THE CENTER
FOR RESPONSIVE
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THE
BUSH ADMINISTRATION
Corporate Connections_______________________
Charts:
President Bush's
Cabinet
President Bush's Advisors
_______________________
Comedian Jon Stewart once joked that watching President
George W. Bush pick his White House staff was like watching "the old
band get back together." It’s true that many of Bush’s choices
for the cabinet and top White House posts come from former Republican
administrations, going all the way back to Gerald Ford. But what’s
notable about this administration is not only the bona fide government
credentials that the staff sports—it’s also the corporate connections they
bring into the White House.
George Bush, of course, is a Texas oilman, although not a
very successful one. His company, Arbusto, merged with Spectrum 7 in 1984
as it was on the verge of bankruptcy. Spectrum was bought out by Harken
Energy in 1986, giving Bush a seat on Harken’s board, some stock options
and a $120,000 consulting contract. As the first president to have an MBA,
Bush has surrounded himself with people with similar (and more successful)
corporate
backgrounds. Vice President Dick Cheney was, until last year, the CEO of
Halliburton, the world’s largest oil field services company.
Halliburton, through its European subsidiaries, sold spare parts to Iraq’s
oil industry, despite U.N. sanctions. The Bush administration is already
considering whether or not it should alter the sanctions policy against
Iraq, hinting that it might allow for more normalized trade with the
country.
Of course, everyone knows that the U.S. oil industry has a
secure foothold in the White House. But when he handed out cabinet posts
and picked his top advisors, Bush left no industry out in the cold. From
old school automobile manufacturers to fledgling biotech companies, just
about every sector was covered. Below is a list of the corporations
represented in the Bush White House. You won’t find every cabinet member
or senior adviser listed here. Education Secretary Rod Paige, for example,
was a school superintendent in Houston before
coming to Washington. Senior adviser Karl Rove and counselor to the
president, Karen Hughes, have political backgrounds.
Environmental Protection Agency head Christine Todd Whitman, the former
New Jersey governor, raised most of her campaign
money within the state. But those on Bush’s
staff who don’t have extensive corporate connections are the exception, not the
rule:
*Click on individuals' names
for a complete list of their corporate connections. All trademarks in this
chart are registered trademarks of their respective owners. The Center for Responsive
Politics is in no way affiliated with any of the companies listed in this
chart. This chart is not intended to convey that the listed companies in
any way endorse the Center for Responsive Politics or its work.
Feel free to distribute or
cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics.
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