President Bush is being criticized again, today, much of it is 1)partisan for his business past. He is accused of 2)indulging as a businessman in the same corporate excesses that he is now 3)condemning.
As the President headed off on a Midwest trip, his aides were left behind to deal with more questions about Mr. Bush’s own business practices years ago. In his Wall Street speech on Tuesday, Mr. Bush criticized 4)sweetheart loans given to company insiders.
Bush: I challenge compensation committees, to put an end to all company loans to corporate officers.
But in 1986, while a board member of Harken Energy Corporation, Bush himself received a low interest loan from the company, lower than the market rate, for $96,000, so he could buy Harken Company stocks. Two years later, another loan of $84,000 to buy more shares, for a total of $180,000 in company loans. Mr. Bush ultimately repaid them. Democratic leaders accuse him of 5)hypocrisy. Tom Daschle(Majority leader): He did criticize the effort in his speech, and yet it appears that is what he did himself.
Richard Gephard(Minority leader): It is hard to lead when you haven’t done the things that you’re asking others to do.
The President’s aides say there was nothing wrong in accepting the loans because it was common practice in the 80s. And there was no hypocrisy, says the Presidents spokesman, because Mr. Bush did not abuse the system as executives have done in recent years.
Ari Flescher(WH Press Secretary): People taking out loans and not doing what President Bush did, and not putting them back into the company and using them for other purposes, which are abusive.
The President’s aides are particularly frustrated that his own words have 6)diverted attention to what he is trying to do: 7)boost investor confidence. That is the real concern here, a weak stock market, and the effect it could have on economic recovery.
Now to this issue of Vice President Cheney. A legal activist group called “8)Judicial Watch” filed the lawsuit today against the Vice President, and Halliburton, the Energy Company he used to run. The lawsuit accuses Halliburton, and its former CEO, of the same 9)fraudulent accounting associated with the WorldCom and Enron companies. So, what is the bottom line?
Mr. Cheney was CEO of Halliburton from 1995 until he 10)joined the ticket in 2000. In his last full year on the job he earned $26.4 million.
The suit by Judicial Watch on behalf of Halliburton shareholders claims Mr. Cheney and other Halliburton executives 11)artificially boosted profits by $455 million, between 1998 and 2001.
Larry Klayman(Chairman of Judicial Watch): Cheney said no, it’s just the accountants that did that. He doesn’t want to take responsibility; he was head of the company.
Halliburton says its accounting practices were approved by its auditor, Arthur Anderson. In 1997 Mr. Cheney taped a testimonial for an Anderson marketing video.
Cheney(in video): I get good advice, if you will, from their people based upon how we’re doing business and how we’re operating, 12)over and above just the sort of the normal by-the-books auditing arrangement.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether Halliburton inflated its profits since 1998.
Prof. Lawrence Mitchell(George Washington University, Law School): It’s consistent with the kinds of earnings management that have gotten companies like Enron and WorldCom and Global Crossing into trouble.
Halliburton Executives say they cannot imagine Mr. Cheney signed off on the way the company kept its books. Corporate law experts say the CEO is ultimately responsible for the way the company is run.
Prof. Lawrence Mitchell: It is not proper that the CEO not know, and giving the kind of reputation that Cheney had as a businessman. No, I don’t think it’s credible that he didn’t know.
