Mr. Lay,

Reuters just had an article that said upon closing of the Dynegy deal, you will receive $80,000,000 which buys you out of your employment contract.

Is this true?

If so, since you said in your speech that we are all feeling this pain together, will there be a distribution of the $80,000,000 back to the people who's lives have been crushed and will receive no additional compensation.  It seems unjust that while the people who had nothing to do with the downfall get nothing, the people who were involved in the downfall continue to be well compensated.

I,  as a trader on the gas floor,  am sitting here at my desk still making all attempts to make money for the company, wondering if  I will be getting my next paycheck.  Then I read that you are getting an additional $80,000,000.  I, as well as my fellow employees, feel betrayed once again.  What is the old saying about kicking the dead horse?  The difference is that this horse is still barely breathing and your $80,000,000 just sucked out the final bit of life.

The management level you have been at provides you the inside scoop on all these bad deals and the "pump and dump" that senior management has done to Enron stock over the last years.  It is a disgrace the way you and your senior management have ruined so many peoples lives.  How could you not know that the company would be taking a fall when you signed back on.  Other CEO's coming back into companies under the same situation have accepted no compensation until the company gets back on its feet again.  It seems that you knew what was going to happen, and were able to milk Enron out of another 80 million dollars.

 I have learned a valuable lesson about how business really works.  As an employee, one should milk their company for everything they can get out of it no matter how many people are hurt.  Enron has been a cutthroat stab you in the back organization for a long time.  I always thought it was just my fellow employees doing every thing they could to get ahead.  I never realized that this was the creed that senior management lived by. Senior management must have been in their offices rolling on the floor every time some employee spoke up about trying to make vision and values a success.

You and your teams fine example has changed my life forever.  Aside from the fact that my kids will no longer be going to college, you have changed my thinking for ever.  I will never again believe anything my employers tell me.  I will never again put my company as a top priority.  It is a travesty what you have done to so many peoples lives.  


Tom Donohoe