WAXMAN ACCEPTS HALLIBURTON CASH.Byline: Lisa Friedman Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - The Halliburton Co. has contributed $1,000 to one of its top critics - Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman Henry Arnold Waxman (born September 12, 1939 in Los Angeles, California) is an American politician. He has represented California's At-large congressional district (map) in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1975. . According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. recently released monthly campaign finance reports, Vice President Dick Cheney's former company - which on Tuesday lost its U.S. contract to rebuild Iraq's oil infrastructure amid allegations of overcharging the government - made the donation through its political action committee in November. And Waxman, despite his denouncements of the energy giant's contract, intends to keep the money. ``We always regard contributions as an expression of support for our work,'' said Waxman aide Phil Schiliro. The transaction has raised the eyebrows of Washington government watchdogs. ``What's surprising is that Waxman would be willing to accept the contribution,'' said Tony Raymond, co-founder of Political Money Line, a nonprofit A corporation or an association that conducts business for the benefit of the general public without shareholders and without a profit motive. Nonprofits are also called not-for-profit corporations. Nonprofit corporations are created according to state law. group that monitors campaign finance issues and highlighted Halliburton's donation on its Web site. Waxman helped lead the charge among Democrats against Halliburton's $7 billion government contract, awarded without competition. In April, he wrote to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld inquiring inquiring, v to draw information from a client—whether by verbal questioning or physical examination—to assess the person's state of health. about evidence that the company profited from doing business with countries that sponsor terrorism, and recently he has been highly critical of the prices Halliburton's subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root have charged for importing gasoline gasoline or petrol, light, volatile mixture of hydrocarbons for use in the internal-combustion engine and as an organic solvent, obtained primarily by fractional distillation and "cracking" of petroleum, but also obtained from natural gas, by into Iraq. Earlier this week, the Pentagon Pentagon Huge five-sided building (1941–43) in Arlington, Va., that is the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense. Designed by George Edwin Bergstrom, it was, on its completion, the world's largest office building, covering 34 acres (14 hectares) and offering released a memo announcing that Halliburton's contracts will be taken over by the U.S. military and new bids will be sought ``as quickly as possible.'' Schiliro said the congressman did not solicit any money from Halliburton and, he added, ``from our standpoint The Standpoint is a newspaper published in the British Virgin Islands. It was originally published under the name Pennysaver, largely as a shopping-coupon promotional newspaper, but since emerged as one of the most influential sources of journalism in the , it's not going to affect any of our work.'' The phenomenon of corporations donating money to detractors is not unusual, Raymond said. And, he said, the fact that Waxman has decided to keep the money may mean Halliburton wants to keep the congressman's ear on other, non-contract related issues. ``It gives you a perspective on how Washington works. The flow of money coming in doesn't necessarily reflect the position a candidate makes public,'' he said. Schiliro, however, described the contribution as a sign that Halliburton officials respected the methods that Waxman used in calling the contract into question. ``I think part of what it reflected is they didn't think we were being irresponsible ir·re·spon·si·ble adj. 1. Marked by a lack of responsibility: irresponsible accusations. 2. Lacking a sense of responsibility; unreliable or untrustworthy. 3. in the way we conducted the investigation,'' he said. Halliburton officials, for their part, did not return calls to discuss the contribution other than releasing a written statement saying the company ``embraces diverse opinions and believes it is vital for continued success.'' Lisa Friedman, (202) 662-8731 lisa.friedman(at)langnews.com |
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