For several years now, White House visitor logs have been a major point of contention with the Bush gang.
About a year ago, for example, when Dick Cheney insisted that his visitor logs remain classified, the WaPo sued the administration for access. A federal judge eventually ruled that the logs were public information, prompting Cheney to direct the Justice Department to block the decision on national security grounds.
But that’s just the start of the Bush gang’s log problem. In June, Cheney instructed the Secret Service to destroy copies of visitor logs. A few months prior, the White House told the Secret Service that while it maintains the visitor logs, the logs don’t actually belong to the Secret Service, which means FOIA doesn’t apply.
Today, was the culmination of these arguments, when a federal court ruled that visitor logs are public information.
The ruling is a blow to the Bush administration, which is fighting the release of records showing visits by lobbyist Jack Abramoff and prominent religious conservatives.
The records are created by the Secret Service, which is subject to the Freedom of Information Act. But the Bush administration has ordered the data turned over to the White House, where they are treated as presidential records outside the scope of the public records law.
U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth said logs from the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney’s residence are subject to public records request.
Good. There’s bound to be an appeal, but today’s decision is certainly welcome.
And who, pray tell, does the White House not want us to know is stopping by 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?
To hear Bush’s lawyers tell it, this is all about principle. It’s not that they have anything to hide, they say; it’s that Bush and Cheney should have the power to keep their visitors’ names secret. It helps them get unfettered advice, and protects national security. Or something.
In reality, of course, these guys have everything to hide. This controversy arose in earnest when the Jack Abramoff scandal broke, and the Bush gang was afraid the public would learn just how often the disgraced GOP lobbyist came to the White House. Likewise, there have been plenty of questions about various conservative figures — religious extremists, oil-company lobbyists, etc. — and the frequency with which they stopped by to see the president and his team, which also prompted the need for secrecy.
It led the Bush gang to furiously come up with some kind of rationale to hide the logs.
The White House and the Secret Service quietly signed an agreement last spring in the midst of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal declaring that records identifying visitors to the White House complex are not subject to public disclosure….
The five-page document dated May 17 declares that all entry and exit data on White House visitors belongs to the White House as presidential records rather than to the Secret Service as agency records. Therefore, the agreement states, the material is not subject to public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
In the past, Secret Service logs have revealed the comings and goings of various White House visitors, including Monica Lewinsky and Clinton campaign donor Denise Rich, the wife of fugitive financier Marc Rich, who received a pardon in the closing hours of the Clinton administration.
The memo last spring was signed by the White House and Secret Service the day after a Washington-based group asked a federal judge to impose sanctions on the Secret Service in a dispute over White House visitor logs for Abramoff.
Today’s court ruling rejects this “agreement.” Stay tuned.