White House Stonewall: Day 28
truthout.org
Do you, Ann, find it as interesting -- and troubling -- as do I as to the efforts these 'trustworthy patriotic americans [sic]' in the White House are going to in order to suppress information from citizens of this nation?
Read all about it here:
White House Stonewall
A Daily Review of the White House's Attempts to Keep America From Learning Their Secrets
DAY 28
t r u t h o u t | Special Report
Friday, March 22, 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 28 days since the GAO filed their suit against the Bush
administration and 319 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 -
Energy Department Tries to Shift the Blame for Not Consulting Environmental Groups*
In an attempt to shift the blame for writing an energy policy without assistance from environmental
groups, the Energy Department plans to claim in a court filing that the Bush administration tried, repeatedly
yet unsuccessfully, to obtain the opinions of environmental organizations. Rebuking those claims made by
Energy Department officials, environmental groups said:
-- Their attempts to meet with administration officials, including Spencer Abraham, while
the energy task force report was written were denied,
-- Calls from administration officials for meetings were, according to the Washington Post,
"hasty;"
-- The views they expressed to administration officials were ignored,
-- Cheney, the organizer of the energy task force, did not meet with environmental groups
until a month after the administration released the energy policy.
Environmental Defense legislative director Elizabeth Thompson discussed the weak attempts by the
Bush administration to meet with environmental organizations and said, "Every environmental group used
every tool and contact we could think of to get a meeting with them. My voice-mail wasn't full of a lot of
requests from the administration." The Energy Department court filing comes on the heels of yesterday's
Washington Post story, which revealed how the Bush administration sided with energy industry officials
over environmental experts to repeal parts of the Clean Air Act.
Link to story: washingtonpost.com
Inquirer Column Calls for Ridge to Testify Before Congress*
Larry Eichel wrote a column in today's Philadelphia Inquirer that calls for the White House to grant
Congress' request for testimony from Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge. "[The White House's refusal
to have Ridge testify before Congress is] another confrontation over the rights and privileges of the executive
branch vis-a-vis the legislative, along the lines of the dispute between Cheney and the General Accounting
Office over the energy task force records. Another example of the administration's insistence on sharing
information grudgingly, if at all. Members of both parties in both houses of Congress want Ridge to make a
formal appearance. This is hardly a surprise, given the events of the last year and the scope of his
responsibilities. The lawmakers have no desire to give Ridge a hard time or make him blurt out something
that would compromise national security. They just want to ask some questions of the man in charge of an
extraordinarily important governmental function for which the administration has requested $38 billion, twice
as much as last year. * But even if Ridge doesn't have to appear, why wouldn't he? The executive branch is
hardly under siege, and presidential advisers have testified voluntarily during past administrations. There's
an issue here only because Bush and company want there to be one. * Congress is trying to do its job.
The White House should let it. There's no reason to draw a line in the sand. Ridge should testify."
Link to story: philly.com |
