In preparation for tonights debate, I thought it might be a good idea to post the following:
Halliburton/Kellogg, Brown & Root
What They Gave: Cheney Made Millions As Halliburton CEO, And Still Retains "Lingering" Financial Interest. Vice President Dick Cheney was CEO of Texas-based Halliburton from 1995-2000. In addition to providing a massive salary and bonus for just eight months of work in 2000, Halliburton's board of directors voted to give Cheney a $20 million retirement package when he resigned. In his retirement package from Halliburton, Cheney was granted deferred compensation, which paid out his bonus his salary from 1999 over a five year period and his bonus from that year in 2001. In 2001, while serving as Vice President, Cheney received over $1.6 million in deferred compensation from Halliburton, which included a bonus worth over $1.4 million and over $200,000 in deferred salary. In 2002, Cheney received over $160,000 in deferred salary compensation. Cheney received the severance package even though he had only been with the company for five years and his contract stated that he would have to forfeit some of his retirement package if he retired before turning 62 -- retired at age 59.
Cheney's compensation for the eight months of 2000 he served as CEO of Halliburton, according to the Associated Press, was "$4.3 million in deferred compensation and bonuses, and $806,332 in salary." Furthermore, following his departure from Halliburton, Cheney retained possession of 433,333 options of Halliburton stock that were set to expire at three different times. Despite Cheney's insistence that he severed his financial ties to Halliburton, the Congressional Research Service released a report saying that federal ethics laws consider both Cheney's deferred compensation and his unexercised stock options as a lingering financial interest in the company. [Richard Cheney Public Financial Disclosure, 9/6/00; 5/15/01; White House Press Release, "Vice President and Mrs. Cheney Release 2000 Income Tax Return," 4/13/01; "Income: Type and amount," Schedule A, Standard Form 278, Richard B. Cheney Personal Financial Disclosure, May 15, 2002; May 15, 2003; NY Times, 8/12/00; LA Times, 7/24/00; AP, 7/18/02; Washington Post, 9/26/03]
What They Got: Halliburton Received Open-Ended Contract to Assist in Rebuilding Iraqi Oil Fields. In March 2003, the Pentagon awarded Halliburton's construction wing, Kellogg Brown and Root, a no-bid contract to help rebuild Iraqi oil fields after a possible war there, including advice on putting out oil well fires. The Army Corps of Engineers said that Halliburton's compensation for rejuvenating Iraq's oil industry could be up to $7 billion. In postwar Iraq, Halliburton is the largest private contractor, with potential deals totaling over $11 billion. [San Francisco Chronicle, 3/8/03; Ottawa Citizen, 3/7/03; WSJ, 3/7/03; NY Times, 4/11/03; AP, 11/5/03]
Halliburton Involved in Several Scandals in Iraq. The military investigated Halliburton and found that it overcharged for gas it imported into Iraq from Kuwait by as much as $61 million. In March 2003, the Pentagon announced it would withhold nearly $300 million in payments to Halliburton due to the company's overcharging on food contracts. Halliburton's subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root [KBR] serves 110,000 soldiers in Iraq their meals. But, according to NBC News, "Pentagon inspections of mess halls run by KBR are finding a mess in some of them...In the main Baghdad dining facility where President Bush surprised the troops on Thanksgiving, inspectors found filthy kitchen conditions in each of the three previous months." [Associated Press, 2/9/04, 3/17/04; Reuters, 2/23/04; NBC News, 12/12/03] |
