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fable · 03-07-2002, 11:13 AM

quote:
Originally posted by MagiK:

Historicly every administration has been allowed to have private discussions with industry heads, the idea and ideal was to foster an environment of candid discourse without fear of having your words twisted and thrown back at you by the press. Every administration needs to have the trust of the nations industrial leaders so as to form valid and viable economic strategies. Cheny is doing what he believes is best, when the Supreme Court finaly rules, Im pretty sure they will side with him. And if they don't Im sure he will comply with the Law.

Cheney's actually following the new Presidental Order which came down last summer, reversing a policy put into place by the Carter administration and followed ever since--providing complete access to any requested document held by the executive branch of the government, including the Cabinet. Congress requested info from Dubyah's dad and Clinton, and got it; and to their credit, they were carefully judged requests. (More probably because the senators and congresspeople feared a backlash from voters if they were perceived as bullying the president than anything else, admittedly.) The policy was set into place to reestablish an atmosphere of trust and "oil the hinges" of government, which had grown full of suspicion and very rusty after Watergate.

The problem here is that Enron isn't just a matter of access purchased by large election donations, which is perfectly legal at this time: it's a matter of potential conflict of interest. Major decisions were made in favor specifically of Enron (rather than its competitors) by Dubyah, and a number of highranking Enron executives have major posts in the Cabinet. This *could* possibly go beyond simple access into the executive branch working on behalf of Enron. Analyzing Cheney's documents would go a long way to either quieting those concerns, or confirming them.

So there are two issues: 1) Reversing a longheld administration policy which made life easier between the traditionally adversarial branches of the US government; and 2) clearing up issues of access vs advocacy in the executive branch. I suspect that's why extremely conservative Republicans in Congress want those documents, and here (and sometimes elsewhere) I'm with 'em.

03-07-2002, 11:13 AM	#10
fable Quintesson Join Date: March 17, 2001 Location: Where I am. Posts: 1,089	quote: Originally posted by MagiK: Historicly every administration has been allowed to have private discussions with industry heads, the idea and ideal was to foster an environment of candid discourse without fear of having your words twisted and thrown back at you by the press. Every administration needs to have the trust of the nations industrial leaders so as to form valid and viable economic strategies. Cheny is doing what he believes is best, when the Supreme Court finaly rules, Im pretty sure they will side with him. And if they don't Im sure he will comply with the Law. Cheney's actually following the new Presidental Order which came down last summer, reversing a policy put into place by the Carter administration and followed ever since--providing complete access to any requested document held by the executive branch of the government, including the Cabinet. Congress requested info from Dubyah's dad and Clinton, and got it; and to their credit, they were carefully judged requests. (More probably because the senators and congresspeople feared a backlash from voters if they were perceived as bullying the president than anything else, admittedly.) The policy was set into place to reestablish an atmosphere of trust and "oil the hinges" of government, which had grown full of suspicion and very rusty after Watergate. The problem here is that Enron isn't just a matter of access purchased by large election donations, which is perfectly legal at this time: it's a matter of potential conflict of interest. Major decisions were made in favor specifically of Enron (rather than its competitors) by Dubyah, and a number of highranking Enron executives have major posts in the Cabinet. This could possibly go beyond simple access into the executive branch working on behalf of Enron. Analyzing Cheney's documents would go a long way to either quieting those concerns, or confirming them. So there are two issues: 1) Reversing a longheld administration policy which made life easier between the traditionally adversarial branches of the US government; and 2) clearing up issues of access vs advocacy in the executive branch. I suspect that's why extremely conservative Republicans in Congress want those documents, and here (and sometimes elsewhere) I'm with 'em.