It's kind of hard to believe'
Ex-Enron workers rip Skilling's story
By KIRSTIN DOWNEY
Washington Post

Across Houston, Enron employees watched former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling's congressional testimony on television, turning incredulous, angry and then sarcastic by turns, as a man they knew as savvy and detail-oriented pleaded memory failure and ignorance about critical financial transactions at the now-collapsed energy giant.

"Jeff Skilling said nothing," said Jessie Patterson, one of several former Enron employees who gathered in sports bars and other after-work haunts to watch their former boss testify before Congress on Thursday.


John Everett / Chronicle
Former Enron Corp. employees Jessie Patterson, left, and Tony Huang were among a group who went to Ruggles Restaurant at Enron Field on Thursday to watch former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling testify before Congress.
"He might as well have taken the Fifth," Patterson added, "because he didn't say anything that brought any closure. I wanted to know what happened."

Helen Mathews, who lost her $35,800-a-year job as a senior administrative assistant, turned on the TV in her Houston apartment after returning home from the unemployment office.

"It's kind of hard to believe: A CEO who doesn't know how the company made its money," said a bemused Mathews, who is in her 50s and worked at Enron for five years. She wondered aloud why he had agreed to testify, when others evaded congressional questioners, but said she imagined he did it because he believed he could outwit them.

"He probably figured he was smart and could deal with it," she said of Skilling, whom she described as a "hotshot" with more than a touch of arrogance. "Like he thinks he's the man."

Digna Showers, 53, who lost her job as an administrative assistant as well as $450,000 in her retirement fund, grew indignant as she listened to Skilling testify.

"He is lying; he knew everything," said Showers, who said she had seen Skilling frequently over her 18 years with the firm, where Skilling was known for his intimate grasp of the inner doings at the company. "I am getting sicker by the minute."

"(Skillings) has an MBA from Harvard," said Showers, who is the primary supporter of her husband, a disabled schoolteacher. "He's knowledgable. He's twisting things around. He's not answering things directly."

For Dorothy Ricketts, 46, a former business analyst at Enron who earned $70,000 a year, the testimony provided one more disturbing twist in what for her had been a 12-year saga at Enron. Much of her retirement money was tied up in Enron stock. How much, she won't say. "It hurts too much to talk about it," she said.

She said she had believed what Enron executives told her about its business prospects, and was eager to show her loyalty by buying company stock.

"I guess you could say I believed the hype,and what they were telling us," Ricketts said.

Watching the testimony at her Missouri City home produced odd feelings. "I don't understand how he could be in the position he was in, and say he didn't know what was going on. It's unbelievable. He doesn't recall a lot."

Alice Johnson, 50, a market services analyst at Northern Natural Gas, said she found herself wondering when "the real truth" would emerge.

Johnson has not lost her job at the former Enron subsidiary but fears she will under its new owner, Dynegy Inc. She said she sometimes saw Skilling in meetings during the 28 years she worked at the firm. She recalled him as "knowledgable," with a razor-sharp sense for business but also a short fuse.

"He wasn't conscious of people, just the bottom line," she said.