POAC VIII: "Gore has never owned any Occidental stock"

This debunking will represent the halfway point to official entry into BBB annals.

The supposed "Talking point":

Al Gore is part owner of/is invested in/benefits somehow from Occidental Petroleum

I haven't seen that one in awhile, myself. Not since the 2000 election. Let's see what Technorati shows on that one.
I found a Canadian lady who thought that Gore owned part of Occidental. I don't think she's a GOP operative, though.

The issue came up during the 2000 election, so I suppose we can just move on. Here's the POAC "counterspin":

Gore has never owned any Occidental Petroleum stock. His father worked for the company for several years and his parents used to own some stock. All of it was sold years ago.

Oh, really?
Follow the URL.

It leads to reader commentary at USA Today. Fairly authoritative, eh?

Thomas Crowley doesn't touch on the issue of Occidental ownership. Neither does Don McAdam.

The next letter does, and here's the relevant passage.

The assertion by author Peter Schweizer that the Gores were swimming in Occidental stock is also off base. At Mr. Gore's request, all of his father's stock in Occidental (Oxy) Petroleum was sold almost six years ago as the estate was closed.
(Kalee Kreider, communications director, Office of Al Gore and Tipper Gore)

First, Kreider is hardly an objective source.
Second, Kreider doesn't claim that Al Gore (the younger) never owned Occidental stock. We'll leave that matter open as an issue of truth, but POAC has failed to provide a reasonable evidence in support of the claim.

Gore reported in his public financial disclosure in May that his family's shares in Occidental were valued at between $500,000 and $1 million.

(...)

Actors Susan Sarandon, Martin Sheen, Cary Elwes, Alicia Silverstone and singer Bonnie Raitt, wrote to Gore urging him to take urgent action to save lives and the environment among the U'wa."You have enjoyed the sponsorship of Occidental Petroleum throughout your political career," they wrote in a letter that said Gore's connection with Occidental ran deeper than the stock he controls through his family estate. (Reuters, via NucNews)

Say what you will about Karl Rove, but when a guy can get Susan Sarandon, Martin Sheen and Bonnie Raitt spouting GOP talking points, he deserves a bit of credit.

Seriously, it seems uncontested by serious folk that the Gore family was substantially invested in Occidental Petroleum, to the tune of over $500,000 (also known as half a million). It was reported it as part of Gore's financial disclosure statement, after all. It seems that upon Al Gore, Sr's death that the stock was used to establish (at least in part) a trust fund that would benefit the widow (and most likely her heirs upon her death).

Hmmm. Al Sr. "worked for the company for several years."

The Vice. President’s father and former U.S. Senator, Al Gore Sr., was,. prior to his death in 1998, the vice president of Occidental.
(Range Magazine --pdf)

Why bother calling it "Counterspin"? Isn't "Spin" closer to the truth? Or maybe it's a pun illustrating the entire concept ...

Kalee Kreider would be foolish indeed to claim that Gore had sold off the Occidental stock in the trust fund if it were not the truth, but I can't find any announcement on the Web. Feel free to criticize my choice of keywords (though that wasn't the only combination I tried).

While I'd find it surprising if the Gore communications director lied about something like this, I'd be almost as surprised that Gore didn't play up the divestment since he had liberals protesting against him in 2000 over his interest in the company (yes, we know that Rove was pulling the strings behind the scenes, but still ...).