Judge orders release of Cheney task force records, criticizes Energy Department

Associated Press / SFGate

[RippleFire]

Not only is Gladys the "Mary Berry" judge, she also was the one that ruled that the FEC could NOT release documents showing how Unions and the Democrat party coordinated their campaign activities. I guess disclosure works only one way when you are a Clinton buttgirl.

[LouD]

He does have a legal duty to tell the American people who helped shape his energy policy.

I don't recall reading that passage of the Constitution. Perhaps you can point it out to me.

[CPT Clay]

Kessler again?!? What a freak show. What is her record on getting overturned at higher level?

[mrsmith]

The case was only about the speed with which the DOE was responding to the FOIA request.
They were ordered to speed up, but not as much as the suers had asked.
The DOE never objected to the FOIA request itself and granted fee-waiver (too bad).

Opinion is posted HERE (pdf file)

I don't know if it's Kessler's bias or her evident stupidity that brings the most disrepute onto the DC Circuit court.

[jackbill]

The law can oftentimes be skewed to mean and imply things that it does not.

That's why we have judges. And that's why judges "interpret" the law, rather than the media or other amateurs.

[robertpaulsen]

An act to authorize the establishment of a system governing the creation and operation of advisory committees...

This Act covers "Advisory Committees" set up by the Executive branch (a la Hillary Clinton's Health Care Task Force). If Dick Cheney set up an Energy Task Force headed by, say, his wife, FACA would apply. I think the Executive branch wins on this one.

[Moleman]

Good, we need an open government.
Had this been the previous administration, this thread would be littered with information on how Clinton killed someone to keep them quiet.
I voted for Bush/Cheny and I want them to be accountable.

[Moleman]

You don't believe in an open government??

[Moleman]

A law is a law is a law
And to the best of my knowledge, there is not a law prohibiting bj's inWashington DC.

[Demidog]

You make a great point. I lived in California during "deregulation." I remember thinking when I heard the news "wow! finally something good for the State." Then I started hearing news reports about the PUC setting prices.....I had to laugh. OF course the communists in California would claim that deregulation occurred even though there was still a PUC setting prices.

[an amused spectator]

That Was Then, This Is Now

February 27, 2002

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Energy Department to release thousands of records on Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force, criticizing the government for moving at "a glacial pace."

"There can be little question that the Department of Energy has been woefully tardy" in processing the nonprofit group's request, wrote Kessler.

"After making a virtually meaningless release of some form letters back in May of 2001, the department has done little of substance -- apart from collecting and organizing responsive documents," the judge added. "What is even more distressing is that" there were at least 11 other requests for the same documents.

The government has no legal justification "for working at a glacial pace."

=======================================

July 23, 2001

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Four days after the House briefly debated rival campaign finance reform bills that both overlooked the AFL-CIO's political excesses, Big Labor got another break. A Clinton-appointed federal judge last Monday blocked the Federal Election Commission (FEC) from its scheduled release the next day of thousands of documents that neither the union nor the Democratic National Committee (DNC) wants made public.

Their concerns produced last Monday's injunction by U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler of the District of Columbia, whose career is closely tied to liberal-labor Democrats. Unless reversed, her edict would keep evidence out of the hands of congressional and Justice Department investigators until the five-year statute of limitations for embezzlement under the Landrum-Griffin Labor Reform Act expires in November. Labor appears to be getting another free pass.

Labor went to court, and -- as is often the case in the District of Columbia -- found a friendly judge. Before President Clinton named her to the federal bunch in 1995 at age 57, Gladys Kessler had worked for the National Labor Relations Board in the Kennedy administration, for left-wing Rep. Jonathan Bingham of the Bronx, as a labor lawyer for the New York City Board of Education and finally for 17 years as a superior court judge in D.C. appointed by President Jimmy Carter.

Kessler accepted the arguments by AFL-CIO counsel Michael Trister that the publication of the documents would violate the right of "privacy" that is so frequently invoked by liberal litigators. Using Trister's language, she ordered the FEC "not to disclose or otherwise make available to the public or to any individual requester (including Congress, any member thereof or any other government agency) any portion of the investigative files in matters under review."

=======================================

The Roman god Janus ain't got nothing on this Clinton appointee Kessler.

