Democrats Urge Cheney to Aid Ex-Employees (big ole gag alert)

The Washington Post ^ | 9/11/2002 | Dana Milbank

[Utah Girl]

Democrats on Capitol Hill called on Vice President Cheney yesterday to compensate hundreds of former Halliburton Co. employees who lost millions of dollars in pension payouts when Halliburton sold a subsidiary under Cheney's leadership.

The employees of the former Halliburton subsidiary, Dresser-Rand, have received notices from Halliburton offering them payments that are on average $50,000 less than expected, according to an employee representative. The shortfall comes from Halliburton's decision not to continue to make pension fund contributions for the workers after the unit was sold to Ingersoll-Rand in February 2000. Ingersoll-Rand said Halliburton should compensate the workers for the shortfall, but Halliburton refused, saying it was Ingersoll-Rand's responsibility.

The dispute adds another complication for the Bush administration stemming from Cheney's leadership of Halliburton. The company's accounting practices are under review by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the company has been badly hobbled by asbestos liabilities incurred when Cheney ran the company. Cheney's actions at Halliburton have offered Democrats an opportunity to challenge the administration's credibility on matters of corporate accountability.

[Utah Girl]

Rep. John Conyers Jr. (Mich.), the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary committee, wrote to Cheney accusing him of "bending the rules to make millions of dollars while the hardworking employees under your watch are cheated out of millions of dollars." Conyers said Cheney should return "all or a significant portion" of his retirement income.

Please click on the link to read this article. Gag. Dick Cheney sold his stock because the press and the Dems moaned and groaned about the inpropriety of him owning stock, so he did, and now they want him to give it back anyway??? Sorry, this just is a stupid idea. I'm not even all that sorry for the Halliburton employees either. (I"m feeling coldhearted this evening.)

[T. Jefferson]

If republicans had a brain, they'd immediately publicly call
for McAuliffe to return his $18 million to global crossing
employees. We need to hire Ann Coulter to do things like
this on a daily basis...someone who isn't running for anything, more like running from something, like bullets.

[Utah Girl]

Good idea. I think I will call Orrin Hatch and suggest this, on second thought, maybe not.