NEW YORK - (KRT) - Saying she knows "how White Houses work," Sen. Hillary Clinton slammed the Bush administration yesterday for misleading New Yorkers about air quality in lower Manhattan after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.
At a City Hall news conference, the former First Lady called for a Senate probe into allegations the administration pressured regulators to give false reassurances about safety at Ground Zero.
"I know a little bit about how White Houses work," the New York Democrat said. "I know … somebody in that White House, probably under instructions from somebody further up the chain, told the EPA, `Don't tell the people of New York the truth.'
"And I want to know who that is."
Last week, Environmental Protection Agency Inspector General Nikki Tinsley released a report saying the White House "convinced the EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones" in its early news releases.
The information withheld included guidance on indoor cleaning, as well as potential health dangers posed by asbestos, lead, concrete and pulverized glass, the report found.
"New Yorkers put themselves at further risk because the EPA misled them," said New York City Councilman David Yassky, noting that many people went back to work because of the agency's seal of approval about the air.
In October 2001, Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez obtained internal government reports showing that toxic chemicals and metals were released into the environment by the fiery collapse of the twin towers.
In a letter to President Bush co-signed by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., Clinton asked for more testing. She also asked for all communications between the White House and the EPA about air quality in lower Manhattan.
The White House referred calls to the President's Council on Environmental Quality, and a spokeswoman for the council said officials "reject" the premise of Clinton's news conference.
Bet her lawyer friends will make a bundle off of the lawsuits too .. which I'm sure will just help the state of New York
She is a piece of work
Democrats seem to think every one is just like them - lieing, thieving, crimminal skanks. SUPRISE! Not all people are Democrats, Hillary.
Correction: Hillary knows about *Clinton* White Houses. Just because the Clinton WHite House regularly put political pressur on agencies to make the 'spin' come out the way they wanted, doesnt mean the Bush admin has the same low level of ethics.