Commentary: People should be allowed to know who helped Cheney shape

Long Island Business News, Dec 13, 2002 by Peter Mantius

In a decision that passes the buck, a federal judge appointed by President Bush has ruled narrowly that the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, has no right to compel the Bush administration's energy task force to turn over its attendance records.

Judge John Bates sidestepped the critical issue of whether the executive branch must submit to oversight by Congress. Bates found that the GAO didn't have standing to sue on the grounds that its demand for records wasn't backed up by either a chamber of Congress or a congressional committee. The ruling - a huge victory of Vice President Dick Cheney - passed on the chance to confirm that the legislative branch is legally entitled to receive broad disclosure from the executive branch. A federal appeals court or the U.S. Supreme Court needs to clarify that - soon.

It would be a shame if this debate were allowed to drag on and get further snagged in partisan wrangling, because there really is a higher constitutional issue at stake.

Can you imagine if in the early 1990s a newly minted federal judge appointed by then-President Clinton had issued a similar ruling that had allowed then-First Lady Hillary Clinton to keep secret indefinitely the private individuals who had helped her shape a plan for national health care? Republicans wouldn't have been the only ones screaming. Anyone with an appreciation for checks and balances would have sided with Newt Gingrich in demanding details on those privileged lobbyists.

We don't know much about who counseled Cheney on the national energy plan. But we do know that in recent weeks the administration has backtracked dramatically on the 1970 Clean Air Act that was signed by President Nixon and strengthened 20 years later by the president's father.

Democrats point to the fact that several high administration officials, including Cheney, were close to now-disgraced former Enron officials. They suspect those and other oil and energy industry buddies - many large GOP campaign contributors - were invited to help shape the national policy while the environmental groups were shut out of the process. The public has a right to know whether that's anything more than partisan sniping.

It's up to the federal court system - the guardians of constitutional principle - to exercise independence and enforce that public right.