Will Rove & Company's Laptops Equal Nixon's Secret Tapes?

[kach22i]

Will Rove & Company's Laptops Equal Nixon's Secret Tapes?

Published on Monday, April 9, 2007 by Los Angeles Times
GOP-Issued Laptops Now a White House Headache

by Tom Hamburger


WASHINGTON - When Karl Rove and his top deputies arrived at the White House in 2001, the Republican National Committee provided them with laptop computers and other communication devices to be used alongside their government-issued equipment.The back-channel e-mail and paging system, paid for and maintained by the RNC, was designed to avoid charges that had vexed the Clinton White House - that federal resources were being used inappropriately for political campaign purposes.

Now, that dual computer system is creating new embarrassment and legal headaches for the White House, the Republican Party and Rove’s once-vaunted White House operation.

Democrats say evidence suggests the RNC e-mail system was used for political and government policy matters in violation of federal record preservation and disclosure rules.

In addition, Democrats point to a handful of e-mails obtained through ongoing inquiries suggesting the system may have been used to conceal such activities as contacts with lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was convicted on bribery charges and is now in prison for fraud.

Democratic congressional investigators are beginning to demand access to this RNC-White House communications system, which was used not only by Rove’s office but by several top officials elsewhere in the White House.

The prospect that such communication might become public has further jangled the nerves of an already rattled Bush White House.

Some Republicans believe that the huge number of e-mails - many written hastily, with no thought that they might become public - may contain more detailed and unguarded inside information about the administration’s far-flung political activities than has previously been available.

“There is concern about what may be in these e-mails,” said one GOP activist who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject.

“The system was created with the best intentions,” said former Assistant White House Press Secretary Adam Levine, who was assigned an RNC laptop and BlackBerry when he worked at the White House in 2002. But, he added, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, last week formally requested access to broad categories of RNC-White House e-mails.

Waxman told the Los Angeles Times in a statement that a separate “e-mail system for high-ranking White House officials would raise serious questions about violations of the Presidential Records Act,” which requires the preservation and ultimate disclosure of e-mails about official government business.

Waxman’s initial request to the RNC seeks e-mails relating to the presentation of campaign polling and strategy information to Cabinet agency appointees. He is also expected to ask for e-mails relating to Abramoff’s activities, which Waxman is also investigating.

The Senate and House Judiciary Committees are also expected to formally request e-mail records from the RNC that relate to last year’s firing of eight U.S. attorneys.

The private e-mail system came to light in the U.S. attorney controversy because one of Rove’s deputies used an RNC-maintained e-mail domain - gwb43.com - to communicate with the Justice Department about replacing one of those prosecutors.

White House officials said the system had been used appropriately and was modeled after one used by the Clinton White House political office in the late 1990s.

“The regular staffers who interface with political organizations have a separate e-mail account, and that’s entirely appropriate,” said White House spokesman Scott M. Stanzel. “The practice is followed to avoid inadvertent violations of the law.”

Stanzel said he did not know how many officials used the separate system. Another White House official called it “a handful.”

Some Republican activists say the e-mail request will not create great difficulty for the White House because nothing nefarious happened and because the RNC automatically purges some e-mails after 30 days.

RNC officials are expected to meet with House Government Reform and Judiciary Committee lawyers as early as this week to discuss the first document request.

“We’d like to cooperate to whatever level is appropriate,” Republican Party spokeswoman Lisa Camooso Miller said Friday.

Waxman focused on the e-mails after a hearing last month examining a presentation of campaign forecasts and polling data made by a Rove deputy to top appointed officials of the Government Services Administration, some of whom believed they were being instructed to help GOP candidates.

White House staff arranging for the GSA briefing by a Rove deputy, Scott Jennings, used the gwb43.com e-mail domain name. That caught the attention of Waxman’s investigators, who had previously examined e-mails from Abramoff to Rove’s executive assistant, Susan B. Ralston, to object to an impending Interior Department decision. The decision, he wrote, was “anathema to all our supporters it’s important if possible to get some quiet message from the WH [White House] that this is absurd.”

Ralston used outside accounts - including at rnchq.org - to communicate with Abramoff and his partners. One e-mail from an Abramoff associate said that White House personnel had warned “it is better to not put this stuff in writing in [the White House] … e-mail system because it might actually limit what they can do to help us, especially since there could be lawsuits, etc.”

Abramoff’s response, according to a copy of his e-mail released by Waxman’s committee, was: “Dammit. It was sent to Susan on her rnc pager and was not supposed to go into the WH system.” Ralston later resigned in connection with the lobbying scandal.

Waxman told RNC Chairman Mike Duncan in a letter that such exchanges “indicated that in some instances White House officials were using nongovernment accounts specifically to avoid creating a record of communications” that could be reviewed by congressional committees or released under the Presidential Records Act.

Lawyers for the committees say that use of campaign-connected e-mail addresses may make it easier to gather information because it would be harder for the White House to make a broad claim of executive privilege. Lawyers for congressional Democrats have anticipated that the White House will invoke executive privilege in an effort to block requests for information about its role in the firing of U.S. attorneys, Abramoff and other matters.

