Waxman Reveals New Evidence Showing White House Use of Partisan E-mail Accounts

[Hissyspit]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/29/white-house-email-archives

Waxman Reveals New Evidence Showing White House Use Of Partisan E-mail Accounts

U.S. News reported recently that several White House aides “said that they stopped using the White House system except for purely professional correspondence. … ‘We knew E-mails could be subpoenaed,’” said one aide.

In a new letter to White House counsel Fred Fielding, House Government and Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman reveals new e-mail communications that provide further evidence that White House employees were trying to circumvent the archives system:
http://oversight.house.gov/Documents/20070329130758-87640.pdf

New Abramoff E-Mails. Susan Ralston, who was Karl Rove’s executive assistant, invited two lobbyists working for Jack Abramoff to use her RNC e-mail account to avoid “security issues” with the White House e-mail system, writing: “I now have an RNC blackbeny which you can use to e-mail me at any time. No security issues like my WH email.” Ms. Ralston similarly wrote Mr. Abramoff: “I know have an RNC laptop at the office for political use. I can access my AOL email when necessary so if you need to send me something that I need to read, you can send to my AOL email and then call or page me to check it.”

New Scott Jennings E-Mails. Scott Jennings, the deputy director of political affairs in the White House, and his assistant used “gwb43.com” e-mail accounts to communicate with the General Services Administration about a partisan briefing that Mr. Jennings gave to political appointees at GSA on January 26, 2007. When Mr. Jennings’s assistant emailed the PowerPoint presentation to GSA, she wrote: “It is a close hold and we’re not supposed to be emailing it around.”

New Job Appointment E-Mails. Mr. Jennings also appears to have used his “gwb43.com” account to recruit applicants for official government positions through the “Kentucky Republican Voice,” an internet site that describes itself as “the best source for Kentucky Republican grassroots information.” One posting from May 2005 advertised 17 vacancies on assorted presidential boards and commissions. A second posting from
May 2006 sought applicants for various boards within the Small Business Administration. In each case, these postings encouraged applicants to contact Mr. Jennings at his “gwb43.com” address.

[liberalnurse]

1. I am sitting on the edge of my seat,

waiting to see how Congress gets to address these findings. Will there have to be Congressional Hearings to expose this crime?:shrug: :popcorn:

[ms liberty]

2. K&R n/t

[babylonsister]

3. The hits just keep on coming! nt

[Hissyspit]

5. LOL - #1 with a bullet point.

[malaise]

4. Looks like Suzie Q is a 100% freeper

I know have an RNC laptop at the office for political use.

Butter anyone:popcorn: :popcorn: :rofl:

[Fresh_Start]

6. I'm figuring her for the next to take the fifth

her email shows clear intend to bypass authorized government controls.

[grasswire]

9. did they find her yet?

Last I heard, she was lying low.

[malaise]

17. or disapeared n/t

[librechik]

22. heck, you can tell that just from the spelling! n/t

[catmandu57]

7. Maybe this is what Nancy whispered into the chimp's ear

last night that made him shit his pants?

[AnneD]

20. From your mouth

to God's ear. My thoughts exactly.

[Spazito]

23. ROFL! I can just hear Nancy's whisper....

"We've got Susan, how do you like them apples!"

:rofl:

[Roland99]

8. Those Republic Party members really are rocket surgeons, eh?

:rofl:

[Stinky The Clown]

10. Hehehe .... either that or they're brain scientists.

:hi:

[Roland99]

13. Well, Dr. Fristian was!!

:rofl:

[Rydz777]

11. So much to do; so little time

Waxman will be relentless during the next two years in exposing these very dark corners to sunlight. For six years he has watched all the misfeasance, nonfeasance, and malfeasance without the power to expose it. Now he has the power but two years is too little time to uncover it all. All the more reason that we much work hard, hard, hard to maintain a Democratic majority in the House (I think the Senate will be easier.)

[Hissyspit]

12. "There's Smoke. Now There's Fire"

Comment at the Think Progress site.

