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The man who wants Cheney's Enron files
Christian Science Monitor ^ | Friday, February 8, 2002 | By Gail Russell Chaddock

Posted on 02/07/2002 11:51:02 PM PST by JohnHuang2

WASHINGTON - David Walker is the kind of guy who rarely wears jeans and if he does, friends say, they're probably ironed. He likes his numbers precise - usually carried out to the fourth decimal place. One of his biggest heroes in life is Elmer B. Staats, the fifth comptroller general of the United States.

Mr. Walker, in other words, might not seem like the kind of person to carry out a rebellion against a sitting presidential administration. But, in fact, he is, of sorts.

As head of the normally obscure General Accounting Office, Walker is leading an effort to try to force Vice President Dick Cheney to turn over records of meetings with Enron and other corporate executives about federal energy policy.

The lawsuit the agency is expected to file against the vice president - the first ever by the GAO against a federal official for access to records - could end up influencing the level of openness in the White House for years to come.

As he sits behind his tidy desk in the GAO building, Walker doesn't seem perturbed - or puffed up - by his moment in history. He doesn't want to be on TV and spurns most interview requests. "I'm just doing my job," he says. "It's not something I was pleased at having to do or wanted to do, but something I needed to do to comply with our governing statute and to do my job in an objective and professional and nonpartisan fashion."

Walker's penchant, almost obsession, with being a straight shooter helps explain why his crusade against the government may not, in the end, be a surprising rebellion at all. On the carpet in his office is the phrase "accountability, integrity, reliability." He had the carpet made when he took over the job in 1998. Among the people he most admires in public life are Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy - neither mealy conformists. A prolific reader, he's currently on "Theodore Rex," a book about Roosevelt by Edmund Morris, and notes with pleasure that three biographies of the man who "said what he meant and meant what he said" just came out.

But his real affection when it comes to public figures lies with Staats, whom he calls "a legend in public service." In the Staats years (1966-1981), the GAO vastly expanded its role beyond the green-eye shade functions for which it had been established in 1921. Instead of just auditing federal agencies, GAO investigators began evaluating the performance of Great Society social programs. That's when the agency evolved into the main engine for congressional oversight of the executive branch - Congress's watchdog.

Now Walker wants to expand that role further. "Our scope includes everything the federal government is doing or thinking about doing anywhere in the world...," he said in a recent speech (all of which he writes himself.) The new GAO needs to be not just oversight, "but insight and foresight," he says.Origins of a confrontation

Still, about 85 percent of the time of the 3,000-member GAO staff is spent running down requests of Congress or fulfilling statutory mandates, Walker says. One of those requests was for more information about Mr. Cheney's energy task force - and here is where all the trouble began.

The initial request came from two ranking Democrats in the House of Representatives, John Dingell of Michigan and Henry Waxman of California, both with a history of challenging executive-branch prerogatives. They wanted the names, dates, discussion topics, notes, and other materials presented at any meeting between task-force members and outside groups, especially energy firms like Enron.

It's GAO policy to treat requests from ranking members of the minority on par with those of a committee chair, Walker says. The request couldn't be refused.

For months, the April 19 request met with rebuffs or silence from the vice president's office. Walker scaled back his request: Instead of notes and materials, the GAO would settle for names, dates, and general topics of discussion. The new request was modest, compared with the transcripts, e-mails, and tapes of conversations that previous congressional investigations have accessed, experts say.

But the vice president - a veteran of congressional-executive branch skirmishes in four previous GOP administrations - was not budging. In a tough Aug. 2 letter, Cheney warned Senate and House leaders that the actions of their agent, the Comptroller General, "exceeded his lawful authority" and if allowed to continue, "would unconstitutionally interfere with the functioning of the executive branch."

He argues that turning over the records would undercut the free and open discussion of issues in the White House.

On Aug. 17, Walker sent a tough letter of his own, notifying the White House of statutory noncompliance within the executive branch. Only six such letters have been sent in the last 21 years. According to statute, the next step is the courts.

