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Politics : The Donkey's Inn -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mephisto who wrote (1549)	12/18/2001 6:57:54 PM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 15516

Bush blocks bid to get documents: Privilege used to deny request "This is not a monarchy," said Chairman Dan Burton (R-Ind.), who led tenacious investigations into President Bill Clinton's fundraising. "The legislative branch has oversight responsibility to make sure here is no corruption in the executive branch." Chicago Tribune By Jeff Zeleny Washington Bureau Published December 14, 2001 WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Thursday invoked executive privilege to reject a congressional subpoena for prosecution documents in controversial criminal cases, triggering new concerns from lawmakers about his intent to protect the secrecy of the executive branch. The president said the release of the documents, involving an alleged FBI corruption case in Boston and a fundraising investigation during the Clinton administration, would allow Congress to second-guess federal prosecutors' work and "would be contrary to the national interest." But Republicans and Democrats on the House Government Reform Committee criticized the White House, saying the order weakened the checks and balances between the three branches of government. "This is not a monarchy," said Chairman Dan Burton (R-Ind.), who led tenacious investigations into President Bill Clinton's fundraising. "The legislative branch has oversight responsibility to make sure there is no corruption in the executive branch." Burton said the Bush administration was "making a big mistake." Last month, the president signed an executive order giving himself unprecedented powers to keep presidential papers secret, even those scheduled to be released according to federal law. The order on Thursday was distributed on a busy White House day, moments before Bush delivered a major missile defense announcement and the Pentagon released a videotape of Osama bin Laden boasting about the deadly success of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Privilege used before It was marked the first time that Bush invoked executive privilege. The White House noted that it was invoked three times by President Ronald Reagan, twice by President George H.W. Bush and four times by Clinton. The House Government Reform Committee had subpoenaed documents in its inquiry into the FBI's handling of mob investigations in Boston. It also sought a campaign fundraising memo from the 1996 presidential race. Burton said the presidential order would stifle an investigation into allegations of FBI corruption and the treatment of mob informants over four decades. To successfully challenge the executive privilege, however, Burton would have to seek a vote of the full House. Republican leaders are unlikely to allow a vote on such a politically sensitive issue,aides acknowledged. The president made the decision public Thursday in a memo to Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft. Releasing the confidential documents, Bush said, "would inhibit the candor necessary" to bring cases to justice and would threaten to "politicize the criminal justice process." Executive privilege allows presidents to receive candid advice without fear of it becoming public. The Nixon and Clinton administrations tried unsuccessfully to invoke the privilege to shield evidence from congressional investigators during impeachment proceedings against them. Lawmakers expressed concern that Thursday's presidential order would be the start of a contentious battle over letting members of Congress review other sensitive documents. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) called the order undemocratic. The decision, he said, was a "troubling example of an administration loath to face scrutiny." "An imperial presidency or an imperial Justice Department conflicts with the democratic principles of our nation," said Waxman, the top Democrat on the government reform panel. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer defended the use of executive privilege, pointing to the past three presidents' use of it. In this case, he said, Bush lawyers already have turned over 3,500 pages of documents to the House committee. White House General Counsel Alberto Gonzalez advised the president to invoke the privilege earlier this year when the congressional panel sought documents that outlined prosecution decisions in criminal cases. After unsuccessfully trying to gain access to the documents for months, Burton's committee subpoenaed Ashcroft to its hearings into allegations of corruption at the FBI office in Boston. At the heart of the case is Joseph Salvati, who spent 30 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. The conviction was overturned nearly a year ago after a judge ruled that FBI agents concealed testimony that would have cleared Salvati merely to protect an informant. Panel wants records The congressional panel is seeking Justice Department records from 13 informants in connection to the case. The conduct under investigation by the committee has cost the government $1.2 billion in civil claims and led to several murders. Republicans on the House Government Reform Committee rejected the White House defense that 3,500 pages of documents had been submitted for review. "As if the number of documents turned over actually matters; it's the substance of the documents," said Mark Corallo, the spokesman for the Republican-controlled panel. "The Clinton administration used to turn over hundreds of thousands of pages of documents, hoping we would just give up." Copyright © 2001, Chicago Tribune chicagotribune.com

