GOP-issued laptops now a White House headache

[sabra]

Source: LAT

Democrats say a private e-mail system was used in violation of federal rules.

WASHINGTON — When Karl Rove and his top deputies arrived at the White House in 2001, the Republican National Committee provided them with laptop computers and other communication devices to be used alongside their government-issued equipment.

...

"There is concern about what may be in these e-mails," said one GOP activist who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject.

"The system was created with the best intentions," said former Assistant White House Press Secretary Adam Levine, who was assigned an RNC laptop and BlackBerry when he worked at the White House in 2002. But, he added, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

...

Levine, the former Bush press aide, said he saw senior White House colleagues, including Rove and his top staff, moving fluidly between the two computer systems, which often sat on officials' desks along with their government computers.

But Levine said he found the two computers with their separate purposes and log-in procedures confusing and inefficient. So he quietly slid his RNC laptop into a desk drawer, deciding to use the telephone rather than e-mail to communicate anything that was not considered official government business.

"In retrospect," he said last week, "I was lucky."


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-na-laptops9apr09,0,4563806.story

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Flashback....

[hobbit709]

1. Obviously their intent from the very beginning

was to circumvent the law. But the howling if Clinton had done this would still be going on now.

[napi21]

3. I agree! I think the Dems should not only be howling, but

constantlyscreaming ILLEGAL, and HIDING STUFF, all the time, and in EVERY news confrence! Beat thost drums!!

[KansDem]

2. "...the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

I don't even think your intentions were "good," but I do hope the "road to hell" is a long and torturous one. :grr:

[woodsprite]

5. Unfortunately, they're taking all of us with them. n/t

[LiberalFighter]

10. I don't know how he can say they were good intentions

When someone does not follow legal ethical procedures they are trying to hide their illegal unethical intentions. A long ways from being good intentions.

Using RNC computers in the White House not exactly ethical. But then again I'm sure bushwad never learned ethics in his MBA courses.

[truthisfreedom]

4. There's nothing like the collective discomfort of a completely corrupt organization being put under

the microscope of Justice. It's just such delicious agony.

[zbdent]

6. Not exactly precedent-setting

I remember that Bush41's people took the hard drives from their PCs when they left office, to keep from having anything that could be deemed illegal ...

[LiberalFighter]

8. I don't recall that happening... I would consider that illegal

[zbdent]

9. Clinton came in to office, Jan 1993

and all the hard drives had been removed from the PCs. Gee, that's illegal? I guess that Clinton had more class than Bush43 ... the rightwingers wanted to re-impeach him for removal of "W" keys (along with "trashing" the offices, a story started by Drudge, but no list could be produced ...)

[MissMillie]

11. I don't know that it's illegal to remove the hard drives

unless the records are being witheld to circumvent the Presidential Records Act.

It's one thing to withold information from an incoming administration, (certainly not condusive to an efficient transition of power) but quite another to keep this information from every being made public. The Presidential Records Act of '78 says that after 12 years, Presidential Records become the property of the American people (yeah, I know Bush43 signed it away by Executive Order... I think Congress is trying to bring it back).

[LiberalFighter]

Who paid for the hard drives?

If the hard drives were missing from computers in any government office would that be considered theft?

[MissMillie]

15. I don't know

and yes, it's possible that could be considered theft.

It's possible that somewhere along the lines, the hard-drives were cleaned and the contents archived with Bush41's presidential records (and will be released to the public according to law) and the hardware returned to the government....

I don't know the whole story. I will absolutely agree with your assertion that if Clinton had done this the uproar would have been long and loud.

[LiberalFighter]

17. Depending on how soon the hard drives were returned...

in the meantime they had to replace those hard drives which means spending unnecessary taxpayer money.

[MissMillie]

18. yep, that's fair

think they'll write us all a check?

[LiberalFighter]

19. Nope.. Scumbags never pay for what they steal

[LiberalFighter]

7. Maybe the RNC deleted their emails after 30 days BUT

that doesn't mean the email on those laptops used in the White House were deleted.

[rodeodance]

12. Did they stay past 5pm to do their RNC work-or was it done on gov.time?

[LiberalFighter]

14. I don't believe that 5pm is the end of their working day

Working day ends whenever their bosses tell them to leave.

AND use of government property for political purposes is illegal the last I knew.

There is the Hatch Act
Engage in political activity while on duty
Engage in political activity in any Government office
Engage in political activity while using a Government vehicle

[eppur_se_muova]

13. "The system was created with the best intentions," Like HELL it was!

It was created to thwart oversight, and to keep the business of government secret from the people elected to Congress with a "D" next to their names. Just one more aspect of the party-wide conspiracy to circumvent lawful government.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

20. exactly, nice stonewalling maneuvers

[gratuitous]

16. A little too cute for their own good

Setting up the parallel communication system was intended to hide something, and as Mr. Bush has reminded us over and over again during his term of office, people with something to hide are usually doing something wrong.

But the real kicker is that in order to maintain the White House's fiction that nothing "official" happened on the RNC computers and servers, then whatever investigators turn up from those communications is by definition not shielded by executive privilege, since it wasn't official Executive Department business.