With the federal criminal trial of former Enron Corp. CEO Kenneth Lay set to begin Jan. 30, he and his defense team have launched a Web site designed to enhance his public image and present his side of the story: Ken Lay Information. The site includes the texts of his court filings, biographies of his legal team, news articles and videos about the case, and Lay’s own articles and op-ed pieces. The site also lists Lay’s civic and philanthropic associations, his awards and honors and his business associations.
Doubtful such a site would have any significant impact on the federal court trial. But in the court of public opinion, a site such as this could be effective in helping to counter negative press.
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3 comments
Carolyn Elefant · January 25, 2006 at 11:42 am
Bob,
Thanks for this fascinating link. I went to the site to review the legal documents, thinking that Lay’s high paid attorneys must be great writers and analysts. The quality of the writing is surprising average (and in some cases, poor). At the same time, Lay’s defense is clearly diligent, as they apparently file responses and motions about everything. Really interesting stuff.
Steven Silvers · January 25, 2006 at 1:05 pm
There’s more on this issue from a communications strategy perspective at Scatterbox in a post titled, “The revolution begins on John Lay’s web site.” Citizen Lay’s “informational” web site pushes the notion that nothing illegal actually happened at Enron – and that he is just another victim of the government’s brutal, arbitrary abuse of the white-collar worker.
Steven Silvers · January 25, 2006 at 3:26 pm
Corrected link to the comment above… “The revolution begins on Ken Lay’s web “