In the U.S. attorney case, Rove deputy Jennings used the RNC e-mail system to write to D. Kyle Sampson, then Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales’ chief of staff, in August 2006 about replacing Arkansas U.S. Atty. H.E. “Bud” Cummins III with former Rove protege Tim Griffin.

“We’re a go for the U.S. atty plan. WH leg, political and communications have signed off and acknowledged that we have to be committed to following through once the pressure comes,” Jennings wrote in an e-mail from the gwb43.com domain name. Sampson noted in a related e-mail that “getting him appointed was important to” Rove, then-White House Counsel Harriet E. Miers and other officials.

The gwb43.com account, and others like it, have been traced to the Republican National Committee computer servers, Waxman’s staff said.

Doug Sosnik, White House political director under Clinton, says that his office had a small number of separate computers and cellphones for campaign-related matters but that the scope of the political operation was smaller than that in the Bush White House.

For both administrations, the separate system was an acknowledgment that certain White House jobs necessarily mixed policy and politics. Though campaign-related activity is prohibited for federal workers on the job, White House appointees typically work extraordinarily long hours and are required to be available around the clock.

Sosnik said only a handful of people used the political computers in the Clinton White House, which were purchased with campaign funds. However, he said, the political messaging from the Bush team appears to have been broader than that of Clinton’s. He could recall no instance, for example, in which campaign computers or cellphones were used to communicate with the Justice Department.

Levine, the former Bush press aide, said he saw senior White House colleagues, including Rove and his top staff, moving fluidly between the two computer systems, which often sat on officials’ desks along with their government computers.

But Levine said he found the two computers with their separate purposes and log-in procedures confusing and inefficient. So he quietly slid his RNC laptop into a desk drawer, deciding to use the telephone rather than e-mail to communicate anything that was not considered official government business.

“In retrospect,” he said last week, “I was lucky.”

[legion]

I think the title of this article says more than the words that follow.

The press wants so desperately to turn this President into Nixon, they can hardly contain themselves.

They love to insinuate that "something fishy MUST be going one here". Strangely, 10 years ago, they saw nothing funny about people turning up dead in parks in DC.

[techweenie]

Originally posted by legion
I think the title of this article says more than the words that follow.

The press wants so desperately to turn this President into Nixon, they can hardly contain themselves.

They love to insinuate that "something fishy MUST be going one here". Strangely, 10 years ago, they saw nothing funny about people turning up dead in parks in DC.

If 3300 people had turned up dead 10 years ago, it would have been different.

[kach22i]

Originally posted by legion
The press wants so desperately to turn this President into Nixon, they can hardly contain themselves.

Nixon and Bush have something in common, their lust for Secrecy.


Secrecy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secrecy

Secrecy is the practice of sharing information among a group of people, which can be as small as one person, while hiding it from people not in the group. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controversial. Many people claim that, at least in some situations, it is better for everyone if everyone knows all the facts—there should be no secrets. The closely allied, perhaps even synonymous notions of confidentiality and privacy are often considered virtues. William Penn wrote, "It is wise not to seek a secret; and honest, not to reveal one."[1]

[legion]

Yes, Nixon and Bush are the only two presidents to have secrets, ever.

[kach22i]

Originally posted by legion
Yes, Nixon and Bush are the only two presidents to have secrets, ever.

Carter only lusted in his heart.

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by legion
I think the title of this article says more than the words that follow.

The press wants so desperately to turn this President into Nixon, they can hardly contain themselves.

They love to insinuate that "something fishy MUST be going one here". Strangely, 10 years ago, they saw nothing funny about people turning up dead in parks in DC.

Aint that the truth.

Techie and Off ramp must be creaming in their pants... its a new day and a new Dem probe into something. There has to be something, just keep looking, here, there, everywhere...

[legion]

Originally posted by Joeaksa
Techie and Off ramp must be creaming in their pants... its a new day and a new Dem probe into something. There has to be something, just keep looking, here, there, everywhere...

We just have to give the weapons insp...I mean congressional Democrats more time!

[Moneyguy1]

Nixon may have had his faults, but he was an extremely intelligent man.

[EdT82SC]

Originally posted by Moneyguy1
Nixon may have had his faults, but he was an extremely intelligent man.

That doesn't mean *****. Hitler was intelligent too.

Bush, however, is not.

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by EdT82SC
That doesn't mean *****. Hitler was intelligent too.

Bush, however, is not.

Ed, that statement above is not the most intelligent...

Yea, and he made it to the Presidency by being lucky?

[Superman]

Having grown up in a small logging town, I have seen (and participated in) a fair number of fistfights. Enough to see a pattern. After about 30-60 seconds, if they're still going on, they get boring. The ones that proceed properly are finished in a half-minute. The way this happens is that somebody starts hitting the other guy in the face and he doesn't stop until it's finished.

Ive watched and played in a good number of chess matches also. Same thing, except for the time frames. Often, the way a chess match is won is that one guy gets the other guy on the run. He gets the other guy to make a purely defensive move, and then he keeps that other guy back on his heels.

