Cheney-Halliburton Connection

December 16, 2007 8:49 PM

What's a good way to verify Dick Cheney's financial interest in Halliburton or lack thereof?

Corpwatch claims the vice president still holds (as of 2005) over 400,000 Halliburton stock options. Cheney claims he no longer has any financial interest in the company. I'm looking for a credible way to determine who's right.

posted by king walnut to work & money (11 comments total)

Cheney couldn't sell them because of Halliburton rules, and he couldn't transfer them to a blind trust, like many politicians do.

Keep in mind, these are options, not shares. There was still not insignificant risk. If Halliburton had tanked, the shares would be underwater, just like anyone else in the same situation.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:00 PM on December 16, 2007

FactCheck (the right-wing version of Media Matters) claims to have the document the Cheneys signed that assigns the profits from the sale of the options ot charity. (The PDF is no longer online, though -- this was a 2004 Kerry ad rebuttal.)
posted by dhartung at 9:11 PM on December 16, 2007

He doesn't deny having the options, does he? He just claims that the options do not mean that he has a financial interest in the company. The question, I think, is what the legal definition of "financial interest" is in the context in which the term is being used here -- presumably for the purposes of campaign finance, lobbying, conflict of interest, or securities law. That is a pretty complicated question, and a valid one.

And, unless you're looking for the answer because you're on a legal team that is trying to sue him, initiate proceedings against him formally, or do something formal and legal about the situation, I would just suggest that, rather than ask yourself whether you believe whatever legal definition game Cheney is trying to play, you just ask yourself whether you think it is honest of him to play that legal game, politically.

Anytime a politician makes a statement whose technical truth depends entirely on parsing to death the legal definition of a key term, that politician has shown his true stripes, and is not worthy to represent anyone. That's my opinion, at least.
posted by The World Famous at 9:12 PM on December 16, 2007 [2 favorites has favorites]

Does he have enough money to buy the stock he has options to?
posted by smackfu at 9:20 PM on December 16, 2007

smackfu: that's hardly relevant. As long as the options are in the money, and someone has the cash to exercise them, they're almost cash.

That is a pretty complicated question, and a valid one.

It's not complicated at all, if one approaches the issue with anything like intellectual honesty. If you're holding an asset that will appreciate or depreciate directly in line with the ordinary stock of a company, of course you have a financial interest.
posted by pompomtom at 9:26 PM on December 16, 2007

Some fairly detailed information about Cheney's 2006 finances, including $6.6 million of unnamed options that were given to charity in 2006.
posted by ikkyu2 at 9:27 PM on December 16, 2007

As long as the options are in the money, and someone has the cash to exercise them, they're almost cash.

True. I was thinking the question was whether he had a controlling interest in the company, which options would not count as unless exercised and held.
posted by smackfu at 9:32 PM on December 16, 2007

Thanks, all. Ikkyu2's link had more or less what I was after, although his link was from whitehouse.gov and I asked for credible sources. (ha)
posted by king walnut at 10:20 PM on December 16, 2007

Apparently Cheney has arranged to have his stock options given to charity so they are of little concern. Of more concern is the fact that he was getting checks for $200,000 in deferred compensation each year from Halliburton while sitting in the White House that went right into his pocket. Now, technically he can claim that this is money that was earned before be became vice-president, but could you imagine the howling if, say Gore, had been collecting $200,000 checks while the Clinton administration was awarding no-bid contracts to his former employer. In addition, Cheney, who worked for Halliburton for five years, was handed a $20 million bonus as a going away present when he resigned to run for vice-president, an investment that has paid off handsomely.
posted by JackFlash at 12:34 AM on December 17, 2007

[few comments removed, do NOT turn this into a dem/rep thread, go to metatalk or email for that]
posted by jessamyn at 3:47 AM on December 17, 2007

On ikkyu2's point, it's worth noting that Cheney and his accountants took advantage of the temporary lifiting of the cap on charitable deductions following Hurricane Katrina to exercise a shitload of options. None of those donations went to Katrina-related charities: not legally inappropriate, but a 'creative' use of legislation sold on the back of hurricane relief.
posted by holgate at 3:58 AM on December 17, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]