PUBLIC RELATIONS LESSON 101: DON'T JUST HOPE THE STORY WILL GO AWAY!!!!

LAY: "IT'S AGAINST EVERY BONE IN MY BODY".... AND THE CAROL ALVARADO TIE IN...





Embattled Enron founder Ken Lay was in federal court Tuesday morning in his ongoing criminal trial. And he says one of the biggest mistakes he made during Enron was not talking to the Wall Street Journal about his former CFO Andrew Fastow's side business LJM. Lay said he was told by then head of Enron public relations Mark Palmer not to talk to The Wall Street Journal about Fastow's partnership that eventually lead to the undoing of Enron. Lay says he was told by Palmer that the Wall Street Journal didn't really have a story and the high profile newspaper was on a fishing expedition. Today, we know they were not...But Lay said despite his p-r guru Palmer tellling him not to address the WSJ, Lay said he told Palmer "even though it's against every bone in my body, I'll go with your recommendation." Lay says he still insisted on his legal advisors preparing a written response to a list of questions the Journal had about Fastow and his side business LJM. Advice to P-R experts out there...Spinning or hoping a story is going to go away really doesn't work in this day and age when the truth can really help your case. By the way, Mark Palmer was one of the few high profile executives at Enron not indicted in the ongoing probe. He now runs a public relations firm, Public Strategies. The agency is in charge of salvaging former Houston Mayor Pro-Tem Carol Alvarado's image after bonus-gate. So far Palmer's partner, Joe Householder, has always advised Alvarado to address her city scandal issues. I'm sure he knows bonus-gate is not gonna go away...