Caribou Coffee Shop
Lobby 2--1701 Pennsylvania Ave (and 17th St)
Washington, DC 20006-5805
(202) 466-2905
Posted on 06/30/2010 1:16:56 PM PDT by Schnucki
A liberal watchdog has called for an investigation into whether White House employees are using personal e-mail accounts to contact lobbyists in violation of federal law.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sent a letter to House Oversight Committee chairman Ed Towns (D-N.Y.) and ranking member Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) Monday asking them to initiate an investigation into whether White House employees used personal e-mail accounts to contact lobbyists in violation of the Presidential Records Act (PRA).
The letter also takes White House staff to task for meeting with lobbyists in nearby coffee shops instead of in the White House, where the meetings would be recorded in the White House visitor logs.
"By having off-the-record meetings and e-mail exchanges with lobbyists, the White House is attempting [to] reap the benefits of conversations and interactions with knowledgeable lobbyists while publicly promoting the belief that the White House maintains a discreet distance from those very same lobbyists," CREW executive director Melanie Sloan writes.
The letter came in response to allegations first reported by the New York Times last week. According to the report, lobbyists routinely get e-mails from White House staff members' personal accounts rather than official accounts that can eventually become public record. As part of a settlement with CREW over missing Bush administration e-mails, the White House assured the watchdog that its system prevents employees from accessing personal e-mail accounts.
The White House reprimanded former Google employee Andrew McLaughlin in May for consulting with his former colleagues about policy issues using his personal e-mail account but downplayed the incident, claiming it had no impact on policy decisions. According to the letter, the most recent revelations change CREW's view of the McLaughlin incident.
"The New York Times report casts doubt on that explanation and leads us to question whether Mr. McLaughlin's use of his private email account really was accidental or whether it was part of a larger pattern of White House officials attempting to evade federal laws requiring the preservation of emails," CREW executive director Melanie Sloan writes.
As a result, CREW is now supporting Issa in his quest to obtain more information on the incident and the White House's general polices with regards to use of e-mail and social media. They also request a hearing on the matter where White House staff can explain how they are preventing any further violations of the PRA.
I am losing the ability to have any optimism that any efforts to reduce the corruption connected to this WH and 0bama will lead anywhere.
Issa ping
The level of corruption on both sides and the bureaucracy is so great that I fear only a citizens’ uprising ala torches & pitchforks will remedy it. That or a military uprising. They are corrupt to our faces and don’t care. The MSM is the same way. Pure evil.
I once had a business partner who was described by another as ‘the type of person that would take a dollar from your pocket to $.10 in his’. That’s our govt, bureaucracy, One Worlders, etc. They don’t care how their policies impact us, as long as we continue to pay them. A Tax Revolt might work as well.
” A liberal watchdog has called for an investigation into whether White House employees are using personal e-mail accounts to contact lobbyists in violation of federal law.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sent a letter to House Oversight Committee chairman Ed Towns (D-N.Y.) and ranking member Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) Monday asking them to initiate an investigation into whether White House employees used personal e-mail accounts to contact lobbyists in violation of the Presidential Records Act (PRA). “
You know its bad when even LIBERAL special interest groups start to worry ;-)
Uh oh, another
No Controlling Legal Authority
moment
Caribou Coffee Shop
Lobby 2--1701 Pennsylvania Ave (and 17th St)
Washington, DC 20006-5805
(202) 466-2905
Laws are for peasants, not Emperors.
This admin is going to fall so hard it will make a giant crater in the ground.
Don’t forget the visits to Caribou coffee in the IRS scandal.
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