Then came the Sept. 11 attacks, which put off the day in court. Then the Enron debacle, which revived the issue of corporate influence in government. On Jan. 30, Walker wrote to Congress announcing his decision to file suit. No comptroller general has ever gone to court to force the executive branch to release documents it doesn't want to give up.

But Walker says he has no choice. "To allow someone to absolutely stonewall you is not something desirable, and if you don't take definite action, it can wind up proliferating," he says.

Before taking on his appointment as Comptroller General in 1998, Walker was a partner and global managing director of Arthur Andersen LLP's human capital services practice - a consulting arm of the firm, which he expanded dramatically.

He did not handle the Enron accounts, but analysts say the association with Enron's lead auditing firm could be seen as a reason to stand tough on this request.

"One can imagine what the controller general - a former partner in Arthur Anderson - would be opening himself up to, if he decided to go lightly on this issue," says Peter Shane, law professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.Political reprisals?

He's also opening himself, and the GAO, up to political reprisals. The office of comptroller general is one of the most secure political appointments in Washington: a 15 year term. But the job isn't bullet-proof. A former GAO head resigned after intense criticism, and the agency saw its budgets slashed in the 1990s.

Still, former associates say that's not likely to be a deciding factor in what is shaping up as a fight on principles for both the vice president and comptroller general. "He's a rigidly straight arrow, absolutely driven by the desire for public service," says James Klein, a longtime friend. "I'm confident that he's getting no joy from this scrutiny or having to go up against ... the administration."

"When he decides to do something and feels it's the right thing, he'll do it," adds a former coworker. "They had no idea who they were tackling when they tackled Dave Walker."



TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aa; arthuranderson; cheney; enron; enronlist; gao; walker

President's Finest Speech Yet
by JohnHuang2
January 31, 2002

Remember Dick Gephardt, the Congresscritter who spoke right after the President's State of the Union Address? Officially, his whiny cavil was the Democrats' response to the President's magnificent speech.

Only one problem: It wasn't.

No, the Democrat "response" wasn't yet another speech, but a lawsuit. The GAO lawsuit, specifically. How fitting. The Democrat party, home of shyster lawyers and other parasites, responds to Bush -- not by calling for bipartisan unity -- but by dragging his Veep to court. Or threatening to, soon.

So what's the point of this exercise? Ostensibly, the General Accounting Office -- billed as Congress's "Watchdog" agency -- wants to get its grubby hands on confidential records of communications pertaining to the administration's oft-maligned Energy Task Force.

Not so fast, says Vice President Cheney, who headed the now disbanded 13-member group, formed a year ago to assist the administration in developing its energy policy. The group included six cabinet secretaries and other senior officials.

The soft-spoken Cheney isn't buying the GAO's song-and-dance, ergo, that this is only about transparency and defending motherhood, apple pie and Chevrolet.

Cheney, a veteran of Washington politics who cut his teeth as chief-of-staff in the Ford administration, knows the GAO is overstepping its bounds. He can also smell a partisan fishing expedition from miles away.

His nose is on to something.

The GAO "investigation," lest anyone forget, began at the behest of John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), two of the most rabid Bush-haters on Capitol Hill. In a letter last April to Mr. David Walker, who heads the GAO, the Congresscritters demanded his agency go after the Bush administration.

Mr. Walker dutifully obliged, and is now leading the legal Jihad against Cheney and others.

While often portrayed in the press as a former Republican-turned-Independent, and veteran of several GOP administrations, Mr. Walker was appointed to his current position as U.S. Comptroller General in 1998 by none other than -- Bill Clinton. He attacked Bush's $1.6 trillion tax relief package last year, describing it as a threat to Social Security and other entitlement programs.

Gee, where have I heard that before?

And thanks to Free Republic's, we also learn that Mr. Walker, in his pursuit of "Enron" deliberations with Cheney and others, has a big time conflict-of-interest problem himself. It just so happens that Mr "Squeakyclean," was partner and managing director at Arthur Andersen LLP, the accounting firm at the center of the Enron financial storm.

