| For Immediate Release Feb 20, 2002 |
Contact: Press Office 202-646-5188 |
JUDICIAL WATCH SEEKS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS AND TASK FORCE ATTENDEE LIST AND MEETING MATERIALS LAWSUIT SEEKS TO APPLY SAME OPEN MEETINGS LAW AT ISSUE IN HILLARY CLINTON HEALTH TASK FORCE (Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest law firm that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it had expanded its landmark lawsuit against Vice President Cheney’s Energy Task Force to include Vice President Cheney, former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay, Republican National Committee Chairman (and former Enron lobbyist) Marc Racicot, and many others to the list of defendants. The lawsuit seeks to apply the federal open meetings law known as the Federal Advisory Committee Act to the Vice President’s Task Force, thereby releasing to the public the lists of who attended Task Force meetings and what exactly was discussed at the meetings. After the Vice President rejected Judicial Watch’s request that his Task Force open its meetings to the public, Judicial Watch was forced to file suit in July, 2001. At a court hearing last week in the case, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan suggested Judicial Watch amend its complaint, which it did on February 15, 2002. In amending its lawsuit, Judicial Watch listed the alleged government members of the Task Force as defendants, including the Vice President, Secretary of State Powell, Secretary Treasury Paul O’Neill, and other top Bush officials. Published reports show that Mr. Lay, Governor Racicot, and former RNC Chair Haley Barbour also participated in Task Force meetings. Also named is another alleged Task Force participant, Thomas Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute, a group close to the electric utility industry. These private individuals’ participation in the Task Force bursts through any executive or constitutional privileges the Bush White House may wish to assert, for there is no government privilege when members of the Task Force include private individuals (all of whom, of those known, happen to represent the energy industry). “Many conservatives and even many Republican congressmen and senators have called on the Vice President to tear down the stone wall of secrecy surrounding these meetings. This wall of secrecy simply cannot stand. It would not stand for Hillary Clinton’s Health Care Task Force and nor will it stand for Vice President Cheney’s Energy Task Force,” stated Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman. To view the complaint click here | |