Written in 12/21/2002, this article is prescient
George W. Bush has chosen a nominee to replace ousted Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill. More precisely, the president has rubber-stamped a selection made by Vice President Dick Cheney.
As with the outgoing Cabinet member, the man designated to take O'Neill's place, CSX Chairman John Snow, is a longtime crony of Cheney.
In Snow's case, the tie goes back at least to the mid-1970s, when Snow served as deputy undersecretary of the Transportation Department and administrator of the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration under President Gerald Ford, whom Cheney served as chief of staff.
Just as Cheney parlayed a position as secretary of defense in the first Bush's White House into a big-money job at the helm of Halliburton, a defense contractor he had formerly "regulated," Snow parlayed his Transportation Department post into a big-money job with Chessie System (CSX), a transportation conglomerate he used to regulate.
Now Cheney is back in charge and Snow is preparing to step once more through the revolving door - this time to serve as the president's top adviser on tax and fiscal issues. Just as Cheney has used the vice presidency to serve the interests of Halliburton, Snow will be in a position to deliver for CSX and other corporations to which he is tied as a former chairman of the Business Roundtable.
Members of the U.S. Senate, who are charged under the Constitution with the task of determining whether Cabinet nominees meet the standards that should be set for government service, should uphold that responsibility by closely examining Snow's troubling pattern of turning government service to personal and corporate advantage. They should also analyze the even more serious question of whether, as the nation's secretary of the treasury, Snow is capable of serving the best interests of the United States or simply of corporate America.
~snip~
Finally, Snow should be required to discuss the extent to which his past forays into government "service" might have benefited CSX, and whether his confirmation would lead to further benefits for CSX and other corporations with which he has ties.
Dick Cheney's recruitment of Snow should be viewed skeptically by the Senate. The Bush-Cheney White House has tended too frequently to serve as an outpost of corporate America. With the American economy in a perilous place, we do not need to be "rescued" by someone whose first priority is taking care of himself and his corporate cronies.
http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:OUP9PfbfmfIJ:www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat%3Fpid%3D237+Cheney+John+Snow+deputy+undersecretary+Ford&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1edited to add:
Mr. Snow worked on a Republican tax-policy panel created in 1995 by House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas.
The panel supported a move toward a simplified, one-tier income-tax system.
"John W. Snow strongly supports tax relief as a vehicle to achieve economic growth, he is an ardent supporter of free trade, he is a champion of business deregulation and the removal of burdensome red tape, and he understands the importance of reining in government spending," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.
AND, at same link:
CSX Paid No Income Tax in 2 of Last 4 Years
The company headed by the Treasury secretary-designate had large pretax profits at same time. Its practices appear legal, however.
WASHINGTON -- CSX Corp., the big railroad company headed by Treasury secretary-designate John W. Snow, paid no federal income taxes during at least two of the last four years despite recording more than $1 billion in pretax profits. Over the same four-year period, the company gave Snow $36 million in salary, bonuses, stock and options, and forgave a $24-million loan so he wouldn't lose money along with other shareholders as the company's stock price declined. Although CSX's tax and compensation practices appear to be legal, these and other aspects of Snow's career suggest the man President Bush has chosen to head his revamped economic team may have a lot of explaining to do before he takes the oath of office.
"Treasury is supposed to make sure that the taxes are collected fairly," said Robert McIntyre, director of Citizens for Tax Justice, an advocacy group that opposes many corporate tax breaks. "Bush has just nominated a guy who thinks it's dandy that his company's contributing nothing to help support the country."...
Similar to Bush, Cheney
Snow's private sector resume bears a striking similarity to those of Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. The president has been bedeviled by persistent questions about his stock sales while serving on the board of Harken Energy Corp. 12 years ago. Cheney has drawn fire for his actions as CEO of Halliburton Co., a big oilfield services firm that is under investigation for its accounting practices.
~snip~
He also served on a blue-ribbon tax reform panel headed by former Cabinet secretary Jack Kemp, an aggressive champion of tax cuts. According to an analysis of corporate disclosure documents by McIntyre's advocacy group, which posted the results on its Internet site, CSX paid no federal income taxes in 1998, 2000 and 2001. Instead, it received federal rebates of more than $150 million by claiming a number of tax breaks, including accelerated depreciation of equipment purchases....
Over the same four-year period, Snow received salary, bonuses and other cash compensation totaling $15.6 million, CSX stock worth $8.4 million and stock options valued at $12.5 million, for a total pay package of $36.5 million, according to CSX's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. CSX is by no means the only company that has deferred taxes by taking advantage of the many deductions and credits created by Congress to boost corporate cash flow and encourage new investment.
In fact, the White House is expected to propose expanded business write-offs as part of a new tax-cut initiative it will unveil early next year....
~snip~
Quid Pro Quo Questions
In 2000, the board agreed to forgive the outstanding loans to Snow and other CSX executives who had made similar stock purchases. At about the same time, two members of the company's compensation committee purchased vacation property worth millions of dollars from CSX subsidiaries, leading some critics to question whether there had been a quid pro quo.
"This is as egregious as anything we've come up against with any company," said William B. Patterson, director of the investment office of the AFL-CIO, which called attention to the loan cancellation. "The company gave the management a significant upside if the company did well. When that didn't happen, it just scrapped the plan and gave the money back. That's contrary to the spirit of pay for performance."
In the wake of recent corporate scandals, notably last year's collapse of Enron Corp., such company loans to executives were banned under reform legislation recently signed into law. Another potential problem area is Snow's sale of 120,000 shares of CSX stock in August. Shortly after he sold the stock, the company announced that its financial condition was weakening, and the stock price fell.
There is no evidence that Snow was anticipating the negative news when he sold. But it was the same basic sequence of events that has created problems for Cheney, who sold much of his Halliburton stock shortly before the oil field services company disclosed unexpected financial liabilities in late 2000.
White House officials, congressional Republicans, political analysts and financial experts were quick to defend Snow's record at CSX, noting that he is widely regarded as an effective corporate manager who insists on playing by the rules. "He did nothing wrong," said Charles Gabriel, senior Washington analyst for Prudential Securities. "This is a publicly traded company that's using the congressionally enacted tax laws to try to stay in business and advance its cause and take care of its stakeholders. What's wrong with that?"
~snip~
NOTE THE ENRON CONNECTION!
(see link for timeline)
http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:OW8s7ED45GEJ:www.the-catbird-seat.net/SnowBirds.htm+Cheney+John+Snow+deputy+undersecretary+Ford&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=14
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