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Bob Lanier collapses at Ken Lay's memorial service


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from the KTRK article:

Lanier said he never recalled seeing Lay do anything selfish, and he also said he believed Lay would have made a good mayor.

eek

Yikes, the man was delusional well before he collapsed. Thank goodness the mayorship is elected and not passed down on the buddy system!

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They just ran a story on KHOU about how the Lay's paid for some kids college at UT for 5 years. You never know, Lay might have done some good for Houston. More than what Brown did.

Nah, him and Alvarado would have continued bilking the city and said everything is hunky-dory !

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They just ran a story on KHOU about how the Lay's paid for some kids college at UT for 5 years. You never know, Lay might have done some good for Houston. More than what Brown did.

There's something to be said for that argument...Enron also funded the Social Compact study that made the new Gulfgate possible...as well as COUNTLESS other retail and apartment projects in underserved areas.

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They just ran a story on KHOU about how the Lay's paid for some kids college at UT for 5 years. You never know, Lay might have done some good for Houston.

:lol: Yeah, what a saint. He did far worse by his employees. He contended he did nothing wrong. If he believed that hype, he was too stupid to be running the fry-line at McDonalds. If he didn't believe it, then he really was exactly what he was convicted as. Let's not lionize the weasel.

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There's something to be said for that argument...Enron also funded the Social Compact study that made the new Gulfgate possible...as well as COUNTLESS other retail and apartment projects in underserved areas.

True. Lay did a lot of good for the community. Unfortunately, what he did at Enron caused way more harm and that is what he will be remembered for. Unfair, maybe, but it was his own doing.

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:o

Nah, Fastow's the one who should have been mayor! He would have cut taxes, and at the same time doubled spending. :lol:

Why stop at mayor? Sounds like he's a darn good candidate for our current administration in Washington!

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There's something to be said for that argument...Enron also funded the Social Compact study that made the new Gulfgate possible...as well as COUNTLESS other retail and apartment projects in underserved areas.

Where did you hear this about Enron funding retail and apartment projects in underserved areas? I have never heard such a thing, although they were generous with many local charities and did start-up funding for a few small minority-owned businesses.

In any event, no matter how many charities Enron contributed to, that was the company, not the man. It doesn't mean that Lay was any better of a person, except in his own mind.

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They just ran a story on KHOU about how the Lay's paid for some kids college at UT for 5 years. You never know, Lay might have done some good for Houston. More than what Brown did.

there is no denying that lay did some great things ... but it does not outweigh the fraud he committed at the helm of enron. i am not sure there is a balancing scale of life, but one does not negate the other.

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Where did you hear this about Enron funding retail and apartment projects in underserved areas? I have never heard such a thing, although they were generous with many local charities and did start-up funding for a few small minority-owned businesses.

In any event, no matter how many charities Enron contributed to, that was the company, not the man. It doesn't mean that Lay was any better of a person, except in his own mind.

I said nothing about them directly funding retail and apartment projects in underserved areas...doesn't mean it didn't happen, necessarily...they were active in many charities...

What I know that they funded was the study that was done by the Social Compact organization out of DC. It verified that there was more money out there than what was counted in the Census and then quantified precisely how much. That was information that developers could take to the bank...literally...and did.

Btw, you'd be surprised at how often executives donate to charity or are patrons to the arts...and not all of it is even necessarily for the tax benefit.

I'd agree that Enron probably did more harm than good...but I'd be willing to reconsider my judgement under certain circumstances as they pertain to the local economy. I mean, as bad as the bust was, the boom was very helpful to the city's economy in the late 90's...and they did dole out a massive payroll for all those thousands of people that worked for them for all those years. They built towers. They helped build apartments in Midtown. I could be convinced of their net benefit...or at least neutrality...as far as Houston is concerned.

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Are you serious?

There are hundreds of corporations that Houstonians can be proud of that did/do the exact same things Enron did (paid employees well, donated to the arts community, offered scholarship opportunities and summer job programs, provided funding for social service organizations, etc...) without defrauding the system.

With all of the "good" Enron did, the harm was so much greater. The obvious are the thousands of people who were directly hit by the fall. Then there were all the indirect hits felt by the smaller businesses who relied on Enron and trusted that the company was legit. Hotels downtown took a hit. The office market downtown took a HUGE hit. The city received another black eye in the national media. Many social service agencies had already started new building campaigns and programs on the $ supposedly being provided by Enron/The Lays.

I cannot fathom anyone thinking Enron was a good thing in the long run.

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