Chuck Denny writes about his role in the Enron debacle in Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN

By CHARLES M. DENNY JR.
Sunday, January 27, 2002
Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)

Fingers are pointed in every direction.

The headlines shout that the blame lies with the greedy top executives, the complaint auditors, the compromised board of directors, forbearing federal regulators who were noticeable be their absence, our representatives in Congress, awash in Enron campaign contribution, who configured the playing field according to Enron’s wishes. Or all of the above.

Just the thought of the catastrophic damage falling on innocent employees, shareholders, and creditors make my blood boil. I raise my finger to point in righteous indignation at the culprits, but it bends back upon itself and points directly at me – Mr. or Ms. Everybusinessperson and Mr. or Ms. Everycitizen.

Business as usual

I have been convinced for years that corporate executive compensation practices are destructive to the integrity of the social contract between management and those they would lead.

Yet I only emit an occasional squeal in protest.

I have know for years that auditors who sell consulting services to the same client to independence and impartially. My 10-years-old grandson could tell me that.

Yet, when I was responsible for employing the auditors and consultants and consultant, I did permit the auditors to sell my firm consulting contracts. As our books were squeaky clean, I saw no problem resulting from my actions.

But I should have been taking a public position arguing that such practices would lead, in time, to the undermining of investor and employee confidence in the auditors’ reports.

I have also know that many corporate boards are ineffective some are rife with conflicts of interest. Some directors serve on so many boards that, unless they possess superhuman capabilities, it is impossible for them to be sufficiently informed about the affairs of any one company.

These are organizations fighting to reform corporate governance. I was too busy to join them in their struggle.

Politics as usual

Finally, in my role as a citizen, I must hang my head in shame. The thought of federal or state regulatory boards being staffed at the direction of those they are to oversee contradicts the very purpose of the regulatory agencies.

I meant to write a letter in protest but it was time to play tennis and I soon forgot.

Since the regulatory agencies are the wards of Congress or the state legislatures, it is to them that we must look for final accountability. The scene is discouraging.

Congressional intervention pressured the former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman to weaken his proposal to force auditing firms to shed their consulting operations.

We now know the big auditing firm contributed millions of dollars to the campaign offers of both parties. Enron’s political contributions were immense and widely spread. We are asked to suspend the use of our critical faculties and believe that our legislators are uninfluenced by large contributions to their campaigns.

The wife of a ranking senator on a committee that was key to legislation sought by Enron was a member of Enron’s board of directors. Spouses of other federal legislators are lobbyists for industries dependent on the government for funding or who are subject to federal regulation.

Once again, we are asked to believe that our legislators are resistant to the temptations that seem to afflict rest of the human race.

I have been planning to write Washington to protest this insult to my intelligence, but I have so many great books yet unread that I will have to postpone my complaint until later.

Thus, with this history of unfulfilled good intentions, I was delighted to spot earlier this month a notice of a Common Cause meeting organized to gain support for campaign finance reform. At least, I thought, an opportunity to strike back!

Unfortunately, at the appointed hour to depart for the meeting, I found that I was tired, that is was awfully cold, and that St. Paul was just too far to drive at night. Strangely, the very next evening I recovered my energy, found that the cold wasn’t so bad, and zipped to the Ordway for a night of entertainment.

In sum: mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Does anyone else suffer from the same failure of will as I?