Scott Stanzel --The Emergence Of A New Comedy Talent

Yesterday Steve Benen writing at Washington Monthly poked fun at "fourth-string" White House spokesperson Scott Stanzel:

Q: Scott, is Scooter Libby getting more than equal justice under the law? Is he getting special treatment?

STANZEL: Well, I guess I don't know what you mean by "equal justice under the law."

Oddly enough, Stanzel's probably right; he and his colleagues don't know what people mean by "equal justice under the law." He is, however, supposed to pretend.

If he had stayed with Stanzel's performance he would have uncovered another example of the young man's comedic talent.

According to Klaus Marre writing in The Hill.com Stanzel used the presser to complain that the Democrats have averaged 6 oversight hearings a day since the Democrats took charge of Congress. The White House has turned over 200,000 pages of (mostly redacted) documents. Stanzel said:

I would raise those issues because it raises the question, what does Congress want to do? Do they want to pass legislation for the American people or would they rather investigate and have politics be the course of the day?

I would say they have a lot to show in terms of activity and requests and letter-writing, and that sort of thing, but not much to show in the way of real legislation, whether it’s legislation on healthcare, education, comprehensive immigration reform.

A few stray thoughts about Stanzel's whine. First, the Democrats are making up for lost time. The Administration was able to run wild, free of any Congressional oversight during its first 6 years.

Second, the Democrats could easily perform both of their constitutional functions if the White House cooperated with the various investigations or if it merely held any of its miscreant loyal Bushies accountable for their screw ups.

Third, oversight is also one of the administration's jobs. As we reported yesterday it seems the Bush administration has been working just as hard to politicize their Inspectors General as they have worked to politicize the Department of Justice.

Fourth, if the White House wanted to pass legislation they could persuade Republican congressmen and women to stop being obstructionists. They should send a simple message to Senate Republicans -- Up Or Down Vote.

As for Mr. Stanzel I suggest he find out the name of the company with the White House white-out concession and buy some stock.

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Chairman Waxman Has Sent Another Letter

Chairman Henry Waxman of the Committee on Government and Oversight Reform has sent another letter to the Administration. According to Chairman Waxman

* White House security officials have been blocked from inspecting West Wing offices for compliance with procedures for handling classified information. The White House has its own security office that functions independently of the Information Security Oversight Office in the National Archives. According to several security officials who have worked in this White House office, the Bush White House blocked the White House security officers from conducting unannounced inspections of the West Wing. This is a departure from the practices of the prior administration, which allowed these inspections.

* The White House regularly ignored security breaches. The security officers described repeated instances in which security breaches were reported to the White House Security Office by Secret Service or CIA agents, but were never investigated. In one case, the White House Security Office took no action after receiving a report that a White House official left classified materials unattended in a hotel room. In numerous instances, reports that White House officials left classified information on their desks went uninvestigated.

* The President’s top political advisor received a renewal of his security clearance despite presidential directives calling for the denial of security clearances for officials who misrepresent their involvement in security leaks. Under guidelines issued by President Bush, security clearances should not be renewed for individuals who deny their role in the release of classified information, regardless of whether the disclosure was intentional or negligent. Contrary to this guidance, the White House Security Office renewed the security clearance for Karl Rove in late 2006.

* The White House has condoned widespread mismanagement at the White House Security Office. According to the White House security officers, the White House allowed the White House Security Office to be run by managers who ignored basic security procedures and allowed other White House officials to do so also.

The letter was sent to White House Counsel Fred Fielding. You have to admit Henry Waxman is nothing if not persistent.

Of course, you can't expect anybody in the White House to be concerned with anything so pedestrian as security for top secret documents. They are just too important for such trivialities.

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Pentagon Email System Hacked, 1500 Users Off Line

If you have ever wondered if the systematic and massive violation of the Presidential Records Act was the the only thing wrong with Karl Rove and 87 other White House officials using the RNC as their email provider, consider this story. This morning it is being reported that the pentagon's email system has been hacked. News.com.au reports

A HACKER penetrated an unclassified Pentagon email system, prompting authorities to take as many 1500 accounts off-line, defence officials said overnight.

"All precautionary measures are being taken and we expect this system to be on-line again very soon," said Colonel Gary Keck, a Pentagon spokesman.

He said the penetration was detected yesterday in the unclassified email system of the office of the secretary of defence, which employs thousands of people.

Between 1000 and 1500 users of the system were taken off-line, a defence official said.