[Hissyspit]

14. Be sure and click the PDF link to read the full letter. n/t

[blogslut]

15. heehee

Waxman has to be reading DU. He found the stray stuff offa da Google.

[jwirr]

50. I suspect that when DUers found that hidden link they immediately

emailed the details to him. I am very proud to be a part of a group that digs deep enough to find the secrets. We need to keep up the hard work. I only wish I was computer literate enough to do any good in this valiant fight.

[DemReadingDU]

16. The irony of not using WH system

from the link in the OP...
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/29/white-house-email-archives
The irony — as Kevin Drum writes — is that by not using the White House system, staffers “using private accounts specifically to evade legitimate congressional oversight” might lose their claim to executive privilege.
refers to...
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2007_03/011021.php

[many a good man]

18. ALL those emails must pass through the WH network router

Just because they use external email servers doesn't stop the packets from traveling thru the WH routers. All that traffic can be recorded. They may not keep all the packet data, but most places will store the packet headers. It should be easy to find who was sending how many emails when to gwb.com.

[KoKo]

41. If they have private accounts it still has to go through the "routers?"

Even if it's wireless? Thanks for posting that for us clueless. I hope you are correct and that they didn't realize that the e-mails could be preserved that way...or at least the packet headers.

[seemunkee]

49. Blackberry messages wouldn't

But if they were using a laptop in the WH it would pass through their network. I highly doubt that there are WiFi networks accessible inside the WH that are broadcasting from the outside.

[tanyev]

19. Imagine the OUTRAGE from these same people if a Democratic admin had done this.

IOKIYAR.

[Hissyspit]

21. Goodness me, there would be an impeachment!

grr

[walldude]

38. More like a hanging.. on the White House lawn

Clinton in one noose and his penis in the other..

[The Count]

27. They hounded Gore for sending a few campaign e-mails from his WH computer

They stuck their noses in all his e-mail (found nothing). It was a big "scandal"!

[NashVegas]

42. I'm Remember Al Gore's Phones

That were installed for fundraising ... and yes, indeed there was outrage.

[mikelgb]

24. better still

is the fact that these emails could be entirely subpeonaed through the provider, without claim of executive privelige

[Hissyspit]

25. And I imagine that's exactly what is going to happen. n/t

[colorado_ufo]

36. Ding ding ding! We have a winner!

This is the crucial point.

[The Count]

26. The knot of vipers is coming loose...

[donkeyotay]

28. butbutbut, Mr. Boosh doesn't know jack

I thought Jack was exagerating his influence with the WH:

New Abramoff E-Mails. Susan Ralston, who was Karl Rove’s executive assistant, invited two lobbyists working for Jack Abramoff to use her RNC e-mail account to avoid “security issues” with the White House e-mail system, writing: “I now have an RNC blackbeny which you can use to e-mail me at any time. No security issues like my WH email.” Ms. Ralston similarly wrote Mr. Abramoff: “I know have an RNC laptop at the office for political use. I can access my AOL email when necessary so if you need to send me something that I need to read, you can send to my AOL email and then call or page me to check it.”

She was also a special assistant to the president. Seems like Abramoff had a pretty direct line.

[bobthedrummer]

30. Karl Rove, Susan Ralston, Barry Jackson, Ken Mehlman, Ruben Barrales, Jennifer Farley

were all known to have been Jack Abramoff White House connections before the flood of new information about J. Scott Jennings, Sara Taylor and many others seeking to circumvent the law with "alternative" electronic political communication systems.

House Oversight Committee: The Abramoff Investigation/White House contacts
http://oversight.house.gov/abramoff/index2.asp

Then there are the real concerns about a loyal Bushie that was put in charge of the DoJ Abramoff investigation-Assistant AG Alice S. Fisher

Alice S. Fisher profile from SourceWatch.org
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Alice_S._Fisher

Another concern about Alice-she's also the Chair of the DoJ National Procurement Fraud Task Force/NPFTF (they investigate government contract fraud)
DoJ NPFTF announcement
http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/npftf/

This is not our government-this is a network of corruption occupying positions they were installed in when the SCOTUS favored George W. Bush et al. in December of 2000.

