Cheney Refuses to Release Files

Vice President Dick Cheney wrote to Congress this week refusing to turn over documents detailing deliberations on President Bush’s energy policy. Doing so would “unconstitutionally interfere” with the White House’s duties, he said.

In a letter dated Tuesday, Cheney says Comptroller Gen. David Walker exceeded his authority in asking for correspondence among the president, vice president and members of the White House’s commission on energy.

Democrats want the documents because they suspect Bush was influenced by the heads of several major energy companies, some of whom he met with just before announcing decisions concerning the environment.

As head of the General Accounting Office, Congress’ investigative arm, Walker was given the task of obtaining the documents for Congress. Cheney’s letter was the administration’s response.

“Preservation of the ability of the executive branch to function efficiently requires respecting the confidentiality of communication among a president, a vice president, the president’s other senior advisors and others,” Cheney wrote.

Although the letter made no mention of executive privilege, some legal experts said it invoked that philosophy, which refers to the right of a president to keep confidential the advice he receives from aides concerning official matters.

“The logic of the letter is the same as that Richard Nixon gave during the Watergate investigation,” said Fred Greenstein, a professor of politics at Princeton University. “The logic was that the separation of the branches of government would be threatened and that consultations between executive branch members would be impeded. This is executive privilege.”

George Brownstein, a political analyst and Nixon author, said Cheney “makes all of the same executive privilege arguments, demanding privacy for the executive branch.”

The documents at issue involve a decision by the administration to reconsider regulations concerning the amount of arsenic allowed in drinking water, toxic chemical pollution by mining companies and a requirement barring development of nearly 60 million acres of federal forest.

The White House has denied that the administration was influenced by corporate interests.

Cheney aide Mary Matalin said the White House already has supplied all of the documents it is legally compelled to turn over.

“The National Energy Policy Development Group produced a balanced, comprehensive, environmentally friendly energy policy in remarkably short time,” Matalin said. “The House of Representatives just passed much of that plan along bipartisan lines.”

Jeff Nelligan, a spokesman for Walker, declined to comment Friday about the letter.

“We simply haven’t had time to review the letter,” he said.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), who asked the GAO to obtain the documents, said Cheney should “simply try telling the truth . . . and stop hiding information that Congress and the public have a right to see.”

Environmental groups, which have criticized the Bush administration, said Cheney was working to hide Bush’s strong ties to corporate energy.

“What is the vice president afraid of?” asked Dan Becker, an energy analyst at the Sierra Club. “Is he afraid that the American people will understand that he talked to the wrong people and created a one-sided energy program because he only spoke to the energy industry?”

Matalin said the only issue is fairness.

“Congress created the comptroller general to review the accounting and results of programs administered under statutes by agencies,” she said, “and not the performance of constitutional duties by the president.”

--- UNPUBLISHED NOTE --- The Associated Press issued a corrective on Oct. 22, 2002 identifying some stories by a former reporter that contain quotations from experts whose existence cannot be verified. The reporter, Christopher Newton, was dismissed from the AP Sept. 16, 2002. This is one of the stories in question. It quotes “George Brownstein,” whose existence cannot be verified. --- END NOTE ---