;-)

[FreedominJesusChrist]

I understand, but as we can already tell from the posted article above. The Bush Administration won't win this one and they won't win it in the Supreme Court.

[Sequitur]

The Bush Administration won't win this one and they won't win it in the Supreme Court.

As well they should NOT!

I can't believe some of the pubbie cheerleaders here. This isn't about the pubs vs. the dems. This is about the sycophants vs. their employers. Don't you all know government employees are our servants? Their jobs exist ONLY with our consent!

This issue has NOTHING to do with National Security whatsoever. Thousands of citizens like you and me were screwed out of their life savings in this Energy/stock scam. So please do your countrymen a favor. Throw down your Dubya pom-poms, stop defending these arrogant, corrupt bast@rds that are destroying americans lives, and hold our employees accountable. Believe me, I will do the same when some crooked politicos decide destroyed your lives, regardless of whether they're Donkeys or Elephants. ; ^ )

One more time. They ALL work for us, they are ALL acccountable to us, and if they refuse to show us the work we pay them to do, they should be fired. NO EXCUSES PERMITTED!

[ConsistentLibertarian]

I hear two points in FR: (1) the USSC has already ruled that the Federal Advisory Committee Act is constitutional; and (2) under that act, people can deliberate in private with their staff and that's all confidential but if a public servant meets with a paid industry lobbyist, that has to be disclosed to the public. If one of those two points is false, let me know.

[FreedominJesusChrist]

Um...in case you haven't noticed, but if you had read my earlier posts, I am for the release of these documents, in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

[FreedominJesusChrist]

They are not! You are starting to frustrate me.

[Sequitur]

Whoops. Apologies if my rant appeared directed toward you. It was not. I posted your name because I was replying to your comment (in agreement, actually). I then subsequently commented (to All) how so many on this forum play this "US" (GOP'rs) vs. "Them" (Dems) as though this matter is some kind of football game.

IMHO, It seems just ludicrous that so many are willing to let themselves (and their fellow citizens) be walked over just because their "representatives" hold the power. I'm certain most of the Dubya cheerleaders here would be demanding the records be turned over if the tables were turned. Our gov is established to protect us all, and non-classified info (as this should be) should be subject to public scrutiny, for all of our benefit. I'm sure there were both dems and repubs harmed by the Enron issue. If the Energy dept was having meetings with these CEOs, records of those meetings should be part of the public record. To withhold this type of information, as a policy no less, leaves wide lattitude for "insider" collusion. And there is plenty of evidence already to believe this may be the case.

Just because the republicans are in the WH now, is no reason to not hold these people accountable for their work. Especially where thousands of citizens have had their lifelong saving evaporate overnite. We need the truth, even if it hurts "our party"

Again, no flames toward you. ;^ )

[LouD]

Enron employees were not industry lobbyists.

[ConsistentLibertarian]

Were they government employees?

[LouD]

if a public servant meets with a paid industry lobbyist, that has to be disclosed to the public

They were not paid industry lobbyists. Enron advocated things like energy deregulation and emission credit trading from a market efficiency standpoint. I personally sat through many of their presentations in Pennsylvania and California. They had a company line on those issues, and stayed "on message" remarkably well.

This is a witch hunt predicated upon obfuscation and the inability of much of the American public to absorb the substance of a complicated issue:

1. Enron favored politicians who were pro-market and pro-competition. The group that they supported with campaign contributions was largely, but not exclusively, made up of conservative Republicans. The contributions in question were strictly in accordance with U.S. campaign finance laws.

2. Enron advocated deregulation of energy markets. This would benefit consumers of energy. Incidentally, it would also create market opportunities for Enron, but those same opportunities would also exist for many other companies. That's what happens when you allow competition into regulated monopolies - New companies enter the market. That's the damned point.

3. Enron had no shortage of hubris, over-reached, and took a dive. Enron employees apparently engaged in systematic deception to hide the impending collapse of their fortunes.

These things are not related. Nobody has been able to point to any action taken by the administration on behalf of Enron, outside of leaning on the Indian government to live up to the contract they signed with Enron. This kind of diplomatic assistance to U.S. corporations happens every day, and is entirely proper and unrelated to any contributions.

The demonrats are taking a complicated issue, with some nefarious conduct by private individuals wholly unrelated to their interactions with the Administration, and throwing the whole mess of sh*t against the wall to see if they can make anything stick.