However, He Does Admire Their Collection of Native American Arrowheads
The office of Vice President Dick Cheney said yesterday that it was startled to learn that Cheney is a member of the Board of Regents of Washington’s famed Smithsonian Institution and should have been attending its meetings for the last six years.
Recent congressional hearings into the troubled Smithsonian, which operates 18 museums in Washington and has an annual budget of $1.1 billion, revealed that the vice president, who is a member of the Smithsonian board by law, had never attended a meeting.
“We have conducted a cursory review of our e-mail and telephone logs and glanced through most of our file cabinets and couldn’t find a single file folder labeled ‘Smithsonian’ or something similar,” said a Cheney administrative assistant. “As you might imagine, we get a lot of mail here, including invitations to all sorts of things. It’s devilishly difficult to keep it all straight.”
The assistant asked not to be identified because her children are taunted at school when her name appears in the newspapers as someone connected with the vice president.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who is also a Smithsonian regent by law, has attended every regents’ meeting since being named to the court and has immersed himself in Smithsonian affairs.
“I can assure you the Vice President has the utmost respect for the Smithsonian and his not attending the regents’ meetings in no way should be construed as reflecting a negative attitude toward the Smithsonian on his part,” a senior member of Cheney’s political operations staff said.
“On more than one occasion I have heard the Vice President recall with fondness visits to the Smithsonian he made with his children when they were younger. And he also has attended some very nice dinners at various Smithsonian museums over the years. As a Wyoming native and a connoisseur of weaponry, the Vice President has great respect for the Smithsonian’s collection of Native American arrowheads.”
The political aide pointed out that Cheney has a jam-packed schedule as he prosecutes the war on terror, supervises the intelligence community and manages the Iraq war. “I’m sure you can understand that the Vice President also needs some time off to just get out of town on Air Force Two and let his hair down, so to speak,” he said.
Cheney’s appointments secretary said she was unaware of the next regents meeting. “I’ll keep an eye on the mail for anything with their name on it,” she promised.