Is Former Vice President Cheney Worth $4 Million Dollars?
April 9th, 2008 | by Steve O |The Washington Post is reporting that the Vice President will be provided a Secret Service security detail after he leaves office costing the tax payers approximately $4 MILLION DOLLARS but there is a catch;
Although presidents and their spouses are entitled to Secret Service protection long after they depart the White House, federal law authorizes protective services for the vice president and his immediate family only during his time in office. Extending Cheney’s detail would require a directive from the president or a joint resolution of Congress.
This man has earned millions of dollars from this war he created and we are supposed to protect him from his enemies?
We are supposed to protect him with $4 million dollars of our hard earned tax dollars when he sent our sons and daughters into harms way without the proper equipment?
What makes him soooo special?
What makes him more important than the soldier on the front line that just wants a few thousand dollars worth of body armor to keep him safe that Cheney denied?
Cheney deserves this protection because he served our country? Is this the reward you get for dodging a draft?
Is this the reward you get for lying?
This man deserves nothing after leaving office.
If he wants protection why doesn’t he just ask his friends at Blackwater, they’re always looking to shoot at unarmed civilians that look at them the wrong way?
9 Responses to “Is Former Vice President Cheney Worth $4 Million Dollars?”
By Dusty on Apr 9, 2008 | Reply
Sorry but I have to laugh. Cheney is a vulgar warmongering man that is afraid of someone doing him in? The irony just slaps you upside the head.
Guess he only talks a good game when he has backup. Sort of like a gang leader in L.A.
By manapp99 on Apr 9, 2008 | Reply
This 6 month extension is not unique to Cheney. From Wiki:
“Former Vice Presidents are entitled for lifetime pension, but unlike former Presidents they are not entitled to Secret Service personal protection [6]. They, however, unofficially receive Secret Service protection for up to six months after leaving office[7].”
And this from Mercury news:
“Such measures are not uncommon. Since Hubert Humphrey in 1969, several former vice presidents have been granted protection extensions of varying lengths, even in times less ominous than these, Secret Service officials said.
“Going back, the last two vice presidents,” - Al Gore and Dan Quayle - “we have provided protection going into July of that year that they have departed, for 180 days,” Sullivan said.”
http://www.mercurynews.com/politics/ci_8860794
By manapp99 on Apr 9, 2008 | Reply
“This man has earned millions of dollars from this war he created and we are supposed to protect him from his enemies?”
Earned millions of dollars how?
By Jet Netwal on Apr 9, 2008 | Reply
::eyeroll::
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1117-22.htm
There’s a lot more than this, but I don’t have time to waste recovering this ground yet again.
By manapp99 on Apr 9, 2008 | Reply
There is not a single piece of actual evidence to show that Cheney made a single penny from the Iraq war. The story you link has no evidence at all. Remember that Halliburton was given no bid contracts in the Clinton administration as well.
“The US Army Logistics Augmentation Program–LOGCAP–is a multi-year super contract awarded by the dept of defense for complex jobs the military might need performed on short notice. Halliburton first won the competitive bidding for this contract in 1992 under the Clinton administration. One of Halliburton subsidiaries did work in Haiti, Somalia, and Bosnia.
In 1997 Halliburton lost the LOGCAP contract but the Clinton administration. still awarded a sole-source contract for work in the Balkans.
The next time the LOGCAP was awarded was in 1999 and Halliburton won the contract again. Gore and Clinton both wrote favorable assessments of the work that Halliburton did under LOGCAP. In 2001 Halliburton won the LOGCAP again.
Halliburton was once headed by Dick Cheney but he no longer has any monetary interest in the company and the Dept. of Defense does not consult the Vice Pres as to who they will award military contracts.
They could have awarded the contract to Morris Siding in Duncan, Oklahoma but Halliburton probably can better do the job. There should be oversight over Halliburton and over the Dept. of Defense at all times but with that oversight I for one am confident that Halliburton can do the job. Clinton thought so to.
The division of Halliburton that is doing the clean up in Iraq already had the LOGCAP contract before Bush got in office. They got the contract at least 4 of the last 5 times it was up for competitive bidding in the last decade. Allegations can be thrown at Cheney all day but there is no proof because Cheney as VP does not have anything to do with who the Dept. of Defense hires and this administration did not have anything to do with Halliburton getting the last contract. Of course all of this must be done with oversight no matter what administration it is.”
By manapp99 on Apr 9, 2008 | Reply
From Fact Check:
http://www.factcheck.org/kerry_ad_falsely_accuses_cheney_on_halliburton.html
“A Kerry ad implies Cheney has a financial interest in Halliburton and is profiting from the company’s contracts in Iraq. The fact is, Cheney doesn’t gain a penny from Halliburton’s contracts, and almost certainly won’t lose even if Halliburton goes bankrupt.
The ad claims Cheney got $2 million from Halliburton “as vice president,” which is false. Actually, nearly $1.6 million of that was paid before Cheney took office. More importantly, all of it was earned before he was a candidate, when he was the company’s chief executive.”…
“The $398,548 Halliburton has paid to Cheney while in office is all deferred compensation, a common practice that high-salaried executives use to reduce their tax bills by spreading income over several years. In Cheney’s case, he signed a Halliburton form in December of 1998 choosing to have 50% of his salary for the next year, and 90% of any bonus money for that year, spread out over five years. (As it turned out, there was no bonus for 1999.) We asked Cheney’s personal attorney to document the deferral agreement as well, and he supplied us with a copy of the form, posted here publicly for the first time.”
By manapp99 on Apr 9, 2008 | Reply
As far as stock options go, again from fact check:
“That still would leave the possibility that Cheney could profit from his Halliburton stock options if the company’s stock rises in value. However, Cheney and his wife Lynne have assigned any future profits from their stock options in Halliburton and several other companies to charity. And we’re not just taking the Cheney’s word for this — we asked for a copy of the legal agreement they signed, which we post here publicly for the first time.
The “Gift Trust Agreement” the Cheney’s signed two days before he took office turns over power of attorney to a trust administrator to sell the options at some future time and to give the after-tax profits to three charities. The agreement specifies that 40% will go to the University of Wyoming (Cheney’s home state), 40% will go to George Washington University’s medical faculty to be used for tax-exempt charitable purposes, and 20% will go to Capital Partners for Education, a charity that provides financial aid for low-income students in Washington, DC to attend private and religious schools.
The agreement states that it is “irrevocable and may not be terminated, waived or amended,” so the Cheney’s can’t take back their options later.
The options owned by the Cheney’s have been valued at nearly $8 million, his attorney says. Such valuations are rough estimates only — the actual value will depend on what happens to stock prices in the future, which of course can’t be known beforehand. But it is clear that giving up rights to the future profits constitutes a significant financial sacrifice, and a sizable donation to the chosen charities.”
By Dusty on Apr 9, 2008 | Reply
FACT CHECK.ORG gets more wrong than they do right lately. They were horribly wrong on all the bs they printed about Hillary and NAFTA..just for a recent gaff.
So excuse me if I don’t swallow their stuff hook, line and sinker anymore.
Rawstory:Cheney’s Halliburton stock options rose 3,281% last year, senator finds
http://tinyurl.com/amzqz
By Jet Netwal on Apr 9, 2008 | Reply
From the link:
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) recently asserted that Cheney’s stock options which were worth $241,498 a year ago, are now valued at more than $8 million– for an increase of 3,281% . Cheney has pledged to give the proceeds to charity. Cheney continues to received a deferred salary from the company. He was paid $205,298 in 2001; $162,392 in 2002; $178,437 in 2003; and $194,852 in 2004.
The Congressional Research Service has concluded that holding stock options while in elective office does constitute a “financial interest” whether or not the holder of the options donates the proceeds to charities, and deferred compensation is also a financial interest.
I’m saying that Congress had an issue with this cash shell game in 2005.