I think it's going to be a long 21 months for Mr. Bush. My strong suspicion is that he's neither a good fistfighter nor a good chess player.

But the best part is that, along the way, something exciting may happen. An insider talks. A computer is confiscated. And a house of cards comes crumbling down. This could be very fun. In the meantime, Dubya can expect an unbroken string of investigations. Clinton got a hummer and we know that now, thanks to many months and years of relentless attacks and investigations by Republicans. I think Dubya's got more exciting secrets than Clinton had.

[john walker's workshop]

Yea, and he made it to the Presidency by being lucky? [/B]

how else could an idiot do it? hanging chad comes to mind. black voters in some southern counties mysteriously were omitted from the voting lists. repubs got all the right wing religious groups to lead their sheep to the ballot box, but that wasn't luck, just blind faith. it was planned years in advance and the dems were sleeping. won't happen again. most of the sheep have been fleeced, and see a different light now.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

No, he made it to the presidency by being likeable (at least initially) and by creating a legal morass about hanging chads, dimpled chads and pregnant chads.

The fact that this guy can literally steal a presidential election, have the biggest terrorist attack in U.S. history happen on his watch mere DAYS after rejecting urgent "red flags" raised by experts on the subject, and then bastard1ze said terrorist attack into a convoluted crusade in Iwreck by fabricating intelligence data, etc. and somehow STILL be in office is a shocking testimony to the stupidity, apathy, laziness and unwillingness to defend the liberties our founding fathers fought and died for on the part of the American populace.

A couple of laptops, I suspect, will amount to diddly. If this clown is still in office after BLATANT incompetence and even criminal activity, it tragically won't amount to much on the radar screens of the average dumb American citizen. You'd have to walk up and smack them in the forehead with a tack hammer in order to elicit any sort of response these days.

[legion]

Um, you have it backwards Jeff. Gore mounted all of the legal challenges. In absence of those challenges (by Gore), Bush won the presidency.

[hytem]

The Right Wing needs to clean up their act and get back to good, old-fashioned honest conservatism. The end does not justify the means.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Originally posted by hytem
The Right Wing needs to clean up their act and get back to good, old-fashioned honest conservatism. The end does not justify the means.

On this I agree.

Stop pandering to the lunatics at the fringe and implement FISCAL CONSERVATISM. I'd totally support that. It's not an extreme position either. In fact, it's pretty moderate. Common sense really.

[rhjames]

P-o-Phile,

you will never convince the con---vinced (legion----are you listening?) that Bush wasn't the greatest thing to come along since peanut-butter.....

I've had these debates before, with some very hardcore conservative friends of mine who never even knew Bush before he started his run for the presidency.

The only thing they (thought) knew was he was reportedly a great governor in Texas (where I live). Hardly.

He is, and still is, a less than intelligent person. A frat boy at best.

He has never, ever, had the peoples' best interest in mind, before or after 9/11/01.

In the community I live in, we fought a hostile takeover (annexation) by the City of Houston while Dubya was governor.

In this community of 67,000, we have nearly 80% conservative or Republican voting people. HIS people.




What was his reply when we asked for help against this takeover???

"I'm too busy running for president", (although he hadn't even started his official run).

In other words, he didn't give a "rat's a**" about our plight, much less anything else that didn't directly benefit him.

My conservative (out of state) friends were shocked to hear of this, even to the point of disbelief, however it is true.


Jeb Bush was the best Bush for the job, and his dad admitted as much.

Dubya is and always was an idiot, ---he only got the office because of Rove and his underhanded manipulating of the hysterical (evangelical) right. Who did he put in his cabinet and critical administration positions? Most of his father's former cabinet. He couldn't even bring in fresh faces, just a repeat of Ford, Reagan, and his dad's former government.


Conservatives never admit their mistakes, never take responsibility for their mistakes, never take others' (read: opposition) opinions for something that might be a positive for the country, and when cornered----continually bring up something Clinton did......Clinton? It's always, "Well, Clinton did this, or Clinton did that, when he was in office...." So what? Does that really make it right?


They preach fiscal responsibility, but spend money like it was water in the Mississippi River.

The preach religious freedom, but only when it goes along with their evangelical nuttiness.

They preach smaller government, but want to regulate your own person choices in your own bedroom.

They preach "no governmental intrusion", but they advocate such abominations as the Patriot Act and the taking of your land for commercial interests.


In short, they are hypocrites at best, liars at their worst.


regards---rhjames

[Hugh R]

Kachi

Nice cut and paste. Post an original thought. Yeah, Dem or Rep, I love seeing political dirt. I hope they all get caught with their private parts in a meat grinder. And I'm sort of a Republican.

[Hugh R]

Originally posted by john walker's workshop
hanging chad comes to mind.

John, oh please, you don't really believe the hanging chad thing do you? I thought you were a little smarter than that. I can't believe you think a 90 year old women couldn't push a punch pin through a piece of paper. I've actually voted with a push pin, and I swear I could do it with two fingers and less pressure than it took to push a wall light switch. Tell me your not that gullible. BTW, did you know that the word "Gullible" isn't in the dictionary.