Anxious to avoid future criminal trials brought by a Justice Department not puppet-mastered by George Bush Jr., White House staff have been burning, losing, and generally destroying records of its wrong-doing. Stepping forth to assist them in this horrendous and thankless task is Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly (a favorite of former Chief Justice Rehnquist). Prior to her involvement, the White House office in question, the Office of Administration, had routinely responded to FOIA requests, that is until a request from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) wanted paperwork that might prove incriminating. And why? Because they were hot on the trail of millions of "lost" White House emails.CREW argued that the Bush White House may have been covering up links to a lobbying scandal, alleged political influence at the U.S. General Services Administration and other problems by deleting the e-mail. White House staffers sometimes used outside e-mail accounts to conduct official business, CREW said in an April 2007 report. Rather than producing the requested materials, the Office of Administration quite suddenly reversed its decades-long policy of complying with FOIA requests.
Surprise!
According to Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director: "The Bush administration is using the legal system to prevent the American people from discovering the truth about the millions of missing White House e-mails," she said in a statement. "The fact is, until CREW asked for documents pertaining to this problem, the Office of Administration routinely processed FOIA requests. Only because the administration has so much to hide here, has the White House taken the unprecedented position that OA is not subject to the FOIA."
By splitting hairs with FOIA, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly was able to effectively dismiss the CREW lawsuit and thus deliver yet another blow to democracy in America.
How can we thank her enough?
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