To: Mephisto who wrote (1549)	12/18/2001 7:05:12 PM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15516

Blinded Justice A BOSTON GLOBE EDITORIAL 12/18/2001 PRESIDENT BUSH SOUGHT to hoodwink the House Government Reform Committee and the American public last week when he invoked executive privilege to thwart a congressional investigation of abuses in the Boston FBI office. But Dan Burton, the Indiana Republican who heads the committee, refused the blindfold and accused the president of ''dictatorial'' tendencies. Burton spoke for many Massachusetts residents who demand a full accounting of how the FBI knowingly allowed four local men - two of whom, Joseph Salvati and Peter Limone, are still alive - to be sent to jail on perjured testimony for a 1965 murder and how mobster James ''Whitey'' Bulger thrived with the protection of FBI handlers while allegedly killing 19 people during the 1970s and 1980s. Back then the US Justice Department had the craven habit of deferring to rogue FBI agents. Now Justice Department lawyers are running interference for an administration that seeks to enlarge the curtain of secrecy over government proceedings, whether it covers the government's use of mob informants or plans for military tribunals to try suspected terrorists. The motives as well as the methods of the Bush administration deserve careful attention. The wording of Bush's executive privilege memorandum is so vague that it could be applied to nearly any criminal investigation or general inquiry. Congressional access to documents is dismissed as a politicization of the criminal justice process rather than an important source of unedited information about key public issues, including government misconduct. Could the president cite privilege to block attempts by the Government Accounting Office or Congress to determine which energy industry officials met with Vice President Cheney to formulate energy policy? It seems that anything goes under the new executive privilege policy. Thankfully, members of Congress are willing to stand up to the president. Representative William Delahunt, a Quincy Democrat and former district attorney, told the committee that he and his colleagues are not about to relinquish legislative oversight of the executive branch, regardless of the political climate. ''We all support the administration's efforts to address the current emergency,'' said Delahunt. ''But we cannot prevail in our fight against foreign tyranny by scrapping the checks and balances that preserve us from tyranny here at home.'' The president is forcing a constitutional confrontation with Congress. Republicans and Democrats should join in the defense of accountable and transparent government, whether on the floors of Congress or in America's courtrooms. This story ran on page A22 of the Boston Globe on 12/18/2001. © Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company. [ Send this story to a friend]

To: Mephisto who wrote (1549)	12/27/2001 11:36:15 PM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 15516

Abused Privilege : White House too eager to keep things secret Detroit Free Press December 21, 2001 While all eyes last week were on the Osama bin Laden tape, the Bush administration executed yet another power grab. Attempting to duck congressional oversight, President George W. Bush invoked executive privilege to keep documents from prior Justice Department cases secret. He claimed that access to the Justice Department documents would harm prosecutors' ability to deliberate freely criminal cases, in fear of their conversations being revealed later. The order prevents Congress from gaining access to government documents pertaining to two closed cases: the FBI's handling of mob informants in Boston in the 1960s and the Clinton-era fund-raising probe of the 1990s. Unless the president relents or Congress sues, the public may never know if the FBI or any other government agency mistreated innocent citizens in those cases or engaged in any other illegal or constitutionally suspect behavior. While it is not the first time a president has invoked executive privilege for dubious purposes, it's hard to see why these old probes need to remain closed, unless the government has something to hide. But the specific cases aren't the issue so much as the increasingly cavalier attitude of this administration toward accountability. The war on terrorism and the president's enormous approval ratings are no excuse for ducking checks and balances. Congress should remind the White House that an elected president is not an anointed emperor. In a democracy, leadership is accountable to the people. freep.com