"I Did Not Have Financial Relations With That Company!"
According to this Boston Globe piece by Derrick Z. Jackson, that's pretty much what Dick Cheney claimed about Halliburton. Cheney's public disclosure financial sheets tell a different story -- six figures in deferred salary from Halliburton to Cheney in both 2001 and 2002:
Flushed into the open, Cheney spokeswoman Catherine Martin said the vice president will continue to receive about $150,000 a year from Halliburton in 2003, 2004, and 2005. If President Bush wins a second term, that means Cheney will make at least $800,000 from the company while sitting in office.Martin said the payments did not represent a lie. She said Cheney had already earned that salary. She said Cheney took out an insurance policy that would guarantee the money would be paid to him no matter what happened to the company.
Five years ago, America was in a tizzy over President Clinton's "That depends on what the meaning of is, is." That was over lying about sex. For that, Clinton was impeached. Now, we have a vice president who tells America he has severed his ties even as his umbilical cord doubles his salary. To him, it depends what the meaning of i$, i$.
To me, it "i$" much more worrisome than a Sleazo-In-Chief who lied about getting blow jobs under the desk -- especially since I didn't see Clinton awarding Monica a multi-million dollar, no-bid contract to produce handbags for the Pentagon.
(via Metafilter)
Umm, that's "deferred salary." They have to pay that whether he gives them a blow job or not. It's no secret that he used to work for them. Just like it's no problem if a President receives a blow job from a bimbo that isn't on the government payroll.
Bubba Jones at September 22, 2003 2:02 PM
Deferred salary isn't "no ties."
(Amy Alkon) at September 22, 2003 3:11 PM
And why would someone defer their salary? To avoid paying taxes? You'd think with all the tax breaks Bush is giving the wealthy, Mr. Cheney would be feeling a mite more generous with his multi-millions.
(Amy Alkon) at September 22, 2003 3:12 PM
We would respect him more if he gave all his millions to the goverment.
carolforprez at September 22, 2003 5:21 PM
I'd feel a lot better if Dick would hand a few of those Halliburton bucks over to Monica, if only to make up for the low ticket sales on her Celebrity Blow Job Book Tour.
Lena Cuisina at September 22, 2003 8:53 PM
"No financial interest" means that he gains no benefit based on the performance of the company. He gets his money whether or not the company makes a profit. In other words, he has no financial incentive to throw them a contract. Now, if they were close to bankruptcy, and he bailed them out with a government contract, then you'd have a case.
Calling it a tax ruse is rather funny. He's not paying taxes on money he can't spend. Big deal. The real point of deferred salary is as a low interest loan of cash to the company. Cheney gets interest on money that he doesn't have time to spend (because he's freakin' wealthy). Halliburton can use it for other things in the meantime.
Bubba Jones at September 25, 2003 1:16 PM