Did you hear the news about the Vice President's daughter?

Did you hear the news about the Vice President's daughter? No, not the news that Mary Cheney is pregnant, although that's what was in the headline of the news item. The CNN.com report also mentioned that Dick Cheney's older daughter, Elizabeth Cheney, "is on leave as deputy assistant secretary of state after having her fifth child with her husband in July."

Did anyone else know that Elizabeth Cheney had a position in the State Department? According to Wikipedia:

"In 2002 [Elizabeth Cheney] was appointed to the newly created position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. According to unnamed US State Department officials, the new post was created specifically for the vice president's daughter, adding that she would work primarily on economic development in the Middle East. The appointment followed publicized policy divisions between the Vice President's office and the State Department on Middle East policy. She left that post in 2003 to serve in her father's re-election campaign.

In February 2005, she returned to the US State Department and was appointed the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State For Near Eastern Affairs and Coordinator for Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiatives.... Her position makes her the second-ranking U.S. diplomat for the Middle East.
Cheney also heads the Iran-Syria Operations Group (ISOG), a unit within the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. ISOG has an $80 million budget to promote democracy in Iran and to develop administration policy for Iran and Syria."

Wow. Way to shore up relationsh between the VP's office and the State Department. While Elizabeth Cheney may have relevant experience for this post, with a Vice President who is widely thought to wield too much power, having his daughter and son-in-law, in State Department and Homeland Security positions sure sounds like a bad idea to me.

I hadn't become aware of this situation until today, but upon doing some background research I came across this USA Today article from 2003 Don't let jobs grow on family trees that discusses Elizabeth Cheney and other examples of family members receiving political appointments.