Halliburton Gave $4 Million to Politicians and Received 600 Percent Gain on Contracts Since 2000, Halliburton Watch Says
WASHINGTON - September 26 - Halliburton spent $4.6 million since 2000, buying influence in Washington via campaign donations and lobbying, a HalliburtonWatch analysis reveals.
The board of directors and their spouses personally gave $828,701 to candidates for Congress and the presidency while Halliburton's political action committees gave $1.2 million, most of it donated to Republicans and political organizations with strong Republican ties, according to the analysis.
The company spent an additional $2.6 million lobbying members of Congress, the White House and federal agencies.
Conclusion: Halliburton's $4.6 million in political arm- twisting since 2000 has paid-off magnificently as the company's government contracts ballooned by over 600 percent in value by the end of 2005, mostly because of the war in Iraq. Web: halliburtonwatch.org
In 2000, Halliburton was the 20th largest federal contractor, receiving $763 million in federal contracts. By 2005, Halliburton had grown to become the sixth largest federal contractor, receiving nearly $6 billion in federal contracts during that year.
Between March 2003 and June 30, 2006, Halliburton received $18.5 billion in revenue from the federal government for the war in Iraq.
The company has seen its profits in government contracting almost quadruple to $330 million in 2005 compared to $84 million in 2004.
During one quarter in 2005, Halliburton's war profits skyrocketed by 284 percent. Web: halliburtonwatch.org
War contracts, intensified violence in the Middle East and record oil prices helped quadruple the stock price between the March 2003 invasion of Iraq and March 2006. As a result, the board of directors together saw the value of their stock holdings in the company increase by over $100 million. Web: halliburtonwatch.org
CEO David Lesar holds the largest number of shares of any Halliburton official, owning 844,928 common shares and share options as of March 1, 2006. The shares were worth $17.3 million as the troops first rolled into Baghdad in 2003.
Three years later, on April 10, 2006, the shares were worth $66.8 million, for a $49.5 million gain. Lesar sold an additional 631,071 shares during the war at various stock prices for gross amounts totaling between $12.9 million on March 20, 2003, and $49.9 million on March 1, 2006. Web: halliburtonwatch.org
More Information is available at halliburtonwatch.org.
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