House Dems Want Former Abramoff, Rove Aide Ralston For Questions

[Hissyspit]

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002930.php

House Dems Want Former Abramoff, Rove Aide for Questions
By Paul Kiel - March 30, 2007, 3:57 PM
Much to the chagrin of the White House, House Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) wants to hear from Susan Ralston. Jack Abramoff's former personal assistant, Ralston became Karl Rove's assistant in 2001, where she was his "implant" at the White House.

But after a report last October by Waxman's committee (then chaired by Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA)) showed that Ralston had accepted thousands of dollars in gifts from Abramoff without compensating him, she abruptly resigned.

At the time, the White House was clear that Ralston's resignation meant the end of the issue. "She recognized that a protracted discussion of these matterrs would be a distraction to the White House and she's chosen to step down," said deputy White House press secretary Dana Perino. "We support her decision and consider the matter closed."

But it's not closed, according to Waxman, who, in a letter sent today, invited Ralston to appear before the committee on Thursday, April 5, to answer questions about Abramoff's access to the White House.

MORE

[CrazyOrangeCat]

1. Keep chippin' away at them, Henry.

Wish there were more like ya.

[loudsue]

2. Rove & co. will take MIGHTY steps to prevent this from happening.

Or she could just be the next elephant to lose her memory.

I KNOW Waxman has some solid information on this little fish.

:kick::kick::kick:

[tiptoe]

3. "Executive privilege may not extend to private email accounts provided by the RNC."

Records-Breaking Emails

Bush Administration Dodges Public Oversight

March 30, 2007

President Bush has consistently attempted to weaken the Presidential Records Act, which was intended to open presidential documents to the public after a period of no more than 12 years. In 2001, Bush issued a decree that now allows "former presidents and their heirs to bar the release of documents for almost any reason." Recent revelations in the Bush administration's firing of eight U.S. attorneys shed new light on another way the White House has been deliberately evading the PRA -- by using political, non-government email addresses to correspond with one another. Since the White House system automatically keeps records of all emails, Bush administration officials -- including Karl Rove -- are using accounts provided by the Republican National Committee and the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign to dodge public oversight. Unfortunately, after Waxman notified these groups to begin preserving all emails by and from White House officials, administration staffers have started looking for new ways to hide presidential records from public scrutiny.

Administration officials have been using political email addresses to evade White House record-keeping requirements.
<snip>

By using private email, White House officials are blurring the lines between politics and official White House duties.
<snip>

Executive privilege may not extend to private email accounts provided by the RNC. The Bush administration has repeatedly invoked executive privilege as a reason to withhold information on the prosecutor purge. But by using outside political email addresses, White House officials have lost the presumption of executive privilege. As The Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum noted, staffers "using private accounts specifically to evade legitimate congressional oversight" might lose their claims to executive privilege. If they were "primarily discussing the U.S. Attorney firings on personal and RNC accounts, that implicitly means that they themselves weren't treating it as the kind of official business that would be protected by executive privilege," he added.

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here's a link to the first red herring OP. Nothing more than sound and fury. n/t (...about Susan Ralston "missing" Mar-26-07 )


Subpoena SUSAN B. RALSTON. She holds the key to WH e-mail systems, election night '04 and Abramoff. (with pics)