Cheney and HAL

[rodeodance]

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060710/greider

Published on Friday, June 23, 2006 by The Nation
Cheney and HAL
by William Greider


Amid all his other troubles, Vice President Richard Cheney is now stalked by a ghost from his past--the Richard Cheney who for five years was CEO of the Halliburton Company. When he left Halliburton in 2000 to become George W. Bush's running mate, the Republican ticket was touted as two tough-minded business executives running against wimpish politicians. "The American people should be pleased they have a vice presidential nominee who has been successful in business," Karen Hughes, Bush's then-communications director, enthused.

A rather different story is told by a class-action investor lawsuit against Halliburton, recently revived after languishing for four years. It describes Cheney as not much different from other corporate titans ensnared by accusations of fraud. Brushing aside facts and subordinates' warnings, CEO Cheney made a series of daring but wrong decisions that were disastrous for the company. The managerial incompetence was compounded by fraudulent accounting gimmicks that concealed the company's true condition. Cheney, however, relentlessly issued bullish assurances, hiding the losses and pumping up the stock price.
............

A pity voters didn't know this side of the story back in 2000. Cheney's performance as CEO predicted his subsequent behavior as Veep: the willful ignorance and bullying manipulation of policy, the arrogance that led the country into deep trouble. The corporate scandal seems like old news now, since the basic facts were first revealed four years ago by the New York Times--generating a flurry of investor lawsuits. But the story has new life. The injured investors are now represented by William Lerach, the ferociously successful plaintiff lawyer who has won billions in securities litigation against major corporations and Wall Street banks, from Enron to Citigroup.

Lerach has reformulated the Halliburton complaint to pointedly portray Cheney and "Cheney's team" as the wrongdoers who fabricated and deceived. Cheney himself is not named as a defendant, but he faces a different kind of exposure--grilling under oath by Lerach, a tenacious trial lawyer deeply loathed by corporate and financial interests. (Full disclosure: Lerach's current firm was among the sponsors of a conference I addressed earlier this year.) "There's not any question we will get to that point," Lerach says with relish. "We can't know whether it will be three months or three years from now, but we know Cheney and Halliburton will fight furiously to keep Cheney from being deposed."

.......lots more-worth the read.........

[annabanana]

1. Cheney has "Enroned" America

That whole trope of running the Country "like a business" always set my teeth on edge. Corporate malfeasance was what came to mind first. Corporate Law is what came to mind second.

The lawyer in a corporation has only one job:
How to make the immoral "legal". This is what Gonzales always did for the Bush family before his appointment and it's what he's doing now. The special horror is that our law making body is so anxious to assist.

[rodeodance]

2. yes, Gonzalas will do anything to make things legal-its the 'business way'

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. And electing one dimensional MBAs to office is a disaster.

The bottomline for a public servant is different than a bottomline for an MBA.

[ixion]

4. yes, and a FAILED MBA businessman at that

* has never run a successful business venture. Not one. Everything he's touched has turned to sh*t.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. I was dismayed to read on DU the story of the Tsunami relief worker

who came to see the Katrina disaster. He was shocked to find that the clean-up was no where as far along as he expected for a Super Nation.

Wake up kiddies, the Bush Administration isn't minding the public health, welfare and safety of the American people.

[BlueEyedSon]

5. Yeah, thank goodness his boss (our POTUS) is a successful businessman

oh, wait....