Dean: Better Call Your Lawyer

MSNBC/Newsweek ^ | 1/19/2004 | Michael Isikoff

[hobson]

Jan. 19 issue - When pressed on why he refuses to release a large chunk of his records as Vermont governor, Howard Dean has a standard response: he's being sued over the issue by a Washington watchdog group, so he's leaving the entire matter up to the Vermont courts, where a judge can decide which documents can be released. "Why can't a judge look at every single piece of paper and make that decision?" Dean asserted during a debate in Iowa. But Dean's explanation has drawn a demurral of sorts from a surprising source: his own lawyer in the case. Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell, a longtime Dean ally, told NEWSWEEK, "I wouldn't quite agree" with Dean's analysis.

[hobson]

Uh oh. It will be fun to see how he handles this in the next debate.

[gov_bean_ counter]

This just keeps getting better and better.

[elli1]

What is it that you don't want us to see, howie?

[elbucko]

What is it that you don't want us to see, howie?

Out of court medical malpractice awards against him. If you think Dean would make a lousy president, he's probably a lousy doctor. Besides, who'd want a doctor for president, anyway?

[Shermy]

January 30, 2003

Dean Admits Sealing Records to Avoid Embarrassment

... As reported by WCAX-TV, Jan. 27, Dean was asked about the records at his final press conference as governor, and he mentioned his presidential campaign. In Dean's words: "There are future political considerations. We wouldn't want anything embarrassing appearing in the papers at a critical time in any future endeavor."

Almost a year later he said, speaking about Bush, "I'll unseal mine if he unseals his." That failed, then Dean said he sealed the records to protect the privacy of AIDS patients.

He is Clark-esque in his consistency.

[Verginius Rufus]

Isn't this a bit like Richard Nixon offering to let Senator John Stennis listen to the White House tapes during the Watergate investigation?

[Hattie]

What is it that you don't want us to see, howie?

Enron

[okie01]

When pressed on why he refuses to release a large chunk of his records as Vermont governor...

One wonders how the privacy of his AIDS patients would be impacted by the release of his records as Vermont's governor.

Was he actually conducting examinations in the governor's office, on company time...???

[Cicero]

Another hitpiece from hillary's shills, Newsweak & Issikoff.

[Shermy]

It's a bogus excuse, a lie crafted to make him sound compassionate.

There's probably some letters to the gov from patients of all sorts complaining about state hospitals, etc. No one cares about them for the campaign. He's probably concerned about communications about energy companies and such, as others have speculated.

[okie01]

"He's probably concerned about communications about energy companies and such, as others have speculated."

You suggest that the Hero of Anti-Corporate Hatred and Rampant Socialism may have been involved in some high-stakes hi-jinx to protect those nasty, obscene profits? Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, no!

[hobson]

Funny you would mention that. I was just looking it up.

Gephardt isn't the only rival to criticize Dean since The Boston Globe reported last week that Dean reduced the tax on premiums paid to captive insurance firms by up to 60 percent. That led Enron and other companies to set up businesses in Vermont. Found here