More Pressure to Unseal Dean Records

A government watchdog group on Wednesday increased the political pressure on Democratic front-runner Howard Dean to unseal some of the records from his stint as Vermont governor.

Washington-based Judicial Watch said it would file suit in a Montpelier court, arguing that the sealed records should be opened to the public. The organization joined several of Dean’s Democratic rivals and leading Republicans in calling on the former governor to live up to his straight-talk stance.

After two days of criticism, campaign spokesman Jay Carson said Dean was exploring ways to open the records, “looking into the options, what options there might be to balance transparency with the legitimate privacy rights of others.”

At issue are about 145 boxes of sealed correspondence and other records from Dean’s tenure as governor, from 1991 to January of this year. State officials agreed with Dean to keep the documents private for 10 years after he left office, enough time if Dean won the presidency and was reelected.

Two of Dean’s predecessors made similar arrangements, although only for six years.

Carson said “the vast majority” of Dean’s records were open for public viewing in the state archives. Dean gave the archives 190 boxes -- roughly 600,000 pages -- that were available to the public after he left office.

Secretary of State Deborah L. Markowitz, who is a Democrat, said Wednesday that even if Dean were to decide immediately to unseal his papers, it would take some time to process the material before it could be made available to the public.

Based on the type of records that were sealed, Markowitz said her office would have to consult with Vermont’s attorney general to determine when other exemptions from the public records law -- aside from gubernatorial executive privilege -- might apply.

A Democratic rival, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, criticized Dean on Monday, arguing that sealing the records was “not the way to build public trust -- especially after three years of secret-keeping and information-blocking by George W. Bush.”

Another rival, Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, said: “As president, openness will be the hallmark of my administration, not some talking point.”