Cheney's CEO past seen as burden

Last week, Vice President Dick Cheney was spotted taking an unannounced tour of a Navy submarine off the coast of Florida. A few days later, he made an appearance at a medal ceremony for Korean War veterans in Washington – slipping in and out of the room in five minutes flat, kept from waiting reporters by a hastily drawn blue curtain.

Mr. Cheney has long been one of the Bush administration's more enigmatic figures, wielding great influence, but often behind the scenes. After Sept. 11, he receded further into the background, shuttling between "undisclosed secure locations."

But lately, there may be additional reasons for the vice president's low profile.

With the US Securities and Exchange Commission investigating accounting practices at Cheney's former company, Halliburton, and investors suing over alleged fraud, the vice president's once-celebrated corporate image now seems like a potential liability for President Bush and the GOP.

Although Cheney continues to campaign for Republican candidates across the country – traveling this week to Iowa and North Dakota – he's been greeted at recent events by protesters, and candidates have found themselves peppered with questions about the vice president's business dealings.

So far, polls show that most Americans don't believe Cheney did anything wrong. But as public anger over corporate greed rises, analysts say Cheney's problems may serve to reinforce a damaging stereotype of Republicans as tied to big business. And with the president facing scrutiny of his own over past stock sales and business practices, many are speculating that Cheney may be dropped from the ticket in 2004.

"This is a guy whose résumé is the résumé of the wealthy Republican businessman," says Paul Light, an expert on government at the Brookings Institution. "Dick Cheney is the vice president as fat cat. And the more the public focuses on the economy, the more Cheney becomes a liability for candidates running for reelection and for the president."

At issue in the Halliburton case is a change in accounting practices that the oil-services company made under Cheney's watch as chief executive. Under the new technique, the company began counting money owed by customers on cost overruns as revenue, despite the fact that the money had not yet been collected.

Halliburton says the practice is standard in the industry, but a lawsuit filed by the watchdog group Judicial Watch charges that the company failed to notify investors of the change for more than a year, resulting in overvaluation of Halliburton stock.

Democrats have also drawn attention to the $40 million Cheney made from selling his stock options, shortly before Halliburton's stock price began to slide. And while most have been careful not to attack the vice president personally, they have been calling on him to address the accounting situation publicly and release any relevant Halliburton documents.

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