Posted on 09/22/2007 11:20:51 PM PDT by freespirited
In a concession to Republicans, House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) has promised to ask the National Archives for documents relating to President Bill Clinton’s Office of Political Affairs.
As a result, a Democratic push to investigate the activities of former White House senior adviser Karl Rove and other aides to President Bush could mean fresh scrutiny and publicity for long-forgotten meetings and presentations during the Clinton administration.
In a letter this week, Waxman suggested Republicans satisfy their curiosity by reexamining what he estimates are more than 2 million pages of documents about the Clinton White House and the Democratic National Committee that House investigators amassed in the 1990s.
The extraordinary search was prompted by revelations that Bush aides have conducted political briefings for GOP appointees at federal agencies before big elections. Democrats have complained that the sessions could violate the Hatch Act, which is designed to insulate federal employees from political pressure.
The broadening inquiry, which Republicans contend will take the committee down unpredictable avenues, could be a headache for the presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who is trying to push a message of change amid unwanted reminders of her husband’s administration, including a scandal centered on one of her biggest financial supporters.
Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), the committee’s ranking member, has repeatedly prodded Waxman to see if the Clinton administration had done anything similar to the Bush White House’s political briefings.
In a five-page letter to Davis dated Monday that was provided to Politico, Waxman agreed to request the documents.
“You have asked that the committee make a number of document requests of the National Archives for records of the Clinton administration,” Waxman wrote. “The Clinton administration was subject to vastly more scrutiny by this committee than the Bush administration has been, and many of the records you seek may already be in the committee archives."
“However,” Waxman continued, “I do agree that the committee would benefit from requesting copies of any political briefings that the Office of Political Affairs in the Clinton administration may have given to federal agencies.”
In addition, Waxman said he will “also support a request for legal guidance that the White House counsel may have provided to the Office of Political Affairs about the political presentations.”
Waxman added that the committee’s “own archives of Clinton-era documents are so broad and voluminous that they should already contain” other documents Davis wanted, if they exist.
That opens the possibility of a vast search that could include letters, memos, travel itineraries, appointment schedules, calendars, telephone records, call logs, message pads and other documents that Waxman said were obtained under what he said were more than 1,000 subpoenas issued by former Committee Chairman Dan Burton (R-Ind.) during the Clinton administration.
Republicans say Waxman’s action gives them the opportunity to explore many questions about the Clinton administration that have been out of bounds since Democrats gained a majority in Congress.
“It’s an acknowledgement that political behavior out of the political shop might not have begun with this administration,” said a Republican aide familiar with the quest. “Is this really the first administration that put together briefings on the political landscape? Is this really the first one that allowed high profile officials to make appearances with members of Congress who might hold tough seats? Doubtful.”
Waxman’s office declined to comment, saying the congressman wants to let the letter speak for itself.
Davis’ request to Waxman had suggested that he seek Clinton administration documents from the National Archives to help the committee “better understand the practices of political officials in the previous administration…to provide bipartisan historical context.”
Davis said in a statement: “I am pleased Chairman Waxman agrees that for the good of this investigation and the good of the committee, a little ‘compare and contrast’ is needed if we’re to fully understand how the White House political affairs shop operates, whether it’s under President Bush or under President Clinton. The investigation was suffering from a lack of historical context, making it appear more partisan than constructive.”
Waxman wants to ‘investigate’ the Clinton files so he can declare “nothing to see here folks. Hillary’s as clean as a whistle. Anything Republicans may say about her in the coming election is baseless and without merit.”
I want Hillary’s documents.
Her head would be most appreciated.
No dead bodies nor even lint from Bergler’s socks will be found.
That’s my take as well. And what’s more, it will pi— all of us off, when we watch revealed criminality be passed over by our side, not just the democrats.
These investigations are excruciatingly non-productive. Hell, we generally know the material better than the Congressmen & Senators. When they reveal they don’t know what we do, it drives us crazy.
I’ll never forget Chelsea’s babby sitter sitting there, and Alfonse D’Amato refusing to ask here what time the phone call from Washington came in, after Foster’s murder. I wanted to strangle that bastard. Not only did he not even ask, he belittled the folks who sent countless eMails to his office asking him to be sure and check that point.
Look for more insults to the public’s intelligence from this new investigation, little else.
Where I used to have hope the Clintons would be brought to justice, I now actually get angry when they act as if they are going to investigate them again. Here we go again.
“Saint Bill and Angel Hillary, are Exhonerated For All Time”
There’s your headline. We just as well write it right now.
Waxman has given the Republicans a haystack and told them to go ahead and search it for the needls.
If Waxman is allowing it, I tend to think he’s been given the word that the fix is already in.
Yeah right.
Wonder if we will hear about Henry Nostrilitus Waxman being found in Ft. Marcy park soon?
“If Waxman is allowing it, I tend to think he’s been given the word that the fix is already in.’
The Clinton files have been purged, redacted and privatized so no one is going to get anything out of them.
However, if I was going to get those files and have to give them to someone to scour, I would give them to jveritas. Best document person on the planet.
We only have to look at pictures of him. My mom has met him face to face! At a party. She just said he was a d*ck.
Two words: Ford Building
Of course.
If Clinton could send Sandy Burglar into the National Archives to steal documents pertaining to the missle downing of TWA 800 and God knows what else, then he would certainly have minions cleaning up the rest of his mess.
That may be a messy job, depending upon where Sandy Burglar stuffed ‘em...
Hope your mom survived the experience with no lasting affects. ; )
“Waxman to stick his nose into Clinton’s business. Sandy Berger to empty pants at House hearing. Pictures at 11.”
I wouldn’t trust that Waxman if he was the last man on earth.
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