Cheney's secrets could taint presidency
Documents: The vice president risks dragging Enron
further through the White House door.
Baltimore Sun
Originally published January 29, 2002
VICE PRESIDENT Dick Cheney isn't doing his boss any
favors these days. But he's certainly raising the volume on
questions about who he has done favors for.
Even before the spectacular collapse of Enron Corporation
and the allegations of scandal that followed, the General
Accounting Office, Congress' investigative arm, was looking
into whether corporate campaign contributions had unduly
influenced the development of national energy policy.
Mr. Cheney was chairman of the group formulating the
policy, and he or his staff met with Enron officials at least
five times.
Now, Comptroller General David Walker, head of the GAO,
wants to see the records of those meetings.
Clearly, whether Mr. Cheney allowed executives from
Enron, a major political donor, to essentially provide a
blueprint for the administration's energy policy is a
separate issue from the company's present legal and
financial troubles.
But Mr. Cheney's refusal to turn over the documents
requested by the GAO is doing more to link George W.
Bush's White House with Enron's scandal than any
evidence so far has succeeding in doing. He's playing a
dangerous game, and the president is unwise to follow his
lead.
This should be a particularly sensitive issue for the
president in the wake of a nationwide poll showing that
most Americans think the Bush administration is hiding
something or lying about its dealings with Enron. Now
comes the vice president posturing about his right to keep
secret a half-dozen meetings with representatives of the
fallen energy trading giant. Thanks a lot, Dick.
But Mr. Cheney's reason for refusing to cooperate is more
than just politically troubling - it's outrageous.
He's claiming presidential privilege. He told a network
news program Sunday that he has seen "an erosion of the
powers and ability of the president of the United States to
do his job" because previous presidents have caved in to
demands from Congress for documents and records.
"We are weaker today as an institution" because of
presidential compromises over the last 30 or 35 years, he
said.
Ah yes, 30 to 35 years. That would mean the last president
who did the job right was - Richard Nixon. The only
president forced to resign from office, taken down as much
by hubris as by the allegations of criminal behavior.
Hubris seems not to be a failing of President Bush, but he
should beware: Dick Cheney may well have enough for
two.
Mr. Cheney's pleas for concealment also ring hollow
coming a scant two years after his party conducted an
exhaustive exposé of Bill Clinton's sex life - which had
nothing to do with national policy - before Congress.
Mr. Walker, the comptroller general, is mulling plans to
take Mr. Cheney to court to force him to turn over the
records.
If that fails, congressional committees investigating the
conflict-of-interest allegations could subpoena them.
Would the nation be shocked to find that a committee of
politicians shaping energy policy had been influenced by a
deep-pockets energy company? Probably not, but that
doesn't make it right.
However, it's altogether possible that the harm to the
presidency may well come less from the reality of the
conflict than from the vehement attempts to keep the
evidence under wraps.
Mr. Cheney should be able to relate to that; something
similar happened, oh, about 30 years ago.
Copyright © 2002, The Baltimore Sun
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