War Has (Not) Made Dick Cheney Very, Very Rich (Because He Was Very, Very Rich Already)
Dick Cheney likes to point out that he has “gotten rid of all my financial interests” in Halliburton. Damn. Where can I get some of those nonexistent financial interests? As summarized by the Carpetbagger Report (Cheney’s lucrative Halliburton ties), a report from the office of Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) points out the following:
Vice President Cheney’s Halliburton stock options have increased in value 3,281 percent in one year. The stock options, which were worth $241,498 one year ago are now valued at $8,165,489.07.
Update: Per Craig’s helpful update in the comments, FactCheck.org has a nice page dating to the last presidential campaign that gives a truer version of what’s really going on: Kerry ad falsely accuses Cheney on Halliburton.
The gist of this seems to be that Cheney made a binding legal agreement when he became Veep that hires a law firm to exercise his Halliburton (among others) stock options when the time seems right to maximize the resulting profits, deduct fees for the attorneys and taxes owed, and then donate whatever is left over according to the following (as quoted from the Factcheck.org piece):
The agreement specifies that 40% will go to the University of Wyoming (Cheney’s home state), 40% will go to George Washington University’s medical faculty to be used for tax-exempt charitable purposes, and 20% will go to Capital Partners for Education, a charity that provides financial aid for low-income students in Washington, DC to attend private and religious schools.
Most of the griping by Sen. Lautenberg over the years apparently has been about how this arrangement (along with other aspects of Cheney’s financial dealings with Halliburton, like the payment of deferred compensation from when he was the company’s CEO), constitutes a continuing “financial interest” that must be disclosed in official government reporting — but Cheney apparently is doing that.
The PDF of Cheney’s Halliburton-options agreement refers to Schedule A, which is where the options in question are supposed to be listed, but Schedule A is not actually included in the PDF. Instead there’s a placeholder-type page that describes the options generally, and refers one to Cheney’s annual financial disclosure statements, which it says includes the specifics. So I guess it’s conceivable that Cheney might be sneakily concealing some of the options for himself, or something, while claiming to have assigned them all to charity, but if that were the case I’m reasonably certain that people like Sen. Lautenberg would be screaming about it. Since they’re not, I think it’s pretty clear that he’s not doing that, and that the charitable assignment of the options is what it purports to be.
So, my bad. And thanks to Craig for setting me straight. Cheney’s profit from the Halliburton options is not in the form of direct compensation, as I (and the piece I linked to) implied. Instead, he gets to make an $8 million donation to his alma mater, a med school, and a scholarship fund, and (maybe) take a nice tax break for the charitable donation (though Craig says he’s seen something about Cheney having chosen not to take the tax break). I’d be interested in hearing more on that point if anyone has details; given that Cheney is currently estimated to be worth between $30 million and $100 million, largely due to his compensation while at Halliburton, I could see where some tax breaks would be very helpful.
Headline updated.
October 12th, 2005 at 8:58 am
Is it possible that the war in Iraq was more about turning a profit for Bush and his buddies than about “spreading freedom”? I think so.
Can anyone remember what the price of oil was per barrel before the invasion? Oil compainies are raking in billions.
What was GWB involved with before politics?
October 13th, 2005 at 2:02 am
well he should just go fuk himself lol
October 13th, 2005 at 8:43 am
haha
October 13th, 2005 at 10:30 am
My understanding is that factcheck.org explained how Cheney doesn’t profit from those options, since any earnings are assigned to charity, via written agreement. I think the options will expire before the current administration’s term ends. He may have gotten a one-time tax deduction at the time the options profits were first signed over for charity, but even that was supposedly not accepted. So regardless of the increased values Cheney is not allowed to receive any of it.
Now, people can paint whatever dark scenario that want about a “post-term” windfall that he may yet receive through some sort of back alley agreement, and I’m sure many will do so. But the claim that Cheney is profiting from the increased value of these options seems incorrect.
October 13th, 2005 at 11:18 am
Craig, thanks for the update. Do you have a source for the assertion that he has “not accepted” the tax benefit of making the donation? As I read the agreement, it sounds like the value of the donation can only be determined when the options are actually exercised and the stock donated (or sold, or whatever). And I didn’t see anything in the agreement about Cheney not taking the tax break.
October 13th, 2005 at 1:22 pm
Still, I find it very disturbing that a company Cheney used to have strong ties to is raking in billions off a war that was heavily promoted, and most say, drawn up by this guy.
I do remember hearing last year about him waiving the tax break thing. Wow, what a good guy. He probably does that to avoid scenarios like this from escalating into a PR nightmare. I doubt it’s from the good in his heart.
October 13th, 2005 at 6:13 pm
Just an article that made reference to Cheney’s lawyer saying that Cheney is not taking the tax break.
October 14th, 2005 at 4:13 am
Hm. Given that Cheney has been one of the more shameless members of this administration when it comes to blatantly lying in the service of his political agenda, I don’t find his lawyer’s assertion that Cheney won’t be taking the tax break to be particularly credible. I think I’d file that part of the correction in the “remains to be proven” category.
May 4th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
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