Suit Against Cheney Task Force Dismissed

AP ^ | 12/9/02 | PETE YOST

[finnman69]

Suit against Cheney task force dismissed
Lawmakers sought details on contacts with energy industry
http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/09/cheney.energy.ap/index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) --A federal judge on Monday rebuffed congressional efforts to gather information about meetings that Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force held with industry executives and lobbyists as it was formulating the administration's energy plan.

U.S. District Judge John Bates said the lawsuit filed by Comptroller General David Walker against the vice president is an unprecedented act that raises serious separation-of-powers issues between the executive and legislative branches of government.

"No court has ever before granted what the comptroller general seeks," wrote Bates, an appointee of President Bush.

The judge said that the comptroller general, who runs the General Accounting Office, "does not have the personal, concrete and particularized injury required" under the Constitution and that "his complaint must be dismissed."

Courts historically have not stepped in to resolve disputes between the political branches, wrote Bates.

"This case, in which neither a House of Congress nor any congressional committee has issued a subpoena for the disputed information or authorized this suit, is not the setting for such unprecedented judicial action," wrote the judge.

Democratic Reps. Henry Waxman of California and John Dingell of Michigan requested information in the spring of 2001 about which industry executives and lobbyists the Cheney task force was meeting with in formulating the Bush administration's energy plan.

As the dispute grew, Democratic Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan, Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, Ernest Hollings of South Carolina and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota joined the fight, urging that Cheney disclose data about his industry meetings.

The Cheney energy plan called for expanded oil and gas drilling on public land and easing regulatory barriers to building nuclear power plants. Among the proposals: Drilling in the Arctic wildlife refuge and possibly reviving nuclear fuel reprocessing, which was abandoned in the 1970s as a nuclear proliferation threat.

The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, argued that its statutory responsibilities give it broad powers to investigate government programs and demand almost all government documents required to help Congress.

In courtroom arguments in September, Deputy Solicitor General Paul Clement of the Justice Department said Congress has other ways to seek the information other than relying on the GAO. Congress could subpoena them or seek information through the appropriations process, said Clement.

Carter Phillips, an attorney representing the comptroller general, argued that dismissing the case, as Cheney's attorney asked, would impede the GAO's ability to do its work.

Phillips argued that the president and vice president are not immune from the oversight responsibilities of Congress and noted that the White House had refrained from invoking formal executive privilege to protect the energy task force documents.

The suit asked the court to require Cheney to reveal who attended the energy tax force meetings, with whom the task force met to develop its energy recommendations, how it determined whom to invite and how much it cost to develop the policy.

A small part of the Cheney task force's contacts has been revealed -- the meetings with the executives of Enron Corp. Cheney's office released the information last January amid political pressure that was building over the collapse of the nation's seventh-largest corporation. Enron and its executives have been George W. Bush's biggest political campaign contributor over the years.

Cheney said that Enron representatives met six times with the vice president or his aides about energy policy, including a discussion in mid-October, 1 1/2 months before the company's collapse. Cheney's office also said that former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay met once with Cheney. Details of the discussions were not released.

While the Cheney task force's operations have remained largely a secret, various federal agencies in lawsuits have been forced to release a wide range of information about their industry contacts in assisting the Cheney panel's efforts.

Separately, two private groups are suing the Cheney task force, seeking release of documents about the industry contacts of the now-defunct Cheney panel. It prepared the plan in the early months of Bush's presidency and released it publicly in May 2001.

[Karsus]

I did not say I wanted to ban lobbying. I said the details of the meeting should be public. Big difference.

[concerned about politics]

Speaking of policy, I went to DirtyUnderpants.com to see their reaction to this news, but here's the latest: Lieberman: Democrats 'Working On' McCain for 2004 Ticket (Is this True?)

Guess they haven't heard this news yet.

[deport]

Larry Klayman,hows business?

LOL...... the Klaymer is doing great dontcha know, just ask him.... This is the same thing the Klaymer and the Sierra group are seeking but under the FOIA and Judge Sullivan presiding. I keep getting the feeling that Judge Sullivan wants to pass this on up the line to the appeals group but the Feds haven't given him the info he needs to do so.

[Recovering_Democrat]

I think Klayman is the guy who sued his elderly mom, wasn't he?

[BFM]

Think about how upset the GOP was when the Hillary 'HealthCare' taskforce info was being kept secret.

Perhaps you could refesh us all as to when Hillary was elected or appointed to head this "taskforce". Maybe I slept through that year of the Clinton administration. It wasn't just that her meetings were illegal, the whole task force was illegal.

I would recommend that before you post comments here you at least make some effort to get the facts of your argument straight.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

Judicial Watch 0

Everyone else who has been sued by Judicial Watch 13452

[Psycho_Bunny]

The people the VP meet with were not elected. What business did they have with dealing with national policy?

What on earth is the premise of this statement?  That an elected official may not have any conversations regarding US policy with a private citizen?

That's insane.

[Sacajaweau]

You're right. Hutlery is a "pretender". She stood before us "As a private citizen" with HER great health plan and told us that this was the solution to all our woes.

Here in NY, she attends functions and "pretends" that "economic initiatives" are HER doing.

She simply "feeds" off everyone else's work and that would make her a parasite which is likely a good definition of this lady's entire life. I'll bet we could identify her "parasitic" ways from the time she was very little if we did a little delving.

Enough of this. I'm pleased with the judge's decision and believe it is correct.

[justshe]

Would think this COULD be an omen for Klayman and his Judicial Watch lawsuits as well.

Did anyone else notice the bias in this sentence? "No court has ever before granted what the comptroller general seeks," wrote Bates, an appointee of President Bush."

When Clinton was in office WE were the ones who searched out each judge to discover the who/what/when of each judge's appointment. Now the AP tells us.....lol.

[justshe]

Larry Klayman,hows business?

My first thought exactly!

[Egregious Philbin]

A federal judge on Monday rebuffed congressional efforts to gather information about meetings that Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force held with industry executives and lobbyists as it was formulating the administration's energy plan.

Did they really need to file suit to find out that Cheney is in the pocket of "industry executives and lobbyists"?

[Karsus]

It was in response to this.

"There is a big difference between Hillary (private citizen) and Cheney (elected official)."

[justshe]

****I dont give a f**k about the dems and what we would have done.**** (I added the asterisks)

How about cleaning it up a bit.....ok? Jim doesn't want profanities posted.

[justshe]

"Did they really need to file suit to find out that Cheney is in the pocket of "industry executives and lobbyists"

Care to expand on this statement?

[Egregious Philbin]

"Did they really need to file suit to find out that Cheney is in the pocket of "industry executives and lobbyists"

Care to expand on this statement?

Perhaps I should. I find no reason to celebrate this ruling. Perhaps the suit was frivilous. And it's a slippery slope - what the government can divulge and what they need to divulge, etc., but the fact of the matter is, we still don't know the details of these task force meetings and i'd still like to know.

[SGCOS]

The difference is Dick Cheney was elected VP, Hillary got the first ladyship by being a whore.

That made laugh out loud on a 20 participant conference call.

Note to self: Hit the mute button before reading freerepublic.

[discostu]

Luckily you have annonimity on those things, unless you have a distinctive laugh.

[justshe]

Hillary got the first ladyship by being a whore.

I will have to agree re: LOL uproariously. I don't think I have ever seen Hillary's role defined more succinctly or accurately. KUDOS, discostu.

P.S. I did briefly wonder if perhaps Bill hadn't been HER whore--as in she wrote the play and just gave good stage directions?