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Judicial Watch Scores Key Court Victory Over Dean On February 17, a Vermont state court ruled Howard Dean could not rely upon a secret agreement he made with the State of Vermont in order to keep his records hidden from public scrutiny. While Dean's legal team had sought to have Judicial Watch case thrown out of court, instead they were ordered to detail every record the former Vermont Governor wishes to keep secret and explain why they should be subject to executive privilege. "The [Dean] decision. . . is significant beyond any belated impact on Dean's political fortunes," wrote the Burlington Free Press in response to Judicial Watch's victory. "The judge clearly undermined the entire 'executive privilege' rationale that successive Vermont governors have used to deny public access to official records." Dean and the State of Vermont will now be required to provide an index of the sealed documents and a specific justification for keeping them sealed. Despite publicly claiming to be cooperating with the legal process in this matter, Dean has thus far refused to detail to the court or Judicial Watch the nature of the documents he is seeking to seal for ten years under a blanket claim of executive privilege. He is, instead, relying upon the agreement he signed in secret as he began his quest for the Democratic nomination for president. Judicial Watch argued in its "Reply Memorandum" filed with Vermont's Washington Superior Court on February 12, 2004, that Dean's agreement "is a stunning piece of fiction masquerading as law. It is legally irrelevant. It is a self-created side-deal that defendants [Dean and the State of Vermont] suggest somehow overrules the requirements of the Public Records Act and applicable Vermont Supreme Court precedent." The court agreed. Dean's agreement, the court ruled, "could not obviate the plain meaning of the [Vermont] Public Records Act." Dean originally sought to have his gubernatorial records sealed beyond established limits to protect his personal political ambitions. According to press reports, when asked why he decided to seal his official records, Dean told Vermont Public Radio, "Well, there are future political considerations. We didn't want anything embarrassing in the papers at a critical time in any future endeavor." Judicial Watch immediately filed a request for documents to learn the truth behind the decision to seal the records. Among the documents obtained by Judicial Watch was a memorandum written by Vermont State Archivist Gregory Sanford, which read, "While [Dean's lawyer] and I agreed earlier that 'embarrassment'…was not grounds for exemption, we are really talking about 'ambition.'…Without conceding that a governor's post-administration ambitions are a legitimate basis for closure, can we offer, in the interest of moving forward, eight years?" In a subsequent memo obtained by Judicial Watch, Sanford wrote, "Governor Dean has decided to extend executive privilege over some of his records for a period of ten years. The ten-year closure was a compromise." Judicial Watch then filed a civil lawsuit to force Dean to release the documents, leading to its latest court victory. "As Judicial Watch has said time and time again, open government is honest government," reiterated JW President Tom Fitton. "Judicial Watch will continue to fight for transparency on the part of our elected officials." Sidebar: CNN, Fox News, The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Washington Times and many other high profile publications have covered Judicial Watch's legal actions against former Governor Dean. Judicial Watch has named Vermont Secretary of State Deborah Markowitz, Vermont State Archivist Gregory Sanford and former Governor of Vermont Howard Dean as defendants in its lawsuit. Vermont's open records law declares, "It is in the public interest to enable any person to review and criticize [the officers of the government] decisions even though such examination may cause inconvenience or embarrassment."
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