If Your Name is Cheney, We Have a Tax-Paid Job for You!

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

The nomination of Vice President Dick Cheney's son-in-law as top lawyer at the Department of Homeland Security, coupled with the appointment of Mr. Cheney's daughter to a senior State Department post, are a strain of nepotism not usually seen in American government.

The Bush administration should have paid attention to the disastrous experience of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the awarding of a big U.N. contract to a firm that employed his son Kojo. The Volcker report on the Iraq oil-for-food scandal, including the focus on Kojo's role, has led to calls for Kofi Annan's resignation.

No such luck. Last week Mr. Bush nominated Philip J. Perry, Elizabeth Cheney's husband, to be general counsel at Homeland Security. If the appointment is confirmed by the Senate, he would leave a partnership at the Los Angeles-based law firm Latham & Watkins to come to government. Among the clients his firm represents in Washington is Lockheed Martin, one of Homeland Security's top 10 contractors.

Elizabeth Cheney also feeds at the government trough. She is currently principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs and coordinator for broader Middle East and North Africa initiatives. She was appointed to that post in February by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Mr. Perry's background for his nomination includes having won for Lockheed Martin and its partners hundreds of millions of dollars in government contracts, including one to train airport screeners for the Transportation Security Administration. Ms. Cheney's background includes no known experience of Middle Eastern or North African affairs.