Staff Nears Deal on RNC E-mails
By Paul Singer
Roll Call Staff
June 4, 2007
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee staffers appear close to an agreement that would limit the number of e-mails the panel will demand from the Republican National Committee as part of an investigation of political presentations given to federal agencies.
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/52_133/news/18732-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSSOversight Committee to limit RNC e-mail request
Michael Roston
Published: Monday June 4, 2007
Rep. Henry Waxman's House Committee on Oversight and Government reform is close to reaching a deal that would limit the scope of its probe into e-mail accounts maintained by the Republican National Committee and used by White House employees, according to a report in today's edition of Roll Call.
"Just prior to the Memorial Day recess, ranking member Tom Davis (R-Va.) and other committee Republicans urged Waxman to scale back his request for documents from the RNC," wrote Paul Singer in Monday morning's paper. "While the Republicans wrote that Waxman’s inquiries into the political use of government resources 'constitute legitimate exercises of the committee’s oversight authority,' they argued that the breadth of the committee’s requests and subpoenas 'far exceed the legitimate needs of the committee.'"
The exchange between House Democratic and Republican members of the committee was prompted by the briefings of General Services Administration staff by the White House earlier in the year. Democratic committee members are worried that the White House was seeking to use GSA contracting to assist Republican political campaigns in 2008.
At issue in particular were "daily tallies of the number of e-mails to and from each RNC account maintained by a White House employee," which Republican staff insisted would not help the Democratic side of the committee gain more information about the White House's briefings.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Oversight_Committee_to_limit_RNC_email_0604.html