Former Enron executive's suicide note released

SUGAR LAND, Texas - An anguished note written by a former Enron Corp. executive before his suicide in January makes no specific mention of the energy giant&#39;s collapse, although it says &#34;where there was once great pride now it&#39;s gone.&#34;<br> <br> The police department in this Houston suburb released the five-sentence note from John Clifford Baxter immediately after the Texas attorney general&#39;s office issued an opinion that the document was a public record.<br> <br> Baxter, who resigned as vice chairman in May 2001, months before Enron collapsed, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Jan. 25. He was 43. His family had opposed release of his handwritten note, citing privacy issues.<br> <br> The note, addressed to his wife, Carol, said: &#34;I am so sorry for this. I feel I just can&#39;t go on. I have always tried to do the right thing but where there was once great pride now it&#39;s gone. I love you and the children so much. I just can&#39;t be any good to you or myself. The pain is overwhelming. Please try to forgive me.&#34; It was signed, &#34;Cliff.&#34;<br> <br> The note was handwritten in all capital letters on a blank sheet of paper. An attorney for the family, Pike Powers, has said it was left in Carol Baxter&#39;s car in the garage of the family home. The home is a half-mile from the spot where his body was found.<br> <br> The attorney general&#39;s office had until Friday to make a decision. It turned aside arguments that the note might embarrass or invade the privacy of Baxter&#39;s family, &#34;given the substantial public interest in the causes of Enron&#39;s failure and its far-reaching consequences.&#34;<br> <br> The opinion also determined that Baxter became a public figure. He had been a defendant in investor lawsuits because of Enron stock sales that netted him about $35 million before the energy giant&#39;s stock price began falling last year.<br> <br> Enron&#39;s collapse was the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history.<br> <br> Baxter was named in an explosive warning that another Enron executive sent to company Chairman and Chief Executive Kenneth Lay in August about questionable financial practices.<br> <br> &#34;Cliff Baxter complained mightily to (then-CEO Jeff) Skilling and all who would listen about the inappropriateness of our transactions with LJM,&#34; Sherron Watkins wrote. LJM is one of the partnerships apparently used to keep a half-billion dollars in losses off Enron&#39;s books.<br>