The Politics Of Secrecy

Posted on: Thursday, January 1st, 2004 by Renaissance Men

First, Mr. Dean tried a truly novel approach in Democratic primary circles: He compared himself to George W. Bush. He cloaked himself in the everyone-else-is-doing-it mantle, and claimed that when then-Gov. Bush left office in Texas, he attempted to shield his gubernatorial records for several decades.

While Mr. Dean has failed to make available 145 missing boxes of records 53 percent of all the papers from his gubernatorial period, according to press reports the files of then-Gov. Bush have long been available for public inspection.'  Unlike Mr. Dean, Mr. Bush never attempted to seal them. I know. I was the Texas attorney general at the time. I issued an official ruling on the documents, and Mr. Bush and his team fully cooperated with my decision.

When this absurd comparison was refuted even by members of his own party Mr. Dean turned to the courts for protection, saying that he had no control over the records and that a court should review each and every document before releasing the files. Yet, when a lawsuit threatened to open the files, he suddenly was not so confident in the role of the bench, and changed course yet again.

Mr. Dean should unseal his gubernatorial records immediately. Any concerns about executive privilege or privacy can be reasonably reviewed by an independent tribunal or court to determine whether the claim is valid, or simply a further attempt to withhold information.

To hide for a decade documents from a public official's tenure in the statehouse for nothing but political reasons conflicts with the public interest.

Attempting to change the subject, or farming out the obstruction to state appointees, doesn't change the facts. But I do hope Mr. Dean will change his mind.

For Entire Article, please Visit:'  http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20031231-083508-5037r.htm

Howard Dean's fellow Democrats are now in a feeding frenzy over the former governor's efforts to shield details of past energy policy meetings. Mr. Dean, in turn, calls the criticism "laughable." It seems his only response to the understandable calls for openness regarding public records is to attack.

Though not surprising, this concealment and response to criticism is not new: Mr. Dean followed a similar pattern of concealment when his efforts to seal his official statehouse records for more than a decade were made public and became a campaign issue.

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