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Home > Window on Washington > Archives > 2007 > July
July 2007
Sarbanes-Oxley or Lewis-Martin?
The two former lawmakers who wrote the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to clean up corporate accounting practices celebrated their legislation’s fifth anniversary Monday. Sen. Paul Sarbanes, D-Md., and Rep. Michael Oxley, R-Ohio, both now retired from Congress, spoke at the National Press Club where they addressed the Center for Audit Quality.
Sarbanes-Oxley is now so well known in the corporate world that Oxley began by saying he was “glad to be here with my first name.” Sarbanes said people in Maryland now wonder “why I’m running around with a hyphenated name.”
But seriously, folks: They both congratulated their namesake legislation for improving the quality of corporate auditing in the United States. The two had wanted to restore investors’ confidence in the truthfulness of corporate earnings, “and that we did,” Oxley said.
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Cleland to Advise Medical Firm on Issues
Tissue Regeneration Technologies LLC, a medical technology company based in Woodstock, Ga., announced Monday that Max Cleland, who served as a Democratic senator from Georgia from 1996-2002, will serve as a senior policy adviser.
CEO John Warlick said Cleland will not be lobbying Congress, but rather will be “pointing us in the right direction” for meeting with state and federal health officials and lawmakers around the country. “We want to tap into his network” of people involved in advanced wound care, Warlick said.
TRT is involved in the Combat Wound Initiative at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. Their goal is to improve the healing of soft tissue and bone fragments. Cleland, a triple amputee, was wounded during his service in Vietnam in the late 1960s. He was appointed by President Carter as administrator of the Veterans Administration and served from 1977 to 1981.
Warlick said Cleland will be based in Atlanta.
Permalink | | Categories: Washington
Clinton Flashes Cleavage Story For Cash
Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign used a recent Washington Post story about the New York senator’s cleavage in an appeal for donations Friday.
“Clothes? Make up? Cleavage? What’s really important in this race?” campaign adviser Ann Lewis wrote in an e-mail soliciting donations to Clinton’s presidential campaign.
“Frankly, focusing on women’s bodies instead of their ideas is insulting,” Lewis added. “It’s insulting to every woman who has ever tried to be taken seriously in a business meeting. It’s insulting to our daughters — and our sons — who are constantly pressured by the media to grow up too soon.”
Lewis urged the e-mail recipients to “take a stand against this kind of coarseness and pettiness in American culture” by making a financial donation to Clinton’s campaign.
The Post story, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning fashion writer Robin Givhan, noted that there was “cleavage on display” during a speech Clinton made on the Senate floor July 18.
In the article, Givhan wrote that “to display cleavage in a setting that does not involve cocktails and hors d’oeuvres is a provocation. It requires that a woman be utterly at ease in her skin, coolly confident about her appearance, unflinching about her sense of style.”
Said Lewis of the article: “I’ve seen some off-topic press coverage — but talking about body parts? That is grossly inappropriate. … By now, the media should know better. But they don’t.”
To read the Washington Post story, click here.
White House: Dems on a “Crusade” Against Gonzales
The harder the Democrats go after Attorney General Alberto Gonzales the deeper the White House digs in to defend the president’s longtime friend and aide.
On the morning after Senate Democrats called for a special prosecutor to look into whether Gonzales lied in congressional testimony, Deputy White House Press Secretary Dana Perino today said the Dems are on a “crusade” against the AG.
What some folks don’t understand, Perino said, is that there are super-secret programs Gonzales can’t talk about in public. And, she said, that can make his testimony look bad at times.
Here’s the full quote:
“I believe the attorney general’s statements to the committee were true, and I think that when the committee relentlessly asked questions about a subject that they know that he is going to have difficulty answering because he has one hand tied behind his back, that they — they have deliberately had this crusade against him to try to destroy the attorney general. And we are standing by the attorney general for his statements.”
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Not A Pretty Sight
The White House vs. Michael Moore battle got a bit more personal this morning.
At a morning briefing, Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino was asked about Moore’s Thursday night appearance on The Tonight Show when he said the administration had subpoenaed him about his trip to Cuba. The visit came while he was making “Sicko,” a film critical of health care in the U.S.
“I didn’t go there like Cameron Diaz and get a tan,” Moore said by way of defending his trip.
“That’s probably a visual we don’t need,” the petite Ms. Perino said of the image of the rotund Mr. Moore soaking up the rays.
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Well It Won’t Cure That
Diabetes and heart disease are among the maladies doctors report early success treating with emerging techniques using stem cells - living cells capable of building themselves into any kind of tissue in the human body.
Patients and doctors testified to the success of the treatment at a Capitol Hill press conference Thursday to introduce House legislation aimed at targeting the $600 million U.S. taxpayers spend on stem cell research each year toward areas that show the most immediate promise.
There are still some conditions, though, for which there may be no cure.
“This is a personal issue for me as well,” Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., deadpanned after several testimonials. “I have two brothers that are old and ugly.”
Gingrey, a medical doctor, takes stem cell research a bit more seriously.
He’s a co-sponsor of the House legislation - H.R. 2807 - introduced by Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., and Rep. Daniel Lipinski, D-Il.
And Gingrey has authored his own legislation - H.R. 5526 - aimed at promoting research using stem cells that come from amniotic fluid, human placentas, bone marrow and other sources that do not require that human embryos be created or destroyed for medical research.