The Pentagon spokesman was quick to assure the public that it "aggressively monitors its networks for intrusions and has appropriate procedures to address events of this nature." I am sure the spokesman is right. Now tell me the RNC is just as aggressive in defending it's email system.

If you want additional details follow this link to an AP story and this link to RawStory.

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RNC--Karl Rove Emails

Remember the RNC email accounts that according to Dana Perino were issued to a handful of White House employees. Well it turns out that Dana was a little on the low side. It seems the RNC was essentially functioning as an internet service provider for about 88 White House employees all in violation of the law.

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has just released a report (pdf) on the RNC email accounts used by various White House officials. Among other things the report finds

* The number of White House officials given RNC e-mail accounts is higher than previously disclosed. In March 2007, White House spokesperson Dana Perino said that only a “handful of officials” had RNC e-mail accounts. In later statements, her estimate rose to “50 over the course of the administration.” In fact, the Committee has learned from the RNC that at least 88 White House officials had RNC e-mail accounts. The officials with RNC e-mail accounts include Karl Rove, the President’s senior advisor; Andrew Card, the former White House Chief of Staff; Ken Mehlman, the former White House Director of Political Affairs; and many other officials in the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Communications, and the Office of the Vice President.

* White House officials made extensive use of their RNC e-mail accounts. The RNC has preserved 140,216 e-mails sent or received by Karl Rove. Over half of these e-mails (75,374) were sent to or received from individuals using official “.gov” e-mail accounts. Other heavy users of RNC e-mail accounts include former White House Director of Political Affairs Sara Taylor (66,018 e-mails) and Deputy Director of Political Affairs Scott Jennings (35,198 e-mails). These e-mail accounts were used by White House officials for official purposes, such as communicating with federal agencies about federal appointments and policies.

* There has been extensive destruction of the e-mails of White House officials by the RNC. Of the 88 White House officials who received RNC e-mail accounts, the RNC has preserved no e-mails for 51 officials. In a deposition, Susan Ralston, Mr. Rove’s former executive assistant, testified that many of the White House officials for whom the RNC has no e-mail records were regular users of their RNC e-mail accounts. Although the RNC has preserved no e-mail records for Ken Mehlman, the former Director of Political Affairs, Ms. Ralston testified that Mr. Mehlman used his account “frequently, daily.” In addition, there are major gaps in the e-mail records of the 37 White House officials for whom the RNC did preserve e-mails. The RNC has preserved only 130 e-mails sent to Mr. Rove during President Bush’s first term and no e-mails sent by Mr. Rove prior to November 2003. For many other White House officials, the RNC has no e-mails from before the fall of 2006.

* There is evidence that the Office of White House Counsel under Alberto Gonzales may have known that White House officials were using RNC e-mail accounts for official business, but took no action to preserve these presidential records. In her deposition, Ms. Ralston testified that she searched Mr. Rove’s RNC e-mail account in response to an Enron-related investigation in 2001 and the investigation of Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald later in the Administration. According to Ms. Ralston, the White House Counsel’s office knew about these e-mails because “all of the documents we collected were then turned over to the White House Counsel’s office.” There is no evidence, however, that White House Counsel Gonzales initiated any action to ensure the preservation of the e-mail records that were destroyed by the RNC.

I guess Karl Rove and company figured The Presidential Records Act was just a guideline. Don't we have enough to impeach Alberto yet?

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Fred F. Fielding to Congress--You Can't Handle The Truth on the RNC Servers

Well it has been an interesting night. First we were told that a lot of the NRC emails, especially those of Karl Rove, have "inadvertently" gone missing. The New York Times reports that

The White House said Thursday that missing e-mail messages sent on Republican Party accounts may include some relating to the firing of eight United States attorneys

If they do, then the RNC email accounts were used on official government business, and not on political business. That is a violation of the Presidential Records Act. Numerous experts have said that while copies of the emails might have been "deleted" by Karl Rove and others from their machines, those deletes wouldn't affect backed up servers.

Apparently the White House didn't think about server back ups. The Times story says that White House's lawyer Fred F. Fielding, ever the champion of executive privilege, is now asserting that the White House controls the emails on the RNC servers and that the White House doesn't have to turn over e-mail messages that the Republican National Committee has archived. I guess he figures we, the people, can't handle the truth of what our employees have been trying to hide.

It is all very murky, but I suspect we are inching ever closer to a Constitutional showdown. Those never turn out well for Presidents trying to hide wrongdoing from the Congress. Just ask President Nixon.

TPMmuckraker says another document dump is coming. More documents sanitized for Karl's protection. When do the subpoenas start flying? I think we can handle the truth.

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