Push for Cheney Energy Data Ends

The General Accounting Office on Friday dropped its court fight to force Vice President Dick Cheney to disclose details of private meetings he held as the White House drafted its energy policy almost two years ago, ending a potentially historic showdown between the congressional watchdog agency and the executive branch.

The GAO decided against appealing a federal court ruling that dismissed its lawsuit, the first the agency had filed against the White House and one that had been eagerly awaited by constitutional scholars.

The GAO’s chief, Comptroller General David M. Walker, said that although he still believes he had a legal right to the information, a court fight would require an “investment of significant time and resources over several years.”

Walker settled for delivering a scolding to the Bush administration. “While we have decided not to pursue this matter further in the courts, we hope that the administration will do the right thing and fulfill its obligations when it comes to disclosures to GAO, the Congress, and the public, not only in connection with this matter but all matters in the future,” he said.

The White House has argued that revealing details of Cheney’s private meetings would discourage candid discussions inside the executive branch.

“We believe that there is an important principle at stake, which is ensuring that the president and vice president have all the information that they need to make good decisions on behalf of the American people,” spokeswoman Claire Buchan said.

The GAO’s decision lowers the heat from -- but does not extinguish -- a political fire stoked by Democrats who have sought to portray the Bush administration as unduly influenced by the energy industry. A lawsuit filed by the Sierra Club environmental group and Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, seeking details on Cheney-led meetings of the energy task force is still in court.

The GAO had sought to force Cheney to make public whom he met with and what they discussed during the drafting of the energy plan, an initiative sparked in part by California’s electricity crisis that began in 2000. Cheney refused, arguing that the GAO’s request threatened “to intrude into the heart of executive deliberations.”

In December, U.S. District Judge John D. Bates sided with Cheney, noting that neither Congress nor any of its committees had issued a subpoena for the information or authorized the lawsuit.

A GAO decision to appeal may have been made harder by November’s election, which gave Republicans control of both houses of Congress.

“For GAO, the lawsuit was threatening to become a legal Vietnam,” said John J. Pitney Jr., a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College. “The GOP White House would not budge. The GOP Congress would not be a source of support. The GOP-appointed Supreme Court majority would not lend automatic sympathy.”

A Supreme Court defeat, he added, could have set a precedent that would hamper the GAO for decades. “By walking away from a District Court defeat, GAO lives to fight another day,” Pitney said.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), who joined Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) in seeking the information about Cheney’s meetings, called the GAO decision a “tremendous setback for open government.”

“Everyone in our government -- even the vice president -- should be accountable to the American people,” Waxman said.

Dingell said that although “reasonable people can differ on the GAO’s decision” not to pursue an appeal, “reasonable people cannot differ on the need for more sunshine on this administration’s actions.”

The task force’s efforts generated comprehensive energy legislation that Bush submitted to Congress in mid-2001.

It included a controversial proposal to open part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. Critics said the bill generally tilted too much toward increasing energy production at the expense of conservation efforts.

The bill died last year when negotiators for the GOP-run House and the then-Democratic-led Senate could not agree on a compromise.

The administration and Republican congressional leaders believe they stand a better chance of passing an energy bill this year, especially if a war against Iraq draws new attention to U.S. dependence on foreign oil.