[donkeyotay]

31. My math must be fuzzy

from Waxman's site:

According to the documents provided to the Government Reform Committee by Greenberg Traurig, Jack Abramoff and his team had 485 lobbying contacts with White House officials between January 2001 and March 2004. Of these contacts, 405 are described in the billing records and 80 are described in the e-mail records.

The lobbying contacts include 345 meetings or other in-person interactions, 71 phone conversations, and 69 substantive e-mail exchanges. The documents also describe more than 200 social or nonsubstantive contacts that are not included in the 485 lobbying contacts. end>

Rove's office: 82
Polit. Affair: 17 (of which I only see 6)
Intergov. Aff: 35 (of which I only see 29)

So that leaves something like 351 "lobbying contacts" unaccounted for.

Fisher replaced Hillman, who got promoted out of the investigation. DoJ National Procurement Fraud Task Force? That reminds me of Debra Wang. She had been on W's corporate fraud task force.

It looks for all the world like a crime family hijacked our country, but don't tell anyone. It's a secret.

[jwirr]

51. After reading John Kerry's book THE NEW WAR I was so

afraid I could not finish it. Your assumption that a crime family has hijacked our country is not a bad explanation.

[jaybeat]

57. "A crime family has hijacked our country." Ding, ding, f'ing ding! (nt)

[donkeyotay]

54. Yang. Debra Yang. She was the AG in LA. she left in October of 06

and went to work for Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, a firm that had involved with Congressman. Lewis, who was thought to be a possible target of the Cunningham investigation. She got a $1.5m signing bonus. Previously, she had been head of Bush's task force on corporate crime.

You can demote 'em or promote 'em, but in the end the appearance is the same. So, what happens to the investigation into the corruption of congress, the involvement of the CIA and defense contractors? Do we just forget?

[bobthedrummer]

59. Say goodbye to the White House Sara Taylor and your $135,000 salary-

and say goodbye to whatever the black budget and corruption and power did to your young Republican soul, say hello to a subpoena, just like your former boss J. Scott Jennings will probably get.
:nopity:

[SoCalDem]

55. This is probably why so many Dems' laptops "go missing" or are "stolen"

Perhaps the RNC thinks that the Dems have "magic, super-secret laptops" for their movers & shakers too.:)

[deminks]

29. Are these not Hatch Act Violations at the very least?

[johnnydrama]

33. go Henry

Waxman is like the guy with the 102 mph fastball who can't get off the bench because the guy with the 70 mph fastball is the coaches son.

Once the coaches son is gone, it's lights out.

[kirby]

37. Presidential Records Act of 1978 violations...

Here is a link to the US Code for the definition of what are considered as 'Presidential records':

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode44/usc_sec_44_00002201----000-.html

[Greyskye]

32. the oversight servers must be smoking!

I can't pull up any of the pdf files on the site. I just get blank pages.

[WiseButAngrySara]

34. I posted this the other day with the question about Blackberrys and subpoenas...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=529074&mesg_id=529074

[KoKo]

35. Amazing....the Rot Stew keeps Bubbling Up and overflowing the Pot!

Meanwhile it all makes us :puke:

Thanks for the post!

[walldude]

39. Hell I'll make it 46 recommends

The USA's story has my attention but this one is actually making my heart beat faster. First the fact that the bulldog known as Henry Waxman is on it, and second, not only is this a scandal on it's own but it's like getting your hands on Heidi Fliess's diary, it could open up a can of worms on a ton of people. Karl Rove could be the "Charlie Sheen of D.C.".

[Hissyspit]

40. Kicking for the Friday News Dump n/t

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

43. Wouldn't it be funny if Rove used the email address [e-mail]? eom

[paparush]

44. I want me a blackbeny.... then I can be on crackbeny

[donkeyotay]

56. No, I think she meant blackbeny. Here:

Aether Systems announced that E*Trade has selected Aether to distribute and provide a real-time quotes and news application for E*Trade's mobile financial services for the BlackBeny by Aether wireless e-mail solution. With more than three million on-line users, E*Trade is a global leader in on-line personal financial services. . . .