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McKinnon’s Still A McCainiac
Austinite Mark McKinnon, a top communications strategist in both of George W. Bush’s presidential races, said today he will not become part of the exodus of key advisers from John McCain’s troubled presidential campaign.
McKinnon says he will stay with McCain “til the last dog diest.” (Insert Michael Vick joke here.)
Ad consultants Russ Schriefer and Stuart Stevens, key players in the Bush campaigns of 2000 and 2004, left the McCain campaign this week under amicable circumstances. It was the latest in what has been as a series of departures of top aides in the McCain campaign.
McKinnon is and has been an unpaid adviser to McCain.
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Keep Your Seats
The White House has agreed to back off a rule that would have barred media types from “after hours” sitting in the recently refurbished Briefing Room.
The rules as first stated made it clear that reporters, camera folks, technicians, etc., could not use the Briefing Room seats between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., which includes nighttime hours when tourists who are guests of White House personnel check out the briefing room.
This rule (“no use of the chairs in the briefing room after hours”) did not sit well with some, especially the hard-working TV technical types, who spend many hours in the room.
So the White House, working with the White House Correspondents Association, agreed to remove the rule. Instead, the rules will say “This remains a working press room after hours. However, be aware that there may be small groups touring the Briefing Room after 7 p.m. and on weekends.”
And this rule is still in: “Please do not sit, sleep or lie on the floor, stages, kneewall, camera deck, etc.”
You have been warned.
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Open to the Possibility?
At a National Press Club luncheon on Wednesday, first lady Laura Bush spoke about her recent trip to Africa. After giving an upbeat assessment of gains being made in the fight against AIDS and malaria, she took questions from the audience.
Someone asked her to give a job description for being first lady. Mrs. Bush said a first lady can call attention to important, specific issues, as Lady Bird Johnson did to beautification efforts. But she noted, “there’s no written organization chart that shows what her job is.”
Then she stopped there in mid-sentence to consider an alternative scenario: “or the first gentleman, if there’s going to be one.”
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Which Southern Governors Are Rooting For Hillary? Only From Knows
When the centrist Democratic Leadership Council was founded in 1985, it had a decidedly Southern flavor. The idea behind it was to make the Democratic Party safe again for Southerners after the landslide loss of Walter Mondale in the 1984 presidential campaign.
At a private breakfast with political reporters Wednesday, DLC founder Al From was reminded of those days while responding to questions about how well Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York would do in the South if she were to win the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
From insisted that some Southern governors had confided to him that they believe Clinton would be “the strongest” candidate the party could field in the South. When asked to identify the governors, From laughingly replied, “I’m not going to tell you that.”
So, let’s see. Who are the Democratic members of the Southern Governors Association and who are they supporting in the 2008 Democratic presidential campaign?
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen probably isn’t one of the Southern governors who is whispering Clinton’s praises into From’s ear. Even before the campaign began, Bredesen made headlines by saying Clinton would face an “uphill” fight in the South.
Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine probably isn’t one of them, either. He was among the first Democratic governors anywhere to declare his allegiance, and he chose Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.
Maybe it’s Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who is solidly in favor of Clinton and, in fact, occasionally acts as a campaign surrogate for her.
Among the other Southern governors, little is clear.
North Carolina Gov. Michael Easley has strong ties to former Tarheel Sen. John Edwrds, but has not endorsed anyone so far.
Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe told reporters recently that it’s too early for him to make an endorsement.
Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry has steered clear of the 2008 presidential campaign. An Oklahoma Poll in May showed Sooner Democrats split evenly, 29-29 percent, between Clinton and Edwards.
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco has also avoided the 2008 campaign. So has West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, although he plans to attend a Clinton fundraiser in Charleston, W.Va., on Friday.
Bush Meets Wounded Reporter
After a bipartisan commission briefed President Bush today on suggestions for improving medical care for Iraq and Afghanistan vets, the commander-in-chief allowed a small gaggle of reporters into the Oval Office for brief remarks and a photo session.
As is often his custom, Bush declined to take any questions from the so-called pool reporters.
This time, though, was a bit trickier than most.
For among the reporters was ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff, who suffered traumatic brain injuries and other wounds last year when a roadside bomb blasted the vehicle he was in while covering the war in Iraq.
“We’re glad you’re with us,” Bush told Woodruff, “and we would hope that any wounded soldier - any person in uniform - would receive the kind of care and that ability to return to work, just like you have done.”
When Woodruff asked Bush a question, though, the president reverted to form, declining to answer and instead joking that “just because I recognized you, Bob,” didn’t give the journalist the right to get an answer to his question.
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Lawmakers Express Anger Over Soldiers Misdiagnosed with Personality Disorder
House lawmakers expressed outrage Wednesday over reports that thousands of soldiers and other service members have been discharged for allegedly having a personality disorder when in fact many have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from combat.
The House Veterans Affairs Committee heard testimony from one such soldier just days after Iraq war veterans filed a lawsuit in San Francisco accusing outgoing VA Secretary Jim Nicholson - who announced his resignation last week - of denying them disability pay and mental health treatment.
The lawsuit also accuses the VA of working with the Defense Department to misclassify PTSD claims as pre-existing personality disorders to avoid paying benefits. The VA and Pentagon have denied this.
