White House to release entry logs

[ProSense]

White House to release entry logs

By JOHN SOLOMON and SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writers
9 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration told a court this month it shouldn't have to disclose White House visits by two Republican activists entangled in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal because the information was privileged and might reveal how President Bush and his staff get private advice.

However, the administration has now decided to release the White House entry logs for Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed as early as Wednesday evening, settling an election-year legal dispute with the Democratic Party and an ethics watchdog group, officials told The Associated Press.

The logs will show Norquist and Reed attended numerous functions including Christmas parties and policy briefings and met with Bush staff members but had no one-on-one meetings with the president, according to people familiar with the records.

In a court filing earlier this month, Justice Department lawyers representing the administration stated that information about the Norquist and Reed visits should be protected from public disclosure under the doctrine of "deliberative process privilege."

more...

Former White House lawyer Lanny Breuer, who handled many of President Clinton's privilege claims, said that administration routinely released White House entry records to the public and never "came close to making a claim like the one being suggested in this instance."

Deliberative and executive privilege claims are "designed to protect the advice the president gets. They are not intended to protect the identities of people from whom he gets that advice or when or where that advice was given from a particular person," Breuer said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060920/ap_on_go_pr_wh/abramoff_white_house_2

[Parche]

1. above the law

The Bush administration told a court this month it shouldn't have to disclose White House visits by two Republican activists entangled in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal because the information was privileged and might reveal how President Bush and his staff get private advice. ?????

Do they think they are above the law, that should be public information, as they are public/Government servants, voted in by the people right?

[KansDem]

2. "The law" to these thugs and cutthroats is merely a speedbump...

...merely an inconvenience. Like any speed bump, the law will slow them down a bit and they will curse it, but it won't stop them in their pursuit to achieve their goal...

They can even work to have these speed bumps removed!