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--- Begin Message --- Title: BuzzFlash.com - BuzzFlash Interviews--- End Message ---
BuzzFlash Interviews Congressman Henry Waxman
January 31, 2002
A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW WITH CONGRESSMAN HENRY WAXMAN
There are many Democrats who aren't backing down over the Enron scandal. One of our favorites is Congressman Henry Waxman (29th District, CA). Waxman is the ranking minority member of the House Government Reform Committee and he is fighting for the American public's right to know what happened in Enron's secret meetings with Vice President Cheney, and why the Bush administration is afraid of the public knowing what was discussed.
BUZZFLASH: Congressman Waxman, we have just a few questions. The General Accounting Office is apparently filing suit to obtain information in the Vice President's energy panel. What is your reaction? Do you think the suit will be successful?
CONGRESSMAN WAXMAN: I regret the fact that the Vice President feels that the energy task force should operate in secrecy. The General Accounting Office has made a routine request for information. I think they're entitled to it. They've received some information from other administrations that are quite similar. And I regret that now the GAO has to file a lawsuit to find out what special interest groups, what heavy contributors were saying to the energy task force. Who met with the Vice President and what they wanted ought to be public information, as far as I'm concerned.
BUZZFLASH: I believe the President said the other day it was his business and the Vice President's, and they had a right through executive privilege to keep the information private. What is your reaction to the claim of executive privilege in regard to this information?
CONGRESSMAN WAXMAN: I don't think they have a claim for executive privilege. I'm not even sure that, in the lawsuit, they're going to assert executive privilege. If they were talking about discussions they might have had with people in the administration or on their own staff, I think they have a case to make. What the General Accounting Office, which is the nonpartisan watchdog on behalf of Congress, requested was the names of the lobbies, outside parties, special interest groups, campaign contributors, sent to the task force. It seems to be that this is not a matter of executive privilege, but an attempt by the White House to prevent transparency in government and to change the balance of power between the executive and the legislative branches of government. If they can keep information like this secret about a task force that doesn't even involve national security, they will have set a precedent that will allow them to claim they have a task force on any subject in the future, and operate in secrecy from here on out. That means that the Congress can't exercise its oversight responsibilities. The public wouldn't have a right to know according to the Bush administration. And it would mean a greater concentration of power in the hands of the President and the executive branch, which I think is in violation of what the founders of this country expected when they adopted the Constitution. It was supposed to have checks and balances.
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Read the whole interview here:
http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/2002/01/Congressman_Waxman_013102.html
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