Quote:
Originally posted by 12clicks
pretending "its a matter of public record" is childish.
how about you go out to the public record and rub my nose in it.
I'll wait.:1orglaugh
|
Sorry to keep you waiting so long. Overnight shift at the drive-thru window...you know how it is, right?
++++++++
Oil and Gas Industry
What They Gave: In the 2000 election cycle, the oil and gas industry contributed over $26.5 million to Republicans, and over $1.8 million to George W. Bush's election campaign. 2000 Pioneer and longtime Bush associate Don Evans, former chairman of the oil company Tom Brown Inc., was appointed Secretary of the Commerce Department. At least a dozen industry officials were named to the transition teams at the Energy and Interior departments as well as the Environmental Protection Agency. [Center for Responsive Politics,
www.crp.org; Bush's Campaign Ads...Brought To You By Special Interests, Public Citizen, 3/04]
What They Got: Bush Proposed Opening the Arctic Refuge and National Parks to Oil Companies. Bush said he advocated drilling in the environmentally sensitive Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR). Bush also supports oil and gas drilling in protected national parks monuments and public lands in the Rocky Mountains. [Seattle Post Intelligencer, 12/24/03; LA Times, 12/24/03; Denver Post, 3/15/01; WP, 4/18/02; AP, 3/29/01]
American Petroleum Institute Gave "Wish List" To Energy Task Force. Nine days before Bush's inauguration, energy industry lobbyists gathered in the American Petroleum Institute's offices to make a "wish list" for the Bush energy plan. The list was forwarded to the Bush energy transition team, and eventually to the energy task force. According to the Washington Post, "A first review of the 11,000 pages of documents bolsters the contention of Democratic lawmakers and environmental groups that the Bush administration relied almost exclusively on the advice of executives from utilities and producers of oil, gas, coal and nuclear energy while a White House task force drafted recommendations that would vastly increase energy production." [Newsweek, 5/10/01; New York Times, 5/10/01; 5/20/01; USA Today, 5/14/01; ABC News, World News Tonight, 5/22/01; Washington Post, 5/17/01, 3/26/02]
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]