http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/18/AR2006021801147_pf.htmlHunting for Camaraderie With Shotguns and Friends
Companions Say Pastime Gives Cheney a Timeout
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The vice president's accidental shooting of a 78-year-old lawyer in Texas has thrown a spotlight on Cheney's hunting forays as never before. Hardly a casual outdoorsman posing for election brochure pictures, Cheney proves to be a serious practitioner of the sport who in five years in office has traveled to lodges throughout the country -- Texas, South Dakota, Georgia, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Arkansas and Louisiana. Some of those "undisclosed locations" he has been at since Sept. 11, 2001, turn out to have plenty of quail, ducks, pheasant or even, yes, doves.
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Since becoming vice president in January 2001, Cheney has continued to mix work and pleasure in these trips, at least in his choice of companions. Besides Graham and Chambliss, Cheney has gone hunting with a variety of other politicians, including Republican Sens. John Thune (S.D.), Trent Lott (Miss.) and Jim DeMint (S.C.), South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R), former treasury secretary Nicholas F. Brady and former senators Phil Gramm (R-Tex.) and Zell Miller (D-Ga.).
Although associates say Cheney does not use hunting trips as an explicit fundraising vehicle, he has brought along prominent business figures, including Ohio billionaire Leslie H. Wexner, whose retail empire includes such chains as Limited Stores, Express, Bath & Body Works and Victoria's Secret. Katharine Armstrong, whose family owns the Texas ranch where the shooting accident occurred, is a registered lobbyist. And of course, Cheney's most famous hunting partner before Harry Whittington was Justice Antonin Scalia, a fact that sparked controversy because the Supreme Court was ruling in a case involving Cheney and Scalia declined to recuse himself.
Yet several hunting companions say the trips include more political gossiping and storytelling than horse-trading. While women sometimes come along, such as Armstrong and Pamela Pitzer Willeford, the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland who was also at the Texas ranch a weekend ago, Lynne Cheney does not seem to be a regular on these trips. But the famously taciturn vice president reportedly opens up after a day in the open.
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While Cheney pays any hunting fees or lodging expenses if charged, taxpayers invariably pick up much of the cost of Cheney's hunting hobby. As with his predecessors, the government pays for Secret Service agents, military aides and the rest of the entourage that travels with vice presidents wherever they go, as well as the expense of Air Force Two. But it is not clear how much that costs. The budget lists $1 million for the vice president's annual travel, including his official duties, but the figure is rounded to the nearest million, according to the Center for Public Integrity.
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isn't it peachy wonderful that they round off his expenses to the nearest million.
may he never fire a gun again
may he rot in prison