Dick Cheney's Son-in-Law Obstructed Investigation into Homeland Security Misconduct. Dick Must Be So Proud!

Submitted by BuzzFlash on Wed, 02/07/2007 - 2:38pm. Alerts

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT

Like father, like son-in-law. It turns out BushCo nepotism and arrogance transcends blood and follows the family trees even through marriage.

The Bushes have long been America's most notorious crime family, but the Cheneys are certainly holding their own. Among other wrongdoings, the Vice President is currently being implicated in the Libby trial for leaking the identity of a CIA operative to punish her husband for exposing the Administration's lies about pre-war Iraq intelligence. Elizabeth, his eldest daughter, was appointed to a high-ranking State Department position created just for her in 2002, which she left the next year to work on her father's re-election campaign. Following that election she was soon appointed to an even loftier role within the State Department.

But it is Elizabeth's husband, Phillip Perry, who is making news these days. Until his resignation last month to join a law firm, Perry was the general counsel for the Homeland Security Department. However, we learned from a congressional hearing yesterday that Perry did everything he could to frustrate and hinder government investigation into Homeland Security:

"[Homeland Security] has been one of our persistent access challenges," Government Accountability Office Comptroller General David Walker told the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee. . . Walker said it is his understanding that people from Perry's office have to review documents GAO seeks before they are released and selectively sit in on interviews with department employees.

"When you have more lawyers in a meeting than program people, you know you got a problem. Something needs to be done about this," Walker said. "Right now the system is structured to delay, delay, delay."

Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner said his investigations have also been hindered. "We're experiencing the same problem," said Skinner, who added his office is "oftentimes" told who they can interview and that it sometimes takes weeks to get documents.

From the AP: Skinner also said that having a supervisor or attorney present when his office interviews an employee "sets a chilling effect" and tells the employee he's presumed not to be a team player.

It's no wonder why Perry would be so nervous about his Department. An LA Times story (linked on an article from ThinkProgress) discusses a recent report highlighting a "litany of staff misconduct" at Homeland Security, including "immigration officials demanding sex in exchange for visas, airport screeners stealing money from tourists' luggage, federal air marshals smuggling drugs, and employees from various DHS agencies committing sex crimes — including indecent exposure and distributing child pornography."

Yes, Dick Cheney's own son-in-law personally directed the obstruction of efforts to uncover serious misconduct from his department. Though far from shocking, this discovery raises some serious questions. Was Phillip Perry hand-selected by Dick Cheney for an arraigned marriage? Or was he merely brainwashed and formally indoctrinated into the Cheney clan following the nuptials? Either way, Perry is surely loved by the Vice President as the son he never had.

Perry and Elizabeth Cheney have five children. Should one of them reproduce with a Bush, we can only imagine the sheer evil their offspring might be capable of.