Military records obtained by Cox Newspapers show that nearly 22,500 service members have been discharged since 2001 after being disgnosed with the disorder, more than half of them since combat operations began in Afghanistan in 2003.
This “begs the question about why these men and women were allowed into the armed services to begin with,” Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., told the committee.
An investigation by Cox Newspapers last fall found that many soldiers have been misdiagnosed with the disorder after returning from combat and that the diagnosis itself, when applied to recently returning soldiers, appears to violate military guidelines.
Iraq veteran Jonathan Town told the committee that his doctor told him that he had “medical issues that call for a medical evaluation board” - the routine but lengthy process for fully diagnosing PTSD - but urged him to accept a personality disorder diagnosis instead because it would allow him to be discharged quickly and get treatment and benefits.
In fact, the VA does not pay benefits to soldiers discharged with a personality disorder because it is deemed a pre-existing condition. Moreover, like many soldiers interviewed by Cox, Town had to pay back the remainder of his re-enlistment bonus based on time not served, in his case $3,000.
Lawyers and some psychologists say the label, though accurate for some, has been used for decades to discharge personnel who may no longer meet military standards, are engaging in problematic behavior or suffer from serious mental disorders such as PTSD.
Town, who received a Purple Heart for a head injury in Iraq and has since been diagnosed with PTSD, said doctor told him: “For the military, they can get a deployable body in to fill your spot.”
“I told him that if this is what he thought was best for the military and my family that he could do what he needed to do,” said Town. “I never realized that everything that was said to me during that day were all lies.”
He and veterans advocates urged lawmakers to eliminate discharges for personality disorders. “I did not have a personality disorder before I joined the Army.”
“I’m beyond angry,” responded Rep. Phil Hare, D-Ill. “After 22,000 ./././ who’s next? Unbelievable.”
Dr. Ira Katz, the VA’s deputy chief patients care services officer for mental health, told the committee that it may be hard to diagnose personality disorders “in the face of PTSD or other mental health conditions” and that with patients showing relevant symptoms, the VA approach is to treat the PTSD first.
Dr. Tracie Shea, a psychologist with PTSD clinic at a VA medical center in Rhode Island, reiterated that the diagnostic manual used by the military states that repeated exposure to traumatic events can result in behaviors that appear to resemble the anti-social traits of personality disorder. For this reason, the diagnosis should only be made when it has been found that the soldier’s enduring behaviors were present in their late teens - and can’t be explained by PTSD or a traumatic brain injury.
The veterans’ lawsuit filed Monday also charges the VA with failing to quickly provide disability benefits, add staff to reduce often months-long waiting periods for care and improve treatment for soldiers suffering from PTSD.
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Stand Down
Thanks to the above sign - and the administration officials who came up with the rule - one of the most popular White House tourist photo ops is now history.
No longer can visitors to the White House Briefing Room (recently spiffed up as a result of an $8-million rehab of the press area) stand behind the podium and make believe they are saying something important.
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Diplomatic Politics
A Washington Post story today about White House political briefings held for members of the diplomatic corps didn’t get much of a rise out of the administration’s spokesman.
“You’ve got political appointees getting political briefings,” said Tony Snow. “I’m shocked. Shocked.”
“Let me put this way,” he said. “To be briefed on what the goals of an administration are, if you are a representative of the administration, is useful. … It’s perfectly legitimate for the White House to say, here are our goals, here are our objectives, this is what your executive branch is doing.”
What about the oft-repeated notion that politics ends at the water’s edge?
“Well, the fact is that this does not mean that they’re out churning for votes, they’re not doing fundraisers abroad,” Snow said. “This is simply a briefing and I daresay that this is hardly unusual in this administration.”
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YouTube? Not me.
Lots of folks seemed to enjoy the entertaining format of last night’s Democratic presidential debate that utilized questions submitted via YouTube.
President Bush was not among those folks.
Did he watch?
“I don’t think so,” says spokesman Tony Snow. “I don’t think he’s big on YouTube debates.”
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Atlantan Surprised By Video Included in YouTube Debate
Atlantan Charity Woods said she “almost blacked out” when she saw herself on the giant television monitor at the Democratic presidential debate sponsored by YouTube Monday night.
Woods was one of the dozens of American citizens whose homemade video asking the Democratic presidential candidates about issues of importance to them was chosen for use in the debate.
Woods asked what the candidates intended to do about health care, specifically, in addressing chronic diseases such as diabetes.
For the 30-year-old Woods, it is personal. Her mother, 54-year-old Evangeline Woods, also of Atlanta, has Type 2 diabetes and recently suffered a heart attack, just as Charity’s two grandmothers had before her.
Woods’ video included her mother and photographs of her two grandmothers.
“It was a complete surprise to me,” Woods said of the choice of her video to be included in the debate Monday night. “When I looked up and saw myself, I almost blacked out. But afterward, I was pleasantly surprised.”
Woods said she was not totally satisfied with the response to her question, but she believes the Democratic candidates will get around to the details she wants as they further develop their health care plans. “We’ve got great candidates,” she added.
Woods, who runs her own consulting firm in Atlanta, also said it was “pretty neat” to hear Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York mention her name of national television.
In response to Woods’ question, Clinton said: “I want to thank Mark and Joel (in another video) and Charity and Kim and Mike (also in another video). You know, it’s not easy coming in front of the entire world and talking about your Alzheimer’s or your diabetes or your breast cancer or disability. But the fact that this is happening in a country as rich as ours is just a national disgrace.”
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No Video Cameras Allowed In YouTube Debate
YouTube, the video sharing phenomenon of the Internet, is promoting tonight’s Democratic presidential debate on CNN as “groundbreaking” because it features questions posted by YouTube users.
But the irony of the two-hour debate in Charleston, S.C., is that members of the audience will not be allowed to use video cameras or cell phone cameras or any of the other technology that has made YouTube possible.
Steve Grove, the head of news and politics for YouTube, told reporters at a luncheon today that the Secret Service banned video technology in the audience because of security. “It’s the right call,” he said.
Currently, two of the eight Democratic presidential candidates have Secret Service protection - the two frontrunners, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.
YouTube did arrange for a select group of 10 YouTube users to be in the debate audience and use video cameras after the debate is over.
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“Hair” Politics Finally Twists In Edwards’ Favor
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has been on the losing end of “hair” politics lately because of a $400 haircut and a youTiube video showing him primping before a TV appearance.
But the politics of “hair” twisted in his favor Wednesday during the final day of his “Road To One America” tour of impoverished areas of western Virginia and eastern Kentucky.
Ron Monroe, a Tennessee native who runs his own limousine service, said he liked Edwards right away because “he looks different.” When asked to explain, Monroe said, “He parts his hair on the right side. That’s different from most men.”
Sure enough, Edwards does indeed part his hair on the right side — just like a politician named Robert F. Kennedy, whose footsteps Edwards was retracing through eastern Kentucky roughly 40 years after the late Democratic presidential contender made a similar tour to heighten awareness of the nation’s poor.
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“Cooter” Jones Rallies Red State Democrats for Edwards
Former Georgia Congressman Ben Jones, who played “Cooter” in the TV show “The Dukes of Hazzard,” hosted a blue grass show in Roanke, Va., Wednesday night in support of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards.
Jones declared his allegiance to Edwards but moreover to the Democratic Party.
“I’m a Democrat, and when I die bury me in Chicago so I can stay active in the part,” Jones quipped.
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Head Count Headaches
The decennial census approaches and there are problems already.
The Government Accountability Office is out today with a report on preparations for the 2010 Census. And the folks at GAO are not totally happy with what they see as the Census Bureau, complete with a “dress rehearsal,” plans for the $11.5-billion effort to count Americans.
Among the problem areas is the high-tech heart of the head count: “GAO observed technical problems with the handheld computing devices used in the dress rehearsal by field staff for address canvassing, in which the bureau verifies addresses. If the device does not function as expected or needed, little time will be left for the bureau to take corrective action.”
Another problem, Katrina-related: “In the Gulf Coast region, the condition of the changing housing stock is likely to present additional challenges for the address canvassing operation and subsequent operations. However, the bureau has not finalized plans for modifying the address canvassing operation or subsequent operations in the Gulf Coast region.”
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The Money Primary
Ballots, not bucks, decide who gets to live in the White House.
The polls haven’t opened yet for the 2008 contest. But the checkbooks have. And if dollars were votes, a new state-by-state analysis shows the Democrats would retake the White House in something of an electoral vote landslide.
In an exercise entitled “The Money Primary,” the independent Center for Reponsive Politics has done the math and determined that Democratic presidential candidates have collected more money than GOP contenders in 30 states and the District of Columbia. GOP candidates lead in 19 states. It’s pretty much of a tie in Indiana.
The center didn’t do the Electoral College math, but here it is. Democrats are now leading in the money chase in states with 376 electoral votes, far more than the 270 needed to win.
Interstingly, Democrats have the money edge in 13 states their nominee John Kerry did not carry in 2004.
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Hamilton: U.S. Troops Must Fight al-Qaida in Iraq, Pakistan
U.S. military forces must remain in Iraq to fight al-Qaida and train Iraqi forces even after they redeploy from major combat operations, Iraq Study Group co-chairman Lee Hamilton told reporters on Wednesday.
That would mean “tens of thousands” of American boots on the ground, he said, even if U.S. forces pull back from the fight by next May, as Democrats and some Republicans in Congress have proposed.
“Al-Qaida in Iraq remains a definite threat, and we have to have the combat capability in Iraq, under any scenario, to go after al-Qaida in Iraq,” said Hamilton, a Democrat and former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
He said he opposes a deadline for withdrawing troops, but favors measures to “put pressure” on President Bush to change course in Iraq, shifting the primary U.S. military mission there from combat operations to training Iraqi forces and going after al-Qaida.
Hamilton also said al-Qaida has built a “sanctuary” in Pakistan, and the United States needs to be able to launch covert operations and military strikes to disrupt the terrorists there.
“It is necessary for the United States to be able to go after the sanctuaries in Pakistan,” said Hamilton. “We must not permit the terrorists to have a sanctuary from which to regroup, train, plan and launch strikes.”
Hamilton, who is retired from the House but remains a respected voice in foreign affairs, made his remarks to reporters a day after the National Intelligence Estimate reported that al-Qaida had rebuilt in the aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.
