Give It Up, Cheney!

After obtaining the Vice President's latest financial disclosure report we at Halliburton Watch have decided to launch a new "Give It Up, Cheney" campaign today, and invite everyone to join us in calling on the Vice President to relinquish his remaining stock holdings in Halliburton.

Cheney, who was Halliburton's CEO from 1995 to 2000, continues to hold 50,000 stock option shares worth a gross value of $3.76 million as of May 15, 2006. He no longer receives any deferred compensation payments (though he received them even after misleading the public on Meet the Press a couple of years ago, when he said he had no "ties" or "financial interest" in Halliburton). His office also coordinated with Paul Wolfowitz and other political appointees in the Office of Special Plans when the decision was made to break the Pentagon's competitive contracting rules to give Halliburton a no-bid contract.

Cheney's 2005 public financial disclosure report was filed with the Office of Government Ethics just two days before Halliburton's annual shareholder meeting, which is being held in Oklahoma on Wednesday.

The Vice President also reports that he still has thousands of stock options in Lockheed-Martin, and received numerous personal gifts in 2005, including three guns and a hunting decoy. Perhaps he plans to start his own gun club when he retires.

Seriously, though -- even though the Cheneys dumped some 383,333 Halliburton stock options last year, the remaining 50,000 options continue to create the appearance of an obvious ongoing conflict of interest.

Cheney's defense is that he signed a gift agreement, which stipulates that the proceeds of his Halliburton options will go to charity. Okay. But what charity?

When corporate executives get caught in financial fraud cases, they are often forced to disgorge any ill-gotten gains to compensate defrauded investors and pensioners. Although it's usually a pittance compared to the damage done, the point is that no one who is even remotely responsible should profit from such a travesty.

Similarly, anyone who misled the country to war should immediately disgorge any stock they own in weapons manufacturers or crony contractors profiting from reconstruction contracts.

We suggest he donate the proceeds from his remaining Halliburton stock options to a charity that is working with veterans in Iraq and at home whose lives have been irreparably damaged -- groups like The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, Mercy Corps , and The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, as well as the veterans and military family groups fighting to stop the war and bring the troops home, including Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out and Gold Star Families for Peace.