Veep zips lip as probers dig
Plans to stay mum till old firm cleared
By THOMAS M. DeFRANK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF
WASHINGTON - Vice President Cheney, the administration's indispensable damage-control point man, has muzzled himself - with the reluctant approval of his boss.
Sources told the Daily News yesterday that with the urging of his lawyers, Cheney has scaled back his crucial public cheerleading role until a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of Halliburton's accounting practices while Cheney was chairman and CEO has been resolved.
"Contrary to the urgings of some, including the President, he's decided to lower his profile," one official said. "He doesn't want anybody to say later that he was out there trying to jawbone the [SEC] case away."
Cheney isn't exactly disappearing - he has several public events each week and a heavy schedule of campaigning for GOP candidates. But as for media appearances and the Sunday talk show circuit, a second source said he's becoming invisible: "He's not going to be doing anything for a while."
Avoiding the media
His handlers have alerted local Republican organizers that Cheney won't be holding any "press avails" and have instructed his advance staff to make sure his movements don't bring him near the media.
Yesterday, Cheney was in Florida touring the Wyoming, a nuclear submarine named for his home state. The event didn't appear on his schedule and was closed to the public and press.
It's not clear how long Cheney's public silence will last. SEC investigations can take months, even years.
Bush is reliably described as disappointed but resigned that Cheney, perhaps the most authoritative and soothing public voice in the government, is essentially out of action at a time when public confidence in Bush's handling of the economy is steadily slipping.
"The President doesn't want one of his principal assets to go underground," said a well-placed source. "But he also understands that Cheney's got to make the call."
The veep has assured confidants that he has nothing to fear from the SEC's probe of his stewardship of Halliburton from 1995 to 2000. "He made the right decisions at the time based on the information he had available," said one source familiar with his view.
Not targeted in probe
In May, the SEC opened an investigation of Halliburton's accounting practices, which critics have suggested may have inflated profits at the giant Dallas-based oil services conglomerate. There is no allegation of any wrongdoing on Cheney's part. He is not a subject of the investigation and as of yesterday had not been contacted by the agency. But SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt said last week that nobody, including the vice president, will get a pass.
"The Halliburton thing is a nothingburger," said one official. "It will blow over - but until then, he's being careful."
Cheney also is trying to avoid offering a larger target to Democrats, who have gleefully tried to link him to a string of corporate excesses that have rocked the country and fueled the stock market slide.
Cheney's lawyers, Terry O'Donnell and David Addington, are described as extremely cautious and have urged Cheney not to speak out on Halliburton - or anything else that might inadvertently complicate matters with the SEC.
"It's a sound legal strategy," one source close to Cheney observed, "but as a political strategy it's not helpful."
In recent months, he has stepped up his heavy campaign travel schedule for Republican candidates and expects to have made 60 appearances by Election Day, Nov. 5.
In the West Wing, Cheney continues to be involved in almost every aspect of policymaking. Aides said he has counseled his colleagues to take the long view of current woes, believing the administration is suffering through a short-term cycle that will turn before it does lasting damage.
One Bush aide notes that Cheney's pep talks have helped White House morale - "but it's not where he's needed most right now."
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