Cheney, GAO Clash in Court over Energy Records
"Cheney has also acknowledged meeting former
Enron president Kenneth Lay in April 2001, while the energy policy was being
drafted and California was in the throes of an energy crisis."
story.news.yahoo.com
Fri Sep 27, 4:19 PM ET
By Susan Cornwell
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawyers for Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday pressed his case to keep energy policy documents secret
from the investigative arm of Congress and a federal judge said he would rule on
the matter as soon as possible.
In an unprecedented courtroom clash between the executive and legislative
branches of government, attorneys for Congress' General Accounting Office (
news - web sites) argued the White House should not be making the
"breathtaking assertion" that it was exempt from congressional oversight.
Comptroller General David Walker, the head of the GAO, filed suit in February
demanding that Cheney hand over a list of executives from Enron Corp and
other companies who were consulted as a task force headed by Cheney drafted
the Bush administration's energy policy last year.
Deputy Solicitor General Paul Clement, arguing Cheney's case, called the
lawsuit "incredibly intrusive" into the work of the government's executive branch.
He warned that if the courts tried to settle such disputes, there would be no end
to them.
"No court has ever done it before," Clement declared. "No court has ever
ordered the executive branch to turn over a document to a congressional
agency."
But Carter Phillips argued for the GAO there was no case law that said "that
the president and vice president are utterly protected from the oversight
responsibilities of Congress."
"I will consider this as quickly as I can," U.S. District Court Judge John Bates
said after hearing over two hours of argument in a federal courthouse near the
Capitol.
LOOKING OVER THE WHITE HOUSE'S SHOULDER
Phillips said the information the GAO sought was mundane: a list of energy
industry executives the administration consulted as it formulated its energy
policy, as well as the subjects of the meetings, when they took place and the
cost involved.
"It's difficult for me to imagine," Phillips said, that for the White House to hand
over the information "is going to bring the republic to its knees."
But not to force the White House to release it could put the GAO out of
business, Phillips argued, saying it was the agency's job to "look over the
shoulder" of the executive branch to make sure it was spending taxpayers
money properly.
He suggested the White House might have avoided a courtroom confrontation if
it had formally asserted executive privilege for the papers.
Clement argued the GAO had no more right to the information than if it had
asked who the president consulted before making a judicial nomination. Even if
the GAO's request was legitimate, Congress had other ways to get the
information -- such as through a congressional committee subpoena, he added.
But the lawmakers who asked the GAO to investigate the energy task, Reps.
Henry Waxman of California and John Dingell of Michigan, are both Democrats
in the Republican-run House of Representatives. This would have made it
difficult for them to get support to subpoena the Republican White House.
Some information about White House contacts with failed energy-trader Enron
has been released under subpoenas to a committee of the Senate, where
Democrats have a majority. Cheney has also acknowledged meeting former
Enron president Kenneth Lay in April 2001, while the energy policy was being
drafted and California was in the throes of an energy crisis.
Dingell and Waxman asked the GAO to investigate after environmentalists
complained they had been largely left out of the consultations that produced the
White House energy policy announced in May 2001 and sent to Congress.
The plan called for more oil and gas drilling and a revived nuclear power
program, but it has stalled on Capitol Hill.
Walker's pursuit of the task force documents gained momentum after Enron,
which had numerous links to the Bush administration, went bankrupt in
December 2001.
A series of other lawsuits by environmental and citizens' legal groups have
already compelled the release of many task force papers from some
departments, but not the White House.
The documents that have been released showed many administration meetings
with top executives from energy firms like Duke Energy Corp., UtiliCorp United
and Exelon Corp., as well as industry groups such as the Nuclear Energy
Institute and the National Association of Manufacturers ( news - web sites).
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