ASHINGTON - The Republican vice presidential nominee, Dick Cheney, said yesterday he was ''fully prepared to forfeit'' oil company stock options that he would otherwise continue to hold after taking office if he and George W. Bush win in November.
Cheney made the statement as he prepared to release his financial disclosure forms and 10 years of income tax returns.
''In order to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest, I am fully prepared to forfeit any options that have not vested by the time I assume office,'' said Cheney, who recently stepped down as the head of Dallas-based Halliburton Co., the world's largest oil services company.
Cheney, who was chairman and chief executive of the company for five years, left with more than $13.6 million worth of stock and options, some of which could not be sold yet. Options allow someone to buy a company's stock at a preset price.
Some have urged him not to retain the options because Halliburton's stock price could be affected by actions taken by a Bush-Cheney administration. Unlike stock, options cannot be placed in a blind trust, where the recipient has no control over his or her investments. Cheney said he would put his stock in a blind trust if elected.
''It's a situation where national concerns are mixed with business concerns,'' Peter Eisner, managing director at the Center for Public Integrity, a government ethics advocacy group, said last month.
Besides his Halliburton stock, Cheney also holds options granted by Procter & Gamble, the giant consumer products company. They also would not take effect until after Inauguration Day. Cheney said he also would give up those options.
He received a multimillion-dollar retirement package from Halliburton. He retained options on more than a million shares he could buy at prices ranging from $21 to $54 each. But many of those options would take effect only after the inauguration.
The tax returns of Cheney, a former congressman and defense secretary, show what a difference the transition into the private sector made.
In 1990, while defense secretary under President Bush, he and his wife, Lynne, reported an adjusted gross income of $225,196 and paid $47,332 in income taxes. Three years later, his first in the private sector, Cheney and Lynne reported $2 million in adjusted gross income, paying $732,851 in taxes - almost as much in taxes as they made during his last three years as defense secretary.
And in 1999, his last full year as head of Halliburton, Cheney and his wife reported an adjusted gross income of $4.4 million and paid $1.7 million in taxes.
