THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION

George W. Bush's first administration was notable for including a number of veterans of previous Republican administrations, including Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. But if Bush's early cabinet members and advisors had considerable government experience, they, like others before them, could also boast of extensive corporate connections. Bush, the first president with an MBA degree, appears to be following a similar course in choosing the cabinet for his second term.

Bush himself is a former Texas oilman. His company, Arbusto, was on the verge of bankruptcy when it merged with Spectrum 7 in 1984. Harken Energy bought Spectrum in 1986, and Bush was given a seat on Harken's board. He went on to become managing general partner of the Texas Rangers baseball team before entering politics. Vice President Dick Cheney was the CEO of Halliburton, the world's largest oil field services company, until he joined the Bush ticket in 2000. Halliburton's activities in the Middle East have drawn scrutiny. The company's European subsidiaries sold spare parts to Iraq's oil industry, despite U.N. sanctions. Halliburton and its subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root have reaped huge profits from the rebuilding of Iraq following the U.S.-led invasion of the country in 2003. Critics charge that Halliburton has received preferential treatment in the awarding of government contracts in Iraq. The company also has faced trouble at home. It agreed to pay $4 billion to settle myriad asbestos and silica-related lawsuits, and is facing a class-action suit alleging accounting fraud.

Below is a list of corporations with connections to people in the Bush administration. In cases where no corporate connections exist, the chart's company field has been left blank. As in previous administrations, those without extensive corporate connections are the exception, not the rule: