U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker today denied that his plans to sue the White House over the release of documents related to an energy task force are the result of Enron’s recent financial woes.
On Wednesday Walker notified the White House and congressional leaders that the General Accounting Office, which Walker heads, would sue the White House within the next two to three weeks to force the release of documents concerning meetings between the administration’s energy task force and corporate executives, some of whom were from Enron. Vice President Dick Cheney chairs the task force.
Speaking to reporters at Vanderbilt University before delivering an address to business students, Walker denied that the planned lawsuit resulted from Enron’s collapse amid accounting scandals, and he stressed that congressional committee members had sought the requested information since April of last year. However, he did note that the firm’s collapse has refocused attention on energy legislation and that has led to renewed interest in the documents.
Walker acknowledged that the president and vice president ought to be able to meet with individuals as part of their normal constitutional positions without having to disclose certain information to Congress and the GAO, which serves as Congress’ investigative arm. However, he pointed out that because the White House had voluntarily appointed the vice president to head the task force, Cheney had taken on a different role.
“If all you had to do to avoid public scrutiny and reach out to certain parties on important policy issues was to create a task force, assign people from different agencies and put the vice president in charge, then say you don’t have to undergo congressional scrutiny, that would be a huge loophole,” Walker said.
“We have no reason to believe there was any wrongdoing here, but the fact of the matter is our country was based on transparency and accountability.” Those, he said, “are fundamental elements of a democracy” that need to be protected and defended.
The suit, he said, is “about the right of Congress to conduct oversight and the right of the GAO to conduct an objective review and analysis.”
Walker noted that the Senate is scheduled to consider comprehensive energy legislation and that a number of hearings and investigations are being conducted to gain information that will help in the Senate’s considerations. Under the statute creating the GAO, Walker said he is required to seek the information the Senate needs. “I am doing my job.”
Saying that he is open to negotiations with the White House, he said, “If the White House wants to talk about this, I’ll be happy to take the call.”
He accused the White House of putting forth misrepresentations about the GAO’s inquiries. “The White House asserted that we ‘backed off’ last August,” implying that “we don’t have a case.”
He explained that a statutory certification period restricted further activity, and that period ended just before Sept. 11. “It would have been inappropriate and imprudent to bring action at that time. I issued a statement in September noting that fact.”
Whatever documentation is given to the GAO, much of it will not be made public, Walker said. After the GAO has had a chance to examine the items, the office will issue a report on its findings.
Walker spoke at Vanderbilt as part of the Owen Graduate School of Management’s distinguished speaker series. His speech was to focus on the changing role of government in regulating business and corporate activity in the United States.
Vanderbilt University is a private research university of approximately 6,200 undergraduates and 4,300 graduate and professional students. Founded in 1873, the University comprises 10 schools, a public policy institute, a distinguished medical center and The Freedom Forum First Amendment Center. Vanderbilt, ranked as one of the nation’s top universities, offers undergraduate programs in the liberal arts and sciences, engineering, music, education and human development, and a full range of graduate and professional degrees.
Contact: Ann Marie Owens, (615) 322-NEWS
annmarie.owens@vanderbilt.edu