Fair use for educational/research purposes only!

July 19, 2001

Accounting Office Demands Energy Task Force Records By JEFF GERTH WASHINGTON, July 18 — After two months of unsuccessful requests, the General Accounting Office demanded today that Vice President Dick Cheney turn over records relating to how his energy task force developed its policies.

The demand letter, by the Congressional auditing office acting at the request of two ranking Democratic House members, increases the possibility of a legal and constitutional clash between Congress and the Bush administration.

A White House spokeswoman, Anne Womack, said the letter was "under review, and we're going to continue to work with the G.A.O. to try and resolve this issue appropriately."

Last month Mr. Cheney's counsel told the office that it lacked jurisdiction over the task force because the panel acted only as an adviser to the president, a function protected by the Constitution.

The White House has 20 days to respond to the letter. The accounting office could then go to federal court to try to enforce the demand letter, one of 32 issued by the G.A.O. since 1980 to various federal departments. This is the first time a demand letter has been sent to a vice president, accounting office officials said.

The letter seeks information about people with whom Mr. Cheney and other task force members met while developing the group's policies, but not information about "the deliberative process." Mr. Cheney has said that the task force's report in May, which contained more than 100 recommendations involving energy production, infrastructure, conservation and the environment, was based on sound public policy considerations.

In an interview tonight on "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," broadcast on PBS, Mr. Cheney said the task force realized at the outset that it had to have an "adequate concern for the environment in this report, or we're not going to have a credible report."

But some Democrats and other critics say energy industry executives and their lobbyists had too much influence over Mr. Cheney's plan, while environmental and consumer groups were ignored or treated perfunctorily. And the vice president's refusal to release the names of people who contacted the task force led two of his chief critics, Representatives Henry A. Waxman of California and John D. Dingell of Michigan, both Democrats, to bring in the accounting office for a closer look.

Mr. Cheney has acknowledged meeting with energy executives, including Kenneth L. Lay, the chairman of the Enron Corporation, but denies that they exercised any undue influence on the deliberations.

"The idea that somehow only the energy industry has access just simply isn't true," Mr. Cheney said in an interview last spring. "We'll make decisions on what we think makes sound public policy."

Juleanna Glover Weiss, Mr. Cheney's spokeswoman, declined to discuss any specific meetings involving the task force or the vice president.

"We don't release the vice president's schedule," Ms. Weiss said.

More broadly, however, she said Mr. Cheney's task force — the National Energy Policy Development Group, composed of cabinet officers and other government officials — met with many elected officials, organizations and outside interests. The group's report was released on May 17, and many of its recommendations require further action by Congress and government agencies.

Mr. Cheney's counselor, Mary Matalin, said Democrats should now look to the aftermath of the report instead of the group's deliberations.

"If they want to know what happened in the meetings, look at what it spawned in legislation that is on the Hill," Ms. Matalin said.

And since the report's release, Mr. Cheney has met with some environmentalists, his spokeswoman said.

Some environmental groups said today that this was too little and too late.

"Industry has had direct access to key decision makers while representatives of the public interest and environmental communities are left to the sidelines," said Alyssondra Campaigne, the legislative director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, which has been unsuccessful in seeking task force records under the Freedom of Information Act.

The accounting office's letter demands five sets of records: names and attendees at meetings of the energy group; information about the group's six professional staff members; details of meetings between the staff and others, including lobbyists; details of Mr. Cheney's meetings with others and cost accounting records for the group, for which Mr. Cheney's office has already turned over 77 pages.

The accounting office claims broad authority to examine government programs under the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921.

The request by Mr. Waxman and Mr. Dingell led the G.A.O. to approach Mr. Cheney's office first on May 8. Mr. Cheney's counsel, David S. Addington, later questioned the appropriateness of the request and sent a letter challenging the accounting office's legal authority.

Mr. Addington's letter of June 7 suggested a constitutional privilege. It said the policy group was acting in a constitutional capacity as adviser to the president so it was not a government program subject to Congressional oversight. The group's senior staff members are actually paid through the Department of Energy, White House officials said.

Last week, lawyers from the White House and the Justice Department discussed the request with officials from the accounting office, but the matter remained unresolved.

Today's demand letter, signed by Anthony Gamboa, the agency's general counsel, is a formal enforcement mechanism. While it may resemble a subpoena in some respects, agency officials said it had a unique standing by statute that ultimately resided in federal court.

The accounting office infrequently uses demand letters.

"We worked very hard not to get to this point," said Bob Robinson, managing director for natural resources and environment at the office.

Mr. Robinson said other parts of the executive branch involved in the task force, including the Departments of Interior and Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, had begun providing information, though only at the last minute.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/19/politics/19CHEN.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), July 19, 2001