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I Hope They Brought A Toothbrush
Cots were unloaded and rolled into Congress as the Senate plans to pull its first all-night debate over funding the Iraq war.
The rare, around-the-clock session is intended to coerce Republicans into accepting the Levin-Webb ammendment, which would mandate a date for withdrawing the vast majority of U.S. troops.
Senate Republicans are calling the action nothing more than political theatre. “I guess we’ll have a lot of fun staying up late and having a Senate slumber party,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
Democratic leaders were not amused, telling all senators to expect multiple votes throughout the evening.
“Let’s see if they still feel that way at 4 a.m.,” said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill. ” It’s not a slumber party.”
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Utah Really Loves Mitt
In the maze of numbers produced by presidential campaign finance reports, these stand out:
Utah residents contributed $4.35 million in the first six months of this year. Of that total, $3.84 million went to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a GOP contender. Next highest, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, is the $125,309 raised by Republican Sen. John McCain of neighboring Arizona.
The numbers mean Romney has taken in 88 percent of all the money contributed to presidential candidates this year by the folks in Utah.
About 60 percent of Utahans are Mormons, as is Romney, who is trying to become the first member of the Church of Latter-Day Saints to win the White House.
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Raising Dough
Stand by for possible presidential jokes about dough and bread.
Here’s the deal: The White House announced today that President Bush on Thursday will head to Nashville to tour the Nashville Bun Company and make “Remarks on the Budget.”
You may never have heard of the Nashville Bun Company, but there’s a solid chance you’ve consumed its products.
From the company Web site: “Established in 1999 as a bun packaging center and storage facility for affiliate Tennessee Bun Company, LLC in Dickson, Nashville Bun Company opened an English muffin production line in 2001 and currently manufactures and sells over five million dozen muffins annually to McDonald’s, Wolferman’s, Deli Express, and Pepperidge Farm Food Service Division.”
That’s right. Five million dozen muffins a year.
Also from the Web site, the above photo, which carries the caption: “The bakery is automated, but we take pride in each and every muffin just as if you made it in your own kitchen.”
And if your kitchen cranked out five million dozen muffins a year.
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Bush Honors Lady Bird
President Bush opened his White House news conference today with kind words for Lady Bird Johnson, who died Wednesday in Austin.
“Yesterday, America lost an extraordinary first lady and a fine Texan, Lady Bird Johnson. She brought grace to the White House and beauty to our country,” Bush said. “On behalf of the American people, Laura and I send our condolences to her daughters, Lynda and Luci, and we offer our prayers to the Johnson family.”
Permalink | | Categories: Texas
The Iraq Benchmark Report
Here’s where you can read the Iraq Benchmark Report issued today by the White House:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/iraq/2007/FinalBenchmarkReport.pdf
The report offers a good news/bad news picture of the situation in Iraq:
“While all of those conditions have not yet been met, and the new strategy is still in its early stages, there are some encouraging signs that should, over time, point the way to a more normalized and sustainable level of U.S. engagement in Iraq, with a decreasing number of U.S. combat forces increasingly focused on a core set of missions, such as those set out by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group.”
“Some of the benchmarks may be leading indicators, giving some sense of future trends, but many are more accurately characterized as lagging indicators, and will only be achieved after the strategy is fully under way and generates improved conditions on the ground.”
And here’s press secretary Tony Snow’s spin on the report:
“Today’s report provides an interim assessment of developments in Iraq just as the final U.S. forces have arrived and begun operations in support of the Baghdad security plan. The report describes satisfactory progress in a number of key security areas including the deployment of Iraqi forces in Baghdad, the establishment of joint security stations in Baghdad, and the increased capability and independence of Iraqi military units.
“These security measures have helped reduce levels of violence in Baghdad and Anbar province and should provide some space for the government of Iraq to make progress on key political benchmarks. It also shows important progress in economic and political matters.
“The report also describes unsatisfactory progress toward a number of political benchmarks. These include the passage of a hydrocarbon law, a de-Ba’athification statute, and electoral reforms. It also highlights the challenges of disarming militias and ensuring full Iraqi government control of security operations in Baghdad neighborhoods. The report is balanced and sober. It documents the challenges faced by U.S. and Iraqi forces and provides a basis for measuring progress as the surge enters the stage of full implementation. Gen. Petraeus and Amb. Crocker will report back to Congress in September, not just with their latest assessments, but with any recommendations they consider necessary for achieving our economic, political and security goals in Iraq.”
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Doctor, Heal Thyself
Pretty significant blowback today from the White House in reaction to former Surgeon General Richard Carmona’s congressional testimony about how the administration interfered with his work.
Carmona, a Bush appointee who left the office last year, told lawmakers on Tuesday that the administration blocked his efforts on issues such as stem cells, contraception, sex education and other health issues.
The White House response today: Us? Interfere?
Carmona, said administration spokesman Tony Fratto, “had an obligation to speak to issues that he felt were in the nation’s interest.”
“If he didn’t do that I think I find that disappointing,” said Fratto, who was quick to remind reporters that the surgeon general is a political appointee and part of the administration.
And, Fratto said, “the job of the administration is to come up with policy and try to execute the policy, and you won’t find me being defensive about anyone in the administration trying to advocate for the policies of the president.”
Translation: A surgeon general is supposed to spout the party line.
“People talk about being muzzled,” Fratto told reporters. “All of you are a phone call away. So I’m not exactly sure how this kind of thing would have happened. My view is if you’re the voice of the nation on health care and you feel it is important enough, then you have an obligation to speak about it.”
Fratto took specific exception to Carmona’s testimony that White House officials discouraged him from attending the Special Olympics because of the group’s ties to a “prominent family.” Carmona declined to identify the family, but when asked if it was the Kennedys (who are longtime Special Olympics supporters), he said, “You said it. I didn’t.”
Fratto said Bush “cares a great deal about the Special Olympics and has a level of affection for the Kennedy family.”
He did not specify the level.
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First Lady Checks It Out
First Lady Laura Bush, who had given the project a once-over while it was underway, ventured into the White House press corps workspace today after her husband cut the ribbon to re-open the briefing room.
All is relatively neat and clean now, but that’s only because reporters are just now moving back in.
After somebody suggested that Mrs. Bush might want to make weekly inspection tours, she joked: “I was thinking I would and just check to make sure people are recycling.”
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Welcome To The Briefing Room. No Questions Please.
With a snip of the ceremonial ribbon, President Bush today formally opened the remodeled White House Briefing Room.
New room, same show, as the president declined to answer reporters’ questions.
“Let’s do this,” Bush joked. “Let me cut the ribbon and then why don’t you all yell simultaneously, like really loudly, and that way you might get noticed.”
“I’ll like listen, internalize, play like I’m going to answer the question and then smile at you and just say thanks, thanks for such a solid question. Here we go. I’m going to cut the ribbon, then you yell, I cogitate, then I smile and wave,” he said.
And he did, smiling and waving his way back to the nearby Oval Office.
Laura Bush, however, hung around for a quick tour of the refurbished press corps work space.
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Bye Bye Bartlett, Part 2
Having been appropriately feted by his former White House buddies (see Bye Bye Bartlett below) and, at a separate event, by White House reporters who got to know him over the years, Dan Bartlett says he is now weighing career options in the private sector.
He hasn’t picked anything, but has come upon a nice way to talk some cash into the family bank account. Bartlett has signed on with Leading Authorities Inc., a speakers’ bureau touting his “first-hand experience about the current political environment, life in the West Wing, and America’s role in the international community.”
Bartlett, according to Leading Authorities, helped President Bush “develop successful campaigns to reform public schools, pass major tax relief, and begin diversifying America’s sources of energy.’
How much to hear Bartlett’s speech?
In the Washington area: $10,001 to $20,000
Elsewhere: $20,001 to $30,000
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More Hot Water for Gonzales
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales is already in trouble on Capitol Hill for the way he admittedly mishandled the firing of nine U.S. attorneys last year.
But look for more angry outbursts from lawmakers after the Washington Post revealed today that Gonzales may have misled Congress two years ago when he testified that the FBI had not abused its new surveillance powers granted in the Patriot Act.
The reality, according to the Washington Post, is that the FBI did violate surveillance rules in its hunt for terrorists and the bureau did inform Gonzales about them starting with a series of reports three months before his April 27, 2005 testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
So the big question on the Hill right now is whether Gonzales knowingly gave Congress false information when he told the intelligence panel two years ago that, “There has not been one verified case of civil liberties abuse” with regard to national security letters—a a power that allows FBI agents to request personal records from businesses without court approval.
“This should be the last straw, but there never seems to be a last straw when it comes to George W. Bush and Alberto Gonzales,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y, chairman of the Judiciary subcommittee investigating Gonzales’ role in the dismissal of the federal prosecutors.
“Sadly, this pattern of incompetence and inability to come clean makes Alberto Gonzales one of the worst attorney generals this country has even seen,” Schumer said.
The Justice Department has not returned a phone call seeking comment about the Post story.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. noted that Gonzales also failed to provide his committee with the accurate information regarding the timing of his knowledge of abuses of national security letters.
He plans to grill Gonzales about it when he is scheduled to appear before his committee later this month.
In answers to questions posed by Leahy following this year’s Justice Department oversight hearing, Gonzales indicated that he first learned of the national security letter abuses through drafts of an Inspector General’s report this year, Leahy said.
“The reports today that the attorney general misled Congress regarding violations of Americans’ privacy and civil liberties by his department are deeply disturbing and warrant further inquiry,” Leahy said.
“It appears the attorney general also failed to disclose the truth about when he first knew of widespread abuses by the FBI of national security letters in questions I posed to him following his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this year,” Leahy said.
“Unfortunately, this administration’s penchant for secrecy makes it difficult to work in a cooperative way, and it is only through dogged oversight or Freedom of Information Act lawsuits - such as the one that revealed these inconsistent statements - that Congress and the American people learn the truth about this administration’s activities,” Leahy said.
Civil liberties groups are equally upset.
Caroline Fredrickson, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington legislative office, said it was clear that Gonzales “lied to Congress in order to make a case for reauthorization of the Patriot Act in 2005.”
Gonzales testified that he was unaware of any civil liberty violations with the use of national security letters.
“Congress has been hoodwinked by the attorney general,” Fredrickson said. “It’s time for consequences.”
The FBI reports were obtained by the the Electronic Frontier Foundation after filing a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act for the records. The records detail more than 40 instances of improper, unauthorized collection of information about individuals, including unlawful access to phone records and email.