Aides to the Vice President said today that the Judicial Watch suit has no merit. CE
23、布什和切尼你：信得过他们俩吗？
今天，布什总统再次遭到批评。这次对他过去商业行为的批评从很大程度上说是党派性的。他被指控在从商时行为不当，犯了他如今正在谴责的大公司行为不检点的同样错误。
布什总统前往美国中西部，而他的助手却留下来应付关于布什数年前经商时的问题。布什星期二在华尔街发表演说，批评那些企业知情人获得的私下交易的贷款。
布什：我向各大公司的报酬委员会提出一个要求，结束所有企业内部给公司管理人员的贷款。
可是在1986年，当布什是哈肯能源公司董事会的一名成员时，他自己就在公司得到一笔金额高达96000美元的低息贷款，利息低于当时的市场价，他借这笔钱的目的是用它来购买哈肯公司的股票。两年后，他又借了84000美元再次买进公司股票。这样，他两次共从哈肯公司借了18万美元的贷款。布什后来偿还了全部贷款，但民主党人说他是一个伪君子。
汤姆·达施勒（多数党领袖）：他在自己的演说里确实对这种做法进行了谴责，但看来他自己以前也是那样做的。
理查德·盖普哈特（少数党领袖）：如果你没有做到你要求他人做的事，这样就很难做一个领导者。
布什总统的助手说，接受这种贷款并没有错，因为在二十世纪八十年代，这是一种常见的做法。总统的发言人说，这里面不存在虚伪，因为布什并没有像近年来许多公司高层管理人员一样滥用特权。
阿里·弗莱舍（白宫新闻秘书）：其他人是贷了款，却并没有像布什总统那样做，向公司偿还贷款，而把钱用到其它地方。这样做才是滥用特权。
布什原本的意图是刺激投资者的信心，但让总统助手感到特别丧气的是，布什本人的话转移了大众的注意力。问题的关键是目前疲软的股市，以及它对经济复苏可能造成的影响。
现在我们来谈副总统切尼的问题。一个叫“司法观察”的法律激进组织对副总统及他以前经营的能源公司哈利伯顿提出诉讼。这项诉讼指控哈利伯顿公司与它的前总裁像世界通信公司和安然公司一样，有制造虚假财务帐目的行为。那么，具体情况究竟是什么？
从1995年到2000年成为副总统候选人这段时间，切尼一直是哈利伯顿公司的总裁，他任总裁的最后一个全年收入是2640万美元。司法观察诉讼案是代表哈利伯顿的股东们提出的，此诉讼案称，切尼和哈利伯顿的其它管理人员在1998年到2001年间，人为地把公司利润上调了四亿四千五百万美元。
拉里·克莱曼（司法观察主席）：切尼说并他没有这么做，那都是财务部门的人干的。他是不想承担责任，但他可是这家公司的负责人啊。
哈利伯顿公司声称所有的财务帐目都经过了他们的审计者安达信核准的。在1997年，切尼曾替安达信录制用于市场推广的推荐录像带。
切尼(在录像带中)：安达信会计事务所给我们提出了很好的建议，他们的职员在了解我公司是如何做生意以及运行的基础上，所提出的建议远远超过了单纯的财务审计。
美国证券交易委员会正就哈利伯顿公司是否在1998年夸大利润之事进行调查。劳伦斯·米切尔教授（乔治·华盛顿大学法学院）：它们的做法正是让安然公司、世界通信公司和环球通讯公司身处困境的做法是一样的。
哈利伯顿公司的管理人员表示，对切尼允许公司处理帐目的方法，他们感到难以想像。公司法专家说，公司的总裁最终是要为公司的经营行为负责的。
劳伦斯·米切尔教授：作为总裁，特别是像切尼这种享有名誉的商人，这样做是不对的。我认为，要说他不知道此事是不可信的。
今天，副总统切尼的助手称，司法观察的诉讼是没有根据的。CE
1) partisan [pa:5tizAn] a. 党派性的
2) indulge [in5dQldV] v. 肆意从事
3) condemn [kEn5dem] v. 谴责
4) sweetheart loan 私下成交的贷款
5) hypocrisy [hi5pCkrEsi] n. 虚伪
6) divert [dai5vE:t] v. 转移，转向
7) boost [bu:st] v. 推动，促进
8) Judicial Watch 司法观察。成立于1994年，总部设在华盛顿，并在美国各地设有办公室。它是一个无党派的非营利性组织，其目的是对政府的司法系统进行监督。
9) fraudulent [5frCdjulEns] a. 欺骗性的，诈骗的
10) joined the ticket in 2000 指在2000年的总统竞选过程中，切尼成为当时的总统候选人的竞选伙伴，竞选副总统。
11) artificially [9a:ti5fiFEli] ad. 人工地，人为地
12) over and above 多于
