Text 1490, 70 rader
Skriven 2004-08-28 07:24:48 av BOB SAKOWSKI (1:123/140)
Ärende: When in doubt
=====================
When in doubt, stonewall and lie.

 From Capitol Hill Blue

Bush Leagues
White House Blocks Request for Records on Contact With Anti-Kerry Vets
By Staff and Wire Reports
Aug 27, 2004, 13:06

The White House is stonewalling a Freedom of Information Act request for
records detailing Bush Administraton contacts with Swift Boat Veterans for
Truth, the GOP-backed anti-Kerry organization that is challenging the
Democratic Presidential nominee's actions in Vietnam.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed the FOIA
request on August 24 and received a letter from the Executive Office of the
President Friday, denying the grounds that it is "exempt from having to
disclose the information" under the law.

CREW had asked the White House to release information regarding contacts
between the Executive Office of the President and members of SBVT and
others associated with the group, including public relations, advertising,
detective and fundraising organizations.

CREW filed the FOIA after learning that President Bush's political advisor
Karl Rove had claimed not to have spoken with his longtime friend and
primary SVBT donor Bob J. Perry, in over a year.

Rove changed his tune Thursday , telling FOX news: "I don't want to leave
any misimpression. But he's (Perry) not somebody that I've had, you know,
any extended conversation with in years . . ." Rove denied, however,
speaking with Perry about SBVT.

Rove's comments were made the same day CREW discovered that a Republican
party Committee website in Collier County Florida was soliciting donations
for SBVT and showing the group's ads, something clearly not allowed under
the Federal Election Campaign Act.

"If the White House really had nothing to do with SBVT or its ads, then
there was no reason for it to deny CREW's request," said CREW's Executive
Director Melanie Sloan. "The White House could have released the records
and silenced its critics. Its refusal to respond suggests that there is
information the White House would prefer not become public."

The SBVT campaign is financed by two Texas millionaires with longtime ties
to President Bush and the group's leader, Houston lawyer John E. O'Neill,
is a longtime GOP operative, having been first recruited by Nixon White
House lawyer Charles Colson to head a phony veteran's group in 1971 to
counter then antiwar activist John Kerry's actions.

The White House did not return calls seeking comment on the FOIA request.

© Copyright 2004 Capitol Hill Blue

Fair Use Notice
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always
been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such
material available in our efforts to advance understanding of political,
human rights, economic, democracy, and social justice issues, etc. We
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with
Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed
without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving
the included information for research and educational purposes. For more
information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you
wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own
that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright
owner.
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Try Our Web Based QWK: DOCSPLACE.ORG (1:123/140)