“These chronic privacy problems have long been known within the Justice Department but still were kept secret from those who really needed to know — members of the American public, including those who were surveilled,” said EFF Staff Attorney Marcia Hofmann. “The FBI can’t be trusted to police its own agents. It’s time for Congress to provide oversight to protect American citizens.”
To read more click here.
McCain Strategists Resign
The top strategists for Sen. John McCain’s GOP presidential campaign announced their resignations today.
Terry Nelson, the campaign manager, and John Weaver, the chief strategist, announced their resignations in a joint statement.
Nelson and Weaver said they informed McCain of his decision this morning and the resignations would be effective immediately.
There was no immediate response from McCain, whose campaign has been faltering in recent months.
In their statement, Nelson and Weaver both said they believe McCain is the best-qualified candidate in the GOP presidential contest
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Bye Bye Bartlett
Why did the president cross the road (on a blisteringly hot day)?
To bid farewell to longtime aide Dan Bartlett, who recently resigned as counselor to the president after working for President Bush since 1993.
Bush and First Lady Laura walked across Pennsylvania Avenue to get from the White House to Blair House for Bartlett’s going-away party this afternoon.
The president seemed in a good mood as he made the crossing, smiling and waving instead of answering a reporter’s query about possible redeployment of troops in Iraq.
The Bushes partied for about 15 minutes before heading home.
Also seen heading into the party were Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Bush adviser Karl Rove - two White House folks for whom Democrats would gladly finance going-away parties.
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Bush to Congress: Not Gonna Happen
Here’s where to go to see White House Counsel Fred Fielding’s letter telling Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers that the administration will not be providing the information sought concerning the firing of federal prosectors.
The letter also says Bush has instructed former aides Harriet Miers and Sara Taylor not to comply with congressional subpoenas ordering them to testify.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/Memo_070907.pdf
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The White House: A Fixer-Upper Gets Fixed Up
Who knew the White House was a fixer-upper?
Apparently anybody who knew about the unsafe work conditions for reporters, an adjoining office building in harm’s way in case of an attack and a “situation room” that was technologically challenged in handling situations.
“This was more of a life safety issue,” Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin said of the press area remodeling, one of several major rehab projects undertaken by the administration. “Somebody had to bite the bullet and say it’s time to fix that mess down there.”
The remodeled press area, including the briefing room, gets its formal ribbon cutting on Wednesday at 8 a.m. when President and Mrs. Bush will drop by.
Above, White House Correspondent April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks gives her seat of approval to the sleek new chairs in the briefing room. That’s C-SPAN’s Steve Scully (center) and Hagin looking on.
Gone, thanks to the remodeling, will be the odd thrill of showing a visitor just how crummy and cramped the old press area was with its broken briefing room seats and stains of undeterminable origin.
“Anybody could have walked in here and said, ‘That needs fixing,’ ” said Hagin, overseer of the project.
Crummy is gone, but cramped endures in the press workspace. And thanks to a contractor error that made two wire-service booths six inches deeper than planned, some last-minute tinkering had to be done with workspace across from the booths. Suffice to say that for a while it looked like workspace assignments might have to be made based more on the size of reporters than the size of their organizations.
The centerpiece of the renovation is the briefing room, complete with a new backdrop featuring two vertically mounted 45-inch LCD screens and a pair of columns. There are 49 seats for reporters, one more than the old briefing room held.
Beneath the briefing room, in what used to be the White House swimming pool, the massive tangle of wires has been transformed into an orderly, if cramped, collection of racks holding broadcast and air-conditioning equipment.
The pool, out of commission since the Nixon years (“Nixon was not a big swimmer,” Hagin said), is pretty much intact and theoretically could be put back into use. Only about six pool tiles were removed in order to put in the new structural steel that holds up the briefing room floor above.
Seventy miles of wiring was put in as part of a project that cost about $8 million, with about $2 million coming from news organizations. The project began last August. The press corps temporarily was housed in a nearby White House conference center while the work, including asbestos removal, was completed.
The new work space is brighter and better lit than the old. The most persistent question is how long it will take the press to trash the place.
“We are going to try to discourage eating and drinking out here,” Hagin said in the new briefing room.
The press area rehab was done simultaneously with the situation room modernization that was completed earlier this year. The “sit room” project was “really driven in a way by Sept. 11,” Hagin said. Pre-renovation, the room was technologically behind the times.
The goal, Hagin said, was to “at least bring it into the 20th century, if not pierce the 21st century.”
9/11 also was a proximate cause of a massive rehab project at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, just west of the White House and home to presidential staff. Hagin said the building has been on a “GSA list for decades as one of the most dangerous” the government has.
“The security people came to us several months (after 9/11) and said you either have to move everybody out of the 17th Street side … or you have to shut 17th Street,” Hagin said.
The street is something of a critical thoroughfare, especially because Pennsylvania Avenue, in front of the White House, long has been closed to vehicle traffic.
“The president made the decision we just could not do that to the District of Columbia,” Hagin said of closing 17th Street. “So we bit the bullet and moved a third of the people out of” the EEOB.
The 17th Street walls have been reinforced and ballistic windows are being installed. And central air conditioning is replacing window units that Hagin said “would make a nice cannonball-like projectile coming through the building if there was a blast.”
