I agree with Lou Dobbs...

[lunarboy13]

One of the revelations in Kitty Kelly's book -- and one that is undeniably true -- is the Executive Order that W signed after he took office that locked up all the records of his father's Presidency, Clinton's Presidency, and even his own records as Governor of Texas. Presidential records are usually opened for researchers and the public after 12 years (those documents that don't still contain classified materials anyway). Lou Dobbs called this move by Bush, "Chilling..."

Does anyone have any info on this Executive Order? Has this been done before? Could this be a legitimate question to ask W on the campaign trail or during a debate with Kerry?

[HughBeaumont]

1. Presidential Act of 1978

It happened on Nov 2, 2001. From Wage Slave:

Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that presidents have the power to overturn laws with an executive order. But President Bush doesn't let that stop him from protecting Reagan, his father, administration cronies, and himself from the eventual release of their records. In the wake of Watergate, Congress passed the 1978 Presidential Records Act, which was designed to check the evil whims of future presidents with the promise that all their papers would be released to the public 12 years after they left office. Reagan's papers were slated to be released this year, but Bush delayed the release several times. Surely this was connected to the fact that many of the worst criminals in the Reagan administration now serve under Bush. Now the president signs an executive order invalidating the PRA, ensuring that his most heinous deeds can be hidden from the public eye for all time.

Would have FRIED his old man - he more or less rendered Presidential misdeeds above question with that move.

[buycitgo]

2. sorry it took so long

On November 1, President George W. Bush signed his latest effort to govern by secrecy - Executive Order 13233. For good reason this Order has a lot of historians, journalists, and Congresspersons (both Republican and Democratic) upset.

The Order ends 27 years of Congressional and judicial efforts to make Presidential papers and records publicly available. In issuing the Order, the President has pushed his lawmaking powers beyond their limits.

The Secret Presidency

As President watchers know, we have a President who likes secrecy. He has hired only tested leak-proof and loyal staffers, effectively sealing the Bush White House. He has had his records as the Governor of Texas hidden, shipping them off to his father's Presidential library, where they are inaccessible. He has stiffed the Congressional requests for information about how he developed his energy policy - refusing to respond.

No President can govern in a fishbowl. But not since Richard Nixon went to work in the Oval Office has there been as concentrated an effort to keep the real work of a President hidden, showing the public only a scripted President, as now. While this effort was evident before the September 11th terrorist attacks, the events of that day have become the justification for even greater secrecy.

The mystical veil of "national security" has been cast over much of the Bush administration. There were the secret arrests of terror-related suspects (currently over 1000 publicly unknown people). There was the expansion of the wiretap granting powers of a secret federal court hidden within the Department of Justice. There was, and continues to be, an apparent policy of precluding news organizations and congressional leaders from access to anything other than managed and generic news about the war in Afghanistan.

http://www.geocities.com/justicewell/dean.htm

[lunarboy13]

6. and this happened after Sept. 11

There was talk of a full investigation, not sure when talk of an independant investigation (i.e 9/11 Commission) began, but there was a buzz then. Plus, he locked up Clinton's records as well. Perhaps because those records reveal a greater understanding of Al-Qaeda and Osama bin-Laden? Perhaps those records demonstrate a much more focused and effective method of dealing with terrorism?

This information should be openly debated. I can't believe more people don't know about this.

[Roland99]

3. Try this perhaps?

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0423-03.htm

Gutting the 1978 Presidential Records Act

This effort began on November 1, 2001, when Bush issued Executive Order 13233. The Executive Order drew loud objections from not only historians and archivists, but also members of Congress -- who were highly critical of the Order in hearings. In the end, however, the Republican leaders quelled the grumbling, and Congress took no action.

The Executive Order gutted prior law -- specifically, the 1978 Presidential Records Act. The Order granted all former presidents, as well as any persons selected by them, an unprecedented authority to invoke executive privilege to block release of their records. In addition, it granted the power to invoke executive privilege to present and former vice-presidents as well.

Moreover, it shifts the burden to the requester to establish why he or she seeks the presidential records. (In contrast, the 1978 law properly put the burden on the former president who seeks to withhold them.) And Bush's Order empowers a current president to block release of a former president's records even when the former president wishes to release them. Finally, it makes the Department of Justice available to represent, in litigation, any incumbent or former president seeking to withhold information.

The public interest group Public Citizen filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Both sides have filed for summary judgment. So far, the court has not ruled.

Bush should lose the suit. A President should not be able to overturn a statute with an Executive Order -- especially when he is doing so in a self-interested bid to protect the secrecy of his own records.

[lunarboy13]

4. This is scary stuff....

To me it is quite damning and I think it should be used as yet another front to attack Bush...

[bullimiami]

5. hel locked up reagans records too.

he is covering up all of the scandles the demons he hired have been involved in and any chance of clinton showing him up.

[Hubert Flottz]

7. The Supreme Court ruled that Bush is above the law on...

12/12/2000! They said that anything that could hurt Bush was not legal!