Bruce Fein: The RNC e-mails represent one more White House demerit

[babylonsister]

http://www.slate.com/id/2168757/pagenum/all/#page_start

Mail Trail
The RNC e-mails represent one more White House demerit.
By Bruce Fein

The Bush administration's signature triptych celebrates lawlessness, secrecy, and scorn for public accountability. The latest confirmation of this fact comes from the June 2007 interim staff report of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. It revealed chronic and flagrant White House violations of the Presidential Records Act of 1978 by employing Republican National Committee e-mail accounts for official business. Then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales stood idly by in a characteristic cerebral stupor.

The act establishes that the records of a president, his inner circle, and certain units of the executive office of the president are owned by the United States. The ownership issue had previously been disputed by President Richard M. Nixon in a battle over papers needed to prosecute Watergate crimes. In order to preserve White House records for access by the public and historians, the act directs the president to "take all such steps as may be necessary to assure that the activities, deliberations, decisions, and policies that reflect the performance of his constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties are adequately documented and … maintained as Presidential records pursuant to the requirements of this section … " The act insures that presidents are held accountable to the judgment of history, and that a complete chronicle of White House operations is maintained to teach political wisdom to the nation and its officeholders.

The interim staff report found that at least 88 White House officials enjoyed RNC e-mail accounts, including Karl Rove, the president's senior adviser; Andrew Card, the former White House chief of staff; and Ken Mehlman, the former White House director of political affairs. White House officials wrongly employed RNC e-mail accounts for official purposes, for example, communicating with agencies about federal appointments and policies. The RNC has preserved more than 140,000 e-mails sent or received by Mr. Rove. Over one-half involved communicants using official ".gov" accounts. But the RNC has also destroyed massive numbers of White House e-mails. For instance, of the 88 White House officials with RNC e-mail accounts, no records were preserved for 51 individuals.

At present, the magnitude of the act's violations is unknown. But the motivation of the Bush White House in using these accounts seems clear: to conceal embarrassing communications or evidence of lawlessness. The oversight committee's investigation into convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff's contacts with the White House unearthed the following e-mail exchange between Rove's then-executive assistant Susan Ralston and Abramoff's associate Todd Boulanger: "I now have an RNC BlackBerry, which you can use to e-mail me at any time. No security issues like my WH e-mail." A sister e-mail indicated that Mr. Abramoff had been advised by a White House staff member to avoid sending communications through the official White House e-mail system because "to put this stuff in writing in their e-mail system … might actually limit what they can do to help us." Evidence has also emerged that these RNC e-mail accounts were used by the White House in communicating over the firings of U.S. attorneys and evading Hatch Act limitations on diverting government resources for partisan political activities.

snip//

The pattern here is clear: The Bush administration treasures secrecy for the sake of secrecy and law evasion. Depend upon it: The RNC e-mail spectacle will not be the last chapter. That should be deeply disturbing.

The history of secret government is a history of oppression and folly. Secrecy invites false allegations or loopy ideas to advance personal vendettas or to gratify racial, religious, ethnic, or other obnoxious biases. President Bush is no exception.

[ShortnFiery]

1. No worries. The "mighty" Congress are going to put them on Double Secret Probation.

:eyes:

[HereSince1628]

2. One demerit, hmm that's worth what one detention vs morning recess?

[ShortnFiery]

5. I dunno, it has to be Less Sinful than a Congressperson NOT wearing their Pledge Pin. :P

[babylonsister]

3. Actually, the article is pretty scathing, especially coming from Fein. nt

[BootinUp]

4. this is probably the biggest violation of them all n/t