David Corn Online
 

September 05, 2007

Light Reading

Talk about a windfall. From a press release sent out today by the National Security Archive, a nongovernmental outfit:

Washington D.C., September 5, 2007 - The National Security Archive today sued the White House seeking the recovery and preservation of more than 5 million White House e-mail messages that were apparently deleted from White House computers between March 2003 and October 2005.

The lawsuit filed this morning in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia names as defendants the Executive Office of the President and its components that are subject to the Federal Records Act, including the White House Office of Administration (OA), and the National Archives and Records Administration (which is responsible for long-term preservation of federal and presidential records), under the records laws and the Administrative Procedure Act.

White House officials ranging from spokesperson Dana Perino to counsel Keith Roberts have acknowledged in press and Congressional briefings that e-mail is missing from the White House archive, and that the EOP in 2002 abandoned the electronic records management system put in place by the Clinton White House. Whistleblowers cited in conjunction with a Freedom of Information lawsuit brought by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) have alleged that more than 5 million e-mail messages are missing from the White House servers.

"The Bush White House broke the law and erased our history by deleting those e--ail messages," said National Security Archive director Tom Blanton. "The period of the missing email starts with the invasion of Iraq and runs through the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina."

How convenient. The complaint and related documents are posted at www.nsarchive.org.

IMPEACH SPECTER? Will conservatives call for the head of Senator Arlen Specter. This moderate GOPer has encouraged GOP Senator Larry Craig, who was arrested in Minneapolis airport bathroom for lewd conduct, to fight the charge (though he did plead guilty) and to remain in the Senate. Most Republicans are not too happy with the news Craig may renege on his resignation announcement. They want Craig out of the Senate and out of the picture damn soon--well before next year's elections. Look for some to blame Specter as Craig's enabler.

Posted by David Corn at September 5, 2007 05:29 PM

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