints to the Public Utilities Commission -- all the public -- all the public records are on this -- on background on this guy -- turns out that under brushes with the law, somebody has whited out some entry. Now that's a very sophisticated cover-up.

Nevertheless, alert citizens were able to get through it, and it turns out that what the man had done was shoot a whooping crane under the impression that it was a goose. He had to pay a $15,000 fine for killing an endangered species. And -- now that's the kind of thing that could happen to anybody, but there was a lot of sentiment that if you can't tell the difference between a goose and a whooping crane -- whooping crane is five feet tall, you probably shouldn't be trying to regulate the utility industry in the state of Texas.

(LAUGHTER)

IVANS: So, then the guy resigned.

ZAHN: Yet another demerit.

IVANS: That was totally coincidental.

ZAHN: Molly, let's talk a little bit about about how "The Houston Chronicle" is covering this story. Howard Kurtz in "The Washington Post" wrote a pretty negative piece yesterday, saying, because of the close relationships that exist in Houston, that the paper lost a powerful opportunity to distinguish itself with its reporting and it hasn't done that. What do you think? How have the local papers covered this controversy?

IVANS: To say that "The Houston Chronicle" has failed to cover itself with glory in this situation is like calling a dwarf short. I mean this is just pitiful. They should have owned this story. But I'll tell you, I worked for "The Houston Chronicle" years and years ago, and I can still remember the editor going around, solemnly saying to the reporters, "We're not here to rock the boat."

And as near as I can tell, that's still pretty much the way "The Chronicle" -- "The Chronicle" and the people who run "The Chronicle" identify with the Houston establishment so much. Of course it makes them uncomfortable to be in a position of running around, pointing out that these people are just total crooks.

ZAHN: Let's come back to the issue of Ken Lay's testimony that I am told will probably take place 45 minutes from now, and it's going to be a short little bit because, as Senator Dorgan told us earlier this morning, that he will take the Fifth. But we've heard a lot about the fact that Kenneth Lay will have to take the Fifth twice, at this hearing today and then again he's expected to do the same on Thursday. What do you think of this whole spectacle?

IVANS: Well, if I were Kenneth Lay's lawyer, I would have him take the Fifth myself.

ZAHN: So you have no problem with it whatsoever?

IVANS: Well, you know he's perfectly entitled to do that. It's part of his right under the Constitution. Anybody can take the Fifth when they need to, and, near as I can see, there's no way this guy can open his mouth without getting himself in trouble.

ZAHN: And what is your reaction to Jeffrey -- the Jeffrey Skilling mess? I don't know whether you saw that his mother spoke out in "Newsweek" yesterday, pretty much chastising him. Saying, you know, basically, "if you're going to run a big company like that, you sure as heck better know what's going on."

IVANS: Well, now, listen, when your Mama gets on your case, you are toast. I mean -- this is -- as I say, this scandal just gets better and better. I love the euphemisms. I love the way they explain what they were doing. The "aggressive accounting practice" is my favorite. Just imagine, some stick up artist comes in into the Jiffy Mart to pull a heist. He whips out a (UNINTELLIGIBLE), says "put 'em up. This is an aggressive accounting practice."

(LAUGHTER)

IVANS: I mean it's going to change the entire language.

ZAHN: Well, you've changed the way we've looked at this whole scandal. Molly Ivans, always good to see you. Thank you very much for joining us this morning.

IVANS: Thank you.

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