Abramoff Scandal | Opinion

Editorial: Open White House logs to public

Friday, December 21, 2007

"Now that a federal judge has ruled that visitor logs for the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's residence are public documents, it's high time the Bush administration let the sunshine in.

The records are kept by the Secret Service, which is subject to the federal Freedom of Information Act. Early last year, however, the White House signed an agreement with the Secret Service declaring all logs about the comings and goings of visitors to be presidential records and exempt from public scrutiny under the federal sunshine law.

At the time, an influence-peddling scandal that eventually convicted prominent Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff was raising questions about the extent of his contacts with Congress and the White House. Eventually, a review of Mr. Abramoff's billing records and e-mails by a House committee revealed 485 contacts with presidential aides over a three-year period; 10 were with Karl Rove, then President Bush's top political aide."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Turn Over White House Logs (The Hartford Courant 12/21)
pwday

Other Stories:
U.S. to Appeal White House Logs Ruling (AP 12/21)
Tom Fitton: Legal Battle for Secret Service Logs Detailing Abramoff White House Visits (The National Ledger 12/20)

Court Decisions:
CREW v. DHS | CREW v. DHS

Relevant Links:
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington - http://www.citizensforethics.org