These wireless services will launch with Blackbeny by Aether. BlackBeny is an award-winning wireless e-mail solution developed by Research In Motion Ltd. The devices will also include E*Trade's existing top-rated wireless application.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0IGV/is_2_3/ai_71561814

Also, I thought the email addy "rnchq" was "mchg." If you google that you get linked to an Airtel company doing mobile to mobile payment options. Financial networks are very secure. Hmmm.

[paparush]

60. No, I think she meant - Whoa BlackBetty baLam baLam, Whoa BlackBetty baLam baLam n/t

[cmd]

45. Nixon was brought down by his tapes. Bush goes down by e-mail.

This just gets better and better.

[jean]

58. ya, but the bushies thought they were being soooo clever - they really did make their own

reality

[benld74]

They're like a cancer,,

Find it in one place, take care of it, and then it crops up somewhere else. And I can tell you now, the way they have manuvered their shills, you can bet the shills will remain burrowed long after the administration is gone, said to say.

[benld74]

46. They're like a cancer,,

Find it in one place, take care of it, and then it crops up somewhere else. And I can tell you now, the way they have manuvered their shills, you can bet the shills will remain burrowed long after the administration is gone, said to say.

[htuttle]

47. The way they talk about 'Security Issues' reveals how truly treasonous they are

Note, that they worry that the WH mail server has 'security issues', whereas their partisan mail server at RNC does not cause them that concern. Nor does the porous AOL mail server.

Now, speaking as an IT professional, I'd be willing to bet that the White House mail server is one of the MOST SECURE mail servers in the world, as far as preventing external incursions goes. The RNC mail server -- probably not so much on that level. I'd bet the Ruskies could hack into the RNC mail server if they really wanted to. I KNOW they can hack AOL at will -- as can about half the 15 year old kids in Romania.

However, what they considered a 'security risk' was that the COPS would be able to read their emails some day -- the EXACT SAME THING THAT JOHN GOTTI would have worried about. They speak about the rest of the US government as the real enemy they are concerned with.

This administration is just begging for a RICO charge, in my opinion!

[Raksha]

61. Obviously, it all depends on what kind of "security issues"

you're talking about.

Re >>Note, that they worry that the WH mail server has 'security issues', whereas their partisan mail server at RNC does not cause them that concern. Nor does the porous AOL mail server.

Now, speaking as an IT professional, I'd be willing to bet that the White House mail server is one of the MOST SECURE mail servers in the world, as far as preventing external incursions goes.<<

I have no doubt that you're right about the security of the White House mail server. But it's obvious the Bush mafia wasn't all that worried about being hacked or spied on by terrorists.

[rateyes]

48. Good golly miss molly that is one powerful fan

the shit has hit. It's sticking to everybody in the whole damned Repig party.

[eleny]

52. Kicked Recommended & Bookmarked!

[IWantAChange]

53. Is it possible Repugs think they are actually 'smarter' than everyone else??

Stealing the 2000 and 2004 Presidential elections and not getting caught YET only happened because of the rubberstamp Congress - with those days a thing of the past the upcoming shitstorm is going to be of Galactic dimensions.

[madeline_con]

62. NextLec

(SNIP)

In 2000, Smartech merged with a company called NextLec, a telecommunications firm owned by the remarkable Mercer Reynolds, President Bush's close friend and controversial campaign fundraiser. Reynolds, who raised a record amount during the 2004 campaign, has been accused of selling access to the President.

The name Smartech appeared in stories arising out of the disputed 2004 election in Ohio. From a November 7, 2006 article by luaptifer at Daily Kos:
Ohio's election results are hosted on the same servers by the partisan companies that run websites like Georgewbush.com and many of the familiar Republican group sites.

See article here http://www.trustme.com/story.php?title=secret-White-House-comunication-system

Google gwb43.com for many more...

Edit: BTW, NextLec sounds too much like "next election" to be a coinky dink.