At a minimum, Mr. Walker, for the sake of appearances, should recuse himself. Immediately.

But don't hold your breath. This turncoat is on the warpath.

For this isn't a "lawsuit" so much as a nakedly partisan shot across-the-bow, a flagrant mockery of law, a travesty of justice built upon on a house of sand -- a legal fiction.

It isn't Energy Task Force memos the GAO seeks, but titillating headlines, the splashier, the juicier, the better -- all for partisan advantage to tar and feather and smear and defame. The haters, like Jihadist fanatics on a suicide mission, will stoop to anything -- absolutely anything -- to cripple, to ravish and ultimately destroy this President, no matter how vile, no matter how ugly, no matter how wretched, no matter how odious, no matter how squalid the means to get there. In this dirty war to bring down the President, anything goes, baby. Anything.

Is the timing of this "lawsuit" any coincidence? You can bet your bottom dollar it isn't. For residents of Mars who might have missed it, this bullet is flying on the heels of President Bush's widely hailed State of the Union Address, and the reason is readily apparent: To garner maximum ink and airtime. Nothing more, nothing less. The publicity hound at the trigger knows very well what he's doing. The media hordes, still reeling in shock from W's speech, like vultures will swarm all over this like stinking prey. Anything to change the subject, after all.

Intrepid prediction: Mr. Walker will have egg on his face -- very soon. His bogus lawsuit will be laughed out of court. This legal grasp at straws will be seen as an encroachment on executive prerogative. Mr. Walker needs a refresher course on the separation-of-powers doctrine. He will get one soon, if he persists.

Shortly he will learn that under our constitutional system of checks and balances, there are three co-equal branches of government. None is greater than either of the other two.

Executive privilege, while not yet being invoked, is the White House's ultimate trump card. It has long been upheld by the courts. The only exception to this principle: If the executive is under criminal investigation -- a la Kenneth Starr's Lewinsky/Whitewater probe -- which isn't the case here.

My two cents..
"JohnHuang2"
Copyright Enrique N. ©2001

Quote of the Day by dead


1 posted on 02/07/2002 11:51:02 PM PST by JohnHuang2
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Oops, the header should read: The official Democrat Response
2 posted on 02/07/2002 11:55:04 PM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: JohnHuang2
Let's see. Bush and Cheney are tarred for taking money from Enron, but Walker, who reviously worked for Arthur Andersen, is a saint because he's pursuing the cursed Executive Branch.
3 posted on 02/07/2002 11:56:52 PM PST by SmartBlonde
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To: *Enron_List
Now Walker wants to expand that role further. "Our scope includes everything the federal government is doing or thinking about doing anywhere in the world...,"

Delusions of grandeur...springing, no doubt, from some need to protect himself from discovery.

4 posted on 02/08/2002 12:48:55 AM PST by Lion's Cub
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To: JohnHuang2
If the GAO is so "concerned" about government - why don't they try to find the millions that have been "lost" at HUD, DOE, Indian Affair just to name a few - during the Clinton admin.?? Then Saint Walker could really render service to his country. Or even better, why doesn't the GAO investigate all the pork barrel spending added onto bills by our wonderful Congressional politicans?
5 posted on 02/08/2002 1:07:03 AM PST by Elkiejg
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To: Elkiejg
If the GAO is so "concerned" about government - why don't they try to find the millions that have been "lost" at HUD, DOE, Indian Affair just to name a few - during the Clinton admin.??

Exactly- I don't have time to go back & pick them out now, but look here:

DUBOB 9-- even *more* tales from the Dark Underbelly of the Beast.....

and find links to billions of dollars "lost" by the 'toons....

6 posted on 02/08/2002 1:16:12 AM PST by backhoe
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To: JohnHuang2
bump
7 posted on 02/08/2002 9:26:14 AM PST by Free the USA
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