Lawsuit Filed to Find Out What Dean is Hiding
By Charles Mahaleris
Talon News
December 9, 2003
MONTPELIER, VT (Talon News) -- Democrat front-runner Howard Dean is keeping his papers close to the vest and is not commenting about their contents following the announcement last week that he is being sued for not complying with Vermont's public access laws.
Over the weekend, Dean released a short statement on the lawsuit.
"Last week, Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit that presented this question to the court. A judge will now decide which documents should be released. This removes the issue from the context of a political campaign and puts it in the hands of an unimpeachable third party which is where it belongs," Dean said while campaigning in South Carolina on Sunday.
The controversy has been building as the former Vermont governor has steadfastly refused to release documents from his time in office that he ordered sealed.
Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced last week that it had filed a lawsuit in Vermont to gain access to hundreds of thousands of documents concerning Dean's administration. The lawsuit also names the State of Vermont, the Vermont Secretary of State, and Vermont's State Archivist as defendants.
Judicial Watch had sought and was repeatedly denied access to Dean's records from his tenure as governor.
"It is unlawful for Governor Dean to deny the public access to his gubernatorial records because of 'future political considerations.' We hope the Vermont courts will agree that it is in the public interest that Dean and the State of Vermont immediately unseal these important records," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
If the lawsuit filed in state court is unsuccessful, Dean will have prevented the public from viewing these documents for ten years. He had originally sought to block their release for over 20 years.
Judicial Watch was not the only group that wanted to see these records opened to the public. Dean rival Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) had also called for Dean to come clean.
Lieberman said last week, "Howard Dean likes to present himself as a straight talker. But he took an extra long walk from straight talk when he sealed his records as governor and recalled his letters from state agencies just to avoid potential political embarrassment."
Dean told Good Morning America reporter Charles Gibson on December 1 that his sealing of his records in Vermont was "routine."
During that interview Dean said, "You don't actually get to seal the majority of records, just those sensitive parts that apply to other people."
He went on to claim that President George W. Bush had not only sealed parts of his record of service as Governor of Texas but had sent them to the presidential library of his father George H. W. Bush where they will be unavailable for the public for fifty years.
Dean continued, "So what I have said is, every governor does seal their records; I'll unseal mine if he'll unseal all of his."
Democrat Lieberman rose to defend Republican Bush.
"Governor Dean said today he'd release his records when George W. Bush released his. Well, it turns out that George W. Bush's records from Texas are in fact available to the public. So I hope Governor Dean will honor his word and unseal his words and letters and the rest of his records as Governor of Vermont."
Judicial Watch began urging Dean to release the documents back in September.
"[Howard] Dean's acting like he has something to hide. It's time for Dr. Dean to come clean and release his papers," said Fitton when his non-partisan organization originally asked Dean to release his papers.
The suit alleges that Dean has sealed the papers under "executive privilege."
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