"Christie Whitman should face criminal charges"

[rusty charly]

Local members of Congress have asked for a special counsel to be appointed to probe whether Christie Whitman should face criminal charges for misleading the public about post-9/11 health risks.

Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) and Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) said yesterday that Whitman's repeated reassurances about air quality near Ground Zero in the days after 9/11 endangered the lives of thousands of people. "People are probably dead because of what she did," Nadler said, citing recently unearthed internal memos and court rulings suggesting the Environmental Protection Agency knew the air at Ground Zero was unsafe.

The lawmakers have asked the U.S. attorney general for a special counsel because the Justice Department is defending Whitman, who was head of the EPA at the time of the terror attacks, and the agency in an ongoing class-action lawsuit.

Whitman has denied any wrongdoing and suggested in a recent interview on "60 Minutes" that city officials - and even Ground Zero responders - failed to heed warnings about hazardous conditions on the smoldering pile. "It's absurd," Nadler said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/452211p-380586c.html

[adigal]

1. YES!!! My husband is now a disabled ex-NYC firefighter

because of the lies that evil woman told, but to be fair - who told her to say that?? BushCo.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

2. She should be along with the Shrub. Seriously. The EPA's statement about

the conditions at and around Ground Zero was changed by the White House prior to Christie Whitman's announcement. She was just the messenger. This is truly a crime. New Yorkers were victimized by the attacks and a week later victimized by the Shrub's White House.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3076626

However, a report by the EPA’s Office of the Inspector General released on Aug. 21 states, among other criticisms, that the White House reviewed and even changed EPA statements about public health risks to make them sound less alarming. The report charges that the White House Council on Environmental Quality influenced “the information EPA communicated to the public through its early press releases when it convinced EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones.” The report cites “reopening Wall Street” and “national security” as reasons for the spin.

AND EPA INSPECTOR GENERAL REPORT
www.epa.gov/oig/reports/2003/WTC_report_20030821.pdf

[Solitaire]

3. Yes, she should, but so should Bush and his friends. n/t

[ThomCat]

4. Even the post is jumping on Whitman now.

I'm hoping this is a good sign that she's going to face criminal charges soon.