White House Stonewall
A Daily Review of the White House's Attempts to Keep America From Learning Their Secrets
DAY 26
Wednesday, March 20, 2002
The White House Stonewall goes on, as the Bush administration continues to deny the non-partisan General Accounting Office's request for information on who the White House Energy Task Force met with while formulating national energy policy. For the first time in history, the GAO has sued the executive branch for access to the records. It has been 26 days since the GAO filed their suit against the Bush administration and 317 days since the White House first received the GAO request. Why is the White House going to such lengths? What are they trying to hide?
The Latest News on the White House Stonewall
Senate Refuses Inadequate Offer By White House on Ridge Testimony*
Yesterday, Senators refused an inadequate offer by the White House to let lawmakers question Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge in formal but private sessions. The derisory offer was an attempt by the Bush administration to appease a bipartisan group of Congressional members who have been calling for Ridge to testify on issues including appropriations. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-CT) said last night that he was prepared to ask his committee to subpoena Ridge. Lieberman also noted that Ridge could brief senators on classified information in private, but testimony on information not pertinent to National Security should come in testimony and available to the public. Rejecting arguments from the White House that Ridge is not required by law to testify, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NB) said, "There's way too much lawyering here. * That's the technical world. We don't live in a technical world. We live in a real world of confidence, trust."
Link to story: ,a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52923-2002Mar19.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52923-2002Mar19.html
Op-Ed Says that Battle Over Energy Task Force Records Is not a Partisan Fight*
Yesterday's Charleston Gazette published an op-ed by Dr. James J. Natsis, head of the international studies program at West Virginian State College, which recognizes that the fight for energy task force records is not a partisan battle. "More recently, Cheney has been on the hot seat for refusing to give the General Accounting Office (GAO) names of those who met with his Energy Task Force early last year. Has this been a witch-hunt perpetrated by left-wing conspirators? I hardly think so. Judicial Watch, the conservative watchdog group, filed a lawsuit as early as July 2001 to obtain documents and information concerning the Cheney Energy Task Force. The GAO lawsuit, by the way, was submitted by its Republican director, David Walker. In addition to the GAO and Judicial Watch filings, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he would file a brief in federal court supporting the GAO lawsuit. Reid wants to know whether the task force meetings had an influence on Bush's recent decision to break a campaign promise by allowing the disposal of 70,000 tons of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Reid issued a statement claiming 'there is no question that vice-president Cheney met on several occasions with nuclear executives.... Cheney needs to stop hiding the truth.' Although Cheney met six times with Enron executives, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein sent a formal request on three occasions to meet with the VP before receiving a 'help is NOT on the way' response."
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