Who's Who.

• Author: THREADGILL, SUSAN
• Position: Politics - Brief Article

From their relentless pursuit of tax cuts for the wealthy--cuts that could bring back deficits--it's clear that the people running the Bush White House can be lured into reckless behavior by the promise of smaller bills from the IRS. This psychological weakness may also explain how Bush's top political adviser Karl Rove got himself in hot water. In March, Rove met with executives from Intel Corporation. The executives used the occasion to press for federal approval of a corporate merger. At the time, Rove owned more than $100,000 of Intel stock. Less than two months later, the Justice Department approved the deal. Democrats such as Rep. Henry Waxman have called for an investigation. The White House insists there was no conflict of interest because Rove played no part in getting the merger approved. But what's interesting is the reason Rove waited until June to divest his stock. According to the Associated Press, he was advised by White House transition counsel Fred Fielding that if he waited and got something called a "government certificate of divestiture" he could "defer paying capital gains taxes on the stock sales."

Speaking of stocks, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill continues to hold part of his $100 million stake in Alcoa, the company he used to run, three months after announcing he would sell his shares. His decision to delay selling the stock, according to Salon's Jake Tapper, could result in a $62 million windfall in large part because Department of Energy officials asked aluminum producers in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho to suspend production of aluminum for up to two years in order to save energy. This momentarily stopped production of almost 40 percent of the country's aluminum-making potential, but not Alcoa's.

The fact that so many top administration officials have big money no doubt explains some of the psychological gap that exists between them and other key Washington players. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle's biggest financial asset is a half-share of a house in Aberdeen, S.D., given to him by his mother and worth $50,000 to $100,000, according to recently-released congressional disclosure forms. Sen. Jim Jeffords--the man who forced the White House to reduce its tax cut and then bolted the GOP, handing Democrats control of the Senate--listed his main asset as a home in Rutland, VT, valued at $100,001 to $250,000.

Anger over Jeffords' defection has yet to die down. The Vermont senator has received so many death threats...