One of the things that has helped us endear us to Jeff Skilling—other than our fanatically contrarian hearts that attach themselves readily to public enemies and our appreciation of the fact that much of what Enron has been vilified for really that different from the practices of much of corporate America—has been the repeated stories of his problems with alcohol. There was that incident in New York City, where he may or may not have gotten into some sort of brawl in a bar. And the more recent arrest for public drunkenness in Texas. How can you not like a guy like that?
But today's news accounts have got us second-guessing Skilling. And so we are at least considering a charge so serious that it has as far as we know, never been leveled in American history—the charge that Jeff Skilling is a fake drunk. You see, today we learned that Skilling could have as much as a year reduced off his jail term if he enters an alcohol treatment program. So could these very public alcohol-related incidents, all of which occurred after his legal troubles began, have been a plot to create this tunnel to an early escape from the Big House?
We, of course, have no idea about the secrets of Skillings heart, much less his the alcohol content of the blood pumping through it. But would you put that past one of the "smartest guys in the room?"
Posted by Jan Karin, Dec 13, 2006 1:27PM
Having gone through the same experience myself, I will tell you that if you weren't a heavy drinker, facing prison time will turn you into one. It's a terrible thing to face, and alcohol helped to ease the anxiety for me. What you forgot to mention is that not only will the RDAP program give him up to 12 months off of his sentence, you also get up to 6 months in a halfway house/home confinement for a total sentence reduction of 18 months. Its one of the few ways to get time off of your sentence in the federal system, short of good conduct time, since they don't have parole.