Chairman Henry Waxman Sat Right Down And Wrote Vice President Cheney A Letter

Earlier today Chairman Henry Waxman of the House Oversight Committee sent Vice President Dick Cheney a letter kicking off what appears to be a looming constitutional crisis. Chairman Waxman and the House Oversight Committee just released the following summary of what they have learned and the contents of their letter:

The Oversight Committee has learned that over the objections of the National Archives, Vice President Cheney exempted his office from the presidential order that establishes government-wide procedures for safeguarding classified national security information. The Vice President asserts that his office is not an “entity within the executive branch.”

As described in a letter from Chairman Waxman to the Vice President, the National Archives protested the Vice President's position in letters written in June 2006 and August 2006. When these letters were ignored, the National Archives wrote to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in January 2007 to seek a resolution of the impasse. The Vice President's staff responded by seeking to abolish the agency within the Archives that is responsible for implementing the President's executive order.

In his letter to the Vice President, Chairman Waxman writes: "I question both the legality and wisdom of your actions. ... [I]t would appear particularly irresponsible to give an office with your history of security breaches an exemption from the safeguards that apply to all other executive branch officials."

A fact sheet prepared by Chairman Waxman describes other instances in which the Vice President's office has sought to avoid oversight and accountability.

I think the impeachment of Dick Cheney just moved a lot closer to the top of the house table.

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Lurita Doan and the Hortatory Subjunctive Defense

While the Justice Department investigation has attracted most of our attention, chugging along in parallel is sad case of Lurita Doan, GSA administrator. You will recall back in March we reported on the Hatch Act violating brown bag lunch she sponsored at the GSA. Much has happened in the months since. Most notably Ms. Doan has been interviewed by the Office of Special Counsel. The Washington Post's Steven Barr reports that

In testimony taken by the special counsel, Doan implied that the witnesses were biased against her, according to the report. "There's not a single one of those who did not have somewhere in between a poor to totally inferior performance," the report quotes Doan as saying.

At another point, the report quotes Doan as saying that some of the GSA appointees are "people I've either moved on or they are, I don't want to say permanently demoted but they're kind of, until extensive rehabilitation of their performance occurs, they will not be getting promoted and they will not be getting bonuses or special awards or anything of that nature."

During her March appearance Ms. Doan seemed to be suffering from the same memory illness afflicting senior Justice Department officials. She must have changed medications because her memory is greatly improved. Yesterday she chose the grammarian defense. She claimed she was using the hortatory subjunctive when she said

Until extensive rehabilitation of their performance occurs, they will not be getting promoted and will not be getting bonuses or special awards or anything of that nature.

What follows is an exchange between Doan and Rep. John Tierney (D-MA). It is typical of Doan's testimony. Notice the references to her problems with tense and personal pronouns. Doan graduated from Vassar with a degree in English (with honors) and has a masters in Renaissance literature.



At the end of the hearing Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) sums up the record and calls on Doan to resign. If you listen carefully you can hear Doan snicker in the background. Tell me she doesn't hold Congress in contempt.

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