Overall, Hagin is pleased with the projects.
“When you first get here it’s a pretty intimidating place and you don’t have the confidence, I would say, to just go in and start making these wholesale changes,” Hagin said. “Part of it was we have been here for a while and we were confident we could do it in a reasonable period of time.”
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White House to Honor First Black Player
The upcoming 17th tee ball game on the White House South Lawn will be a special one.
On Sunday, July 15, teams from Brooklyn and Los Angeles will play as part of a celebration marking the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking Major League Baseball’s color line (which actually happened on April 15, 1947).
White House spokesman Tony Fratto says some of Robinson’s teammates “and other notable baseball icons” will be on hand. No names have been released.
Fratto said the Brooklyn and Los Angeles teams were selected because they are from “the two home cities of Robinson’s team, the Dodgers.” Robinson, however, never played for the Dodgers after they moved west after the 1957 season. He retired rather than accept the Dodgers’ trade of him to the rival San Francisco Giants.
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Simon And Dodd
Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd, who’s had a bit of trouble attracting attention to his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, may have found the answer:
Paul Simon live.
The Dodd campaign announced today that its D-TV Internet platform will have live coverage from Iowa on Friday when “iconic singer Paul Simon” performs as part of Dodd’s “River to River” bus tour of the state.
“D-TV gives supporters a window into the campaign and allows them to experience the excitement that our campaign is generating on the ground firsthand,” said Dodd spokeswoman Christy Setzer.
Those interested can tune in at www.chrisdodd.com/dtv. Here’s the schedule, in EDT:
Friday: Fort Dodge, 12:15 p.m; Sioux City, 6:30 p.m.
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Bush vs. Clinton
White House Press Secretary Tony Snow today went Yiddish on the Clintons as he shot back at their harsh criticism of the Libby commutation. Look who’s talking, Snow said, referring to Bill Clinton’s pardon of political backer Marc Rich, and others, on the day he left office.
“What is interesting is perhaps it was just because he was on his way out (of office) but while there was a small flurry, there was not much investigation of it,” Snow said of the Rich pardon. “Now you’ve got President Clinton and Senator Clinton out complaining about this, which, I got to tell you, I don’t know what Arkansan is for chutzpah but this is a gigantic case of it.”
Snow also had some words for Democratic House members who plan to investigate the Libby commutation.
“Fine. Knock himself out,” he said of House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Michigan. “And while he’s at it why doesn’t he look at Jan. 20, 2001.”
FOIA Hits Mid-life Crisis at 41
The Freedom of Information Act turns a ripe age of 41 tomorrow. And critics say the legislation is smack in the middle of a midlife crisis.
In short, nothing seems to work, critics say. Need evidence? Take a look at the National Security Archive’s exhaustive audit of 87 federal agencies that shows federal agencies routinely ignore the 20-day time limit to turn over information. One request at the State Department has lingered for 20 years.
That’s why a bipartisan coalition of groups is urging Congress today to take action.
They want the Senate to approve legislation sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, that would add some teeth to force federal agencies to comply with the law as well as create a tracking system so the public can at least be assured that the agencies are responding to their requests.
“The Senate has an opportunity to tell the American people that the government does, indeed, belong to them and they can find out what it is doing,” said Patrice McDermott, executive director of OpenTheGovernment.org, an umbrella organization of conservative and liberal groups concerned about government secrecy. “Or it can hide behind legislative tactics and miss this chance to make government more accountable. The choice is in the hands of the Republican leadership; which will it be?”
The Leahy-Cornyn bill would
—Create a tracking system for FOIA requests so they are not lost, forgotten and ignored —Clarify the time limits for agency responses —-Authorize the recovery of reasonable attorneys fees for requesters who prevail in FOIA litigation, including when a government agency releases records in response to a lawsuit before a judge rules on the case —Require reports to Congress on how agencies handle FOIA requests —Create a FOIA ombudsman to help resolve disputes between members of the public and agencies without litigation.
The bill has strong bipartisan support. The House passed a similar bill by an overwhelming majority vote (308-117) in March 2007.
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Longest Pending FOIA? Try 20 years.
The oldest request filed under the beleaguered Freedom of Information Act was posted two decades ago when Ronald Reagan was president.
The May 5, 1987 request sought information from the State Department about the Church of Scientology and cults.
That news nugget just arrived from the National Security Archive at George Washington University—the same public interest library that delivered last week’s hot news about the CIA’s “Family Jewels,” which the agency released after 15 years via FOIA.
The audit, supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, exposes systematic delays in responding to FOIA requests.
It could be a major public relations problem for the Justice Department, which is trying to kill a bill now pending in the Senate from Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. The bill would strengthen the law’s enforcement capabilities.
“Forty years after the law went into effect, we’re seeing twenty years of delay,” said Tom Blanton, director of the archive, which plans to post the survey on its website today at www.nsarchive.org.
The law took effect on July 4, 1967, a symbolic day for liberty and freedom. Today, the law is constantly criticized for not having much teeth. Agencies constantly ignore the 20-day deadline.
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant, but this kind of inexcusable delay by federal agencies just keeps us in the dark,” Blanton said.
The Justice Department, which oversees the enforcement of the law, was sent a copy of the report this morning. We are awaiting their response.
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