The Flintstone Syndrome

Dick Cheney is a good example of the way things go when business and government get too close. He's been a serious power broker within the Republican Party since he acted as Gerald Ford's de facto chief of staff. He became CEO of Halliburton in 1995 after George Bush Sr. was run out of office after a single term.

Cheney is currently in trouble with the French because of Halliburton's actions during Cheney's reign over the company. Halliburton, in partnership with the French company Technip, was commissioned by Shell to build a $6 billion gas liquification factory in Nigeria. To do so it appears that Halliburton and Technip set up a company called Tristar registered in Madeira. It appears that Tristar spent $180 million bribing Nigerian officials. French judge Renaud van Ruymbeke has been looking into corporate corruption and investigating the actions of Technip in Nigeria. Shortly before Christmas, Judge van Ruymbeke sent notice to the justice department that Cheney might be indicted in the case. The Journal du Dimanche wondered if any of that $180 million found its way back to the US, whether Halliburton officials or members of the Republican Party got a share. Did they? It certainly isn't out of the question.

Cheney accomplished some things during his political and business careers. He managed, as Secretary of Defense in the first Bush administration, to change the rules governing private contracting in the US military. Not a small matter given the contracts given to Halliburton in Iraq for contract work with the US military. Cheney went to work for Halliburton and took the company's earnings from $5.7 billion in 1994 to $14.9 billion in 1999. During that time he took government contracts from about $100 million into the billions. While he may speak derisively of welfare recipients, he has never hesitated to accept corporate welfare for his company. He has also not been one to shy away from providing corporate welfare when in political power.

As CEO of Halliburton, Dick Cheney had a policy of "going where the oil is." That policy may have allowed Halliburton's profits to skyrocket and added nicely to Cheney's bank account, but it also led to some skirting of sanctions against governments that abuse their citizens.

As Vice President, Dick Cheney allowed major corporations to make policy decisions. Many of those major corporations have since been shown to have been cooking the books. His business connections are at the heart of many of the policies he has backed and those policies relate directly to many of the problems the US is facing today.

Cheney still collects a cheque from Halliburton. I sometimes refer to him as Dick "Spiro Agnew" Cheney, but the truth is that Spiro couldn't hold a candle to Dick. Richard M. Nixon's first Vice President was busted for not paying taxes on less than $30,000 worth of corporate bribes in 1973. He resigned in disgrace. George W. Bush's Vice President made millions, may have bribed governments, seems to have a financial connection to every major corporate scandal in the US in recent memory, is being accused by French officials of crimes that may include the deaths of protestors, and the North American press has largely ignored the issue.

And of course the US isn't the only country with corrupt politicians. The latest Auditor General's report here in Canada has inflamed a two year old scandal. All the facts aren't in yet, and it will be some time before they are, but at this point it looks like advertising and public relations companies close to the Liberal Party were given about $100 million for doing little or no work. Paul Martin has been on the hot seat and there's a lot of damage control going on.

Auditor General Sheila Fraser said of the sponsorship scandal, "I think this is such a blatant misuse of public funds that it is shocking. I am actually appalled by what we've found," and, "I am deeply disturbed that such practices were allowed to happen in the first place. I don't think anybody can take this lightly."

Fraser is right, this should not be taken lightly. There should be a full investigation and charges should be laid if criminal wrong-doing is uncovered. Since it involves the RCMP, they should be the ones doing the investigating.

But the real problem is that this is just another case of one hand washing the other. In this instance it has likely reached the point of criminal activity, but it isn't really that different from political favours that happen all of the time. Politicians develop close ties to corporate donors or special interest groups. Favours are owed and payment is always due. This time it's members of the Liberal Party that are in trouble but next time it could be Conservatives or members of the NDP. That's a problem inherent in our system. It's a problem we share with every country on earth to some degree. The sponsorship scandal and Dick Cheney are two examples that are in the news right now, but they just make me wonder how many politicians are following those stories and saying, "I hope that isn't me next week."

So if it seems the world is being run by cartoon characters lately, that's probably because it is.

Blame it on J.L. Gotrocks.

Reading/sources:
http://www.globalpolicy.org/nations/launder/regions/2003/1220heart.htm
http://www.progressive.org/wm0900.htm
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040112&s=ireland
sponsorship scandal
http://www.mapleleafweb.com/features/parliament/party_financing/reaction.html
http://www.dwatch.ca/camp/SearchWarrant.PDF
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Reverend Blair was raised in Saskatchewan and currently lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He comes from a long line of social activists and cried on Tommy Douglas before his first birthday. His column appears biweekly on Vive le Canada.

Note: http://www.globalpolicy... http://www.progressive.... http://www.thenation.co... sponsorship scandal http://www.mapleleafweb... http://www.dwatch.ca/ca...