January 26, 2002
White House Could be Sued Over Cheney Advisers
By DON VAN NATTA Jr.
ASHINGTON, Jan. 25 — The head of the General Accounting Office sent a strong signal today that he was prepared to go to court to force the White House to turn over the names of industry executives who advised Vice President Dick Cheney on national energy policy last spring.
In an interview today, David M. Walker, the comptroller general of the United States, suggested that a lawsuit against the Bush administration was almost certain if the White House failed to provide the information by the end of next week.
It would be the first time in its history that the accounting office, the Congressional auditing agency that the comptroller general heads, sued a federal entity or federal official for information.
"I am hopeful that we are not going to have to go to court, but I will do what I have to do to serve my client and protect the G.A.O.'s rights," Mr. Walker said.
Mr. Walker and Mr. Cheney spoke by telephone on Thursday about the disagreement, but no compromise was reached, officials said today. No further discussions are scheduled, the officials said.
A lawsuit would intensify pressure on Mr. Cheney at a time when the Bush administration is under scrutiny and criticism from Democrats for its dealings with the Enron Corporation (news/quote), the energy trading giant whose collapse led to the largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in history.
Mr. Cheney met with Kenneth L. Lay, who resigned this week as Enron's chairman, while he was devising energy policy last spring and Enron executives met with Mr. Cheney's staff four times. Enron and its executives also contributed millions of dollars to the Republican Party to support the Bush-Cheney ticket in 2000.
The accounting office has begun interviewing law firms to represent the agency in a lawsuit against the administration.
"We've never had any situation where we were absolutely stonewalled by a task force of this type," Mr. Walker said. "The law and past precedent says the Congress has a right to this information and can use the G.A.O. to conduct a nonpartisan review."
Polls show that voters think the Bush administration is not telling all it knows about Enron. Some Republican strategists worry that Mr. Cheney's unyielding stance on keeping secret the names of the executives with whom he met is contributing to public perceptions on the issue.
But there was no sign today that the vice president is about to give in on the issue. David S. Addington, a counselor to Mr. Cheney, said in an interview that the administration had no intention of providing the agency a list of those executives who met with task force officials.
"G.A.O. must respect the confidentiality needed for an effective presidency," Mr. Addington said, reiterating the administration's position. "G.A.O. must also follow the statutes that limit its power. These are important principles that the courts will enforce."
Mary Matalin, another counselor to Mr. Cheney, said he and President Bush felt strongly that the identities of those who met with the task force should be withheld "on principle" to protect their privacy.
She said the White House believed that the release of the names would have a "chilling effect" on the ability of future task forces to persuade people to cooperate.
Almost from the first day of the Bush administration, many Democrats and environmentalists have been suspicious of the motives of Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney because of their backgrounds in the oil industry.
Mr. Cheney's energy task force heard advice from a wide array of groups and corporate executives last spring. Some, like labor unions and environmental groups, chose to publicize their involvement. Most executives of energy and oil and gas companies did not.
In a meeting previously disclosed by Enron officials, Mr. Cheney met for 30 minutes on April 17 to discuss energy policy with Enron executives, including Mr. Lay.
In San Francisco today, the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit to compel the administration to release the identities of people the energy task force consulted last year.
"It's extremely unfortunate that it takes a lawsuit to learn out how much influence polluting companies had over a policy affecting all Americans," said Carl Pope, the executive director of the Sierra Club. "If the White House had conducted their meetings in the light of day, we wouldn't need this lawsuit. The American people were shut out of this process while energy companies and oil industry were given the red- carpet treatment."
The group is the third to seek the information; lawsuits have been filed by Judicial Watch and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Representative Henry A. Waxman, the California Democrat who has sought the information since last summer, said today that he believed the administration was trying to use the case as a precedent to operate in secrecy.
"I can't recall a situation when the executive branch has been so unwilling to give out information in a routine request like the one the G.A.O. put to them," Mr. Waxman said.
Democrats say that it is hypocritical for Republicans to refuse to release the identities of the people who advised the energy task force. During President Bill Clinton's first term, Republicans complained when the White House initially refused to divulge the identities of the participants in meetings Hillary Rodham Clinton, then the first lady, held on national health care policy. At the urging of Congressional Republicans, the accounting office requested a list of participants, and the Clinton administration complied.
Mr. Waxman said the Bush administration is trying to carve out a legal precedent. "I think the administration is trying to use this issue as a way to establish a new precedent that they can operate in secrecy and not be accountable to the public or the Congress," Mr. Waxman said. "I think in light of the Enron situation, there's an even greater reason for the administration to want to come clean and talk about Enron, among other special interests, that influenced the decisions of the energy task force."
In an interview last year, Mr. Cheney said his task force would "make decisions based on what we think makes sound public policy," not on what "Enron thinks."
In May, the task force infuriated environmentalists by proposing to open part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to energy exploration.
The task force's recommendations on electricity deregulation resembled much of what Enron executives said they had advocated in their meeting with Mr. Cheney.
After reports that contributors to the Bush-Cheney campaign had been given access to the energy task force, Mr. Waxman and Representative John D. Dingell, Democrat of Michigan, asked the accounting office to obtain a complete list of everyone that the task force had heard from. They also sought the subjects that were discussed.
But in early August, Mr. Cheney refused to provide such information. The matter was postponed after Sept. 11. Then, after the collapse of Enron, lawmakers again pushed for the information.
Earlier this week, a group of several Democratic senators also urged the White House to turn over the information.
Some leading Republicans lawmakers said that they believed the administration would eventually supply the information.
Mr. Waxman, in a letter to Mr. Cheney today, asked for additional information from the task force deliberations about an Enron power plant project in India.
The final report of the task force recommended that the administration work with India to "maximize its domestic oil and gas production." It did not specifically mention the $2.9 billion Enron project.
But Mr. Waxman said the recommendation on India "benefited Enron by formally enlisting two cabinet secretaries in Enron's conflict with the Indian government."
"The energy plan does not discuss this recommendation or explain why maximizing oil and gas production in India should be a U.S. national energy priority," Mr. Waxman wrote.
