A recent GAO report showing Dick Cheney's secrecy about hismeetings with energy executives has left a hole in the administration's credibility and raised questions about its energy policy.
Published August 29, 2003
Wonder what the White House is hiding about the way it wrote its energy policy? So does the General Accounting Office, whose job it was to find out.
After Vice President Dick Cheney refused to release details of his secretive meetings with energy company executives, the GAO turned to other sources to complete its audit. The conclusion: Without the administration's cooperation, the GAO cannot determine exactly how much the White House spent or in what ways private companies influenced public policy.
The vice president's insistence on secrecy has not only damaged the administration's credibility, it has also undermined necessary checks on the executive branch that guard against abuse. The GAO's unsuccessful struggle to inform the public has led David Walker, head of the office, to tell the Washington Post that he questions the existence of "a reasonable degree of transparency and an appropriate degree of accountability in government."
"The Congress and the American people had the right to know the limited amount of information we were seeking," Walker said.
Not according to President Bush and Cheney. They refused to cooperate with the GAO audit and fought the agency's efforts in court. The GAO finally dropped its lawsuit, under pressure from congressional Republicans and fearful it would set an unfavorable precedent. But some observers believe that the GAO - a bipartisan and independent arm of Congress - has already been weakened.
That would be bad news for the American public, because one of the office's important functions is to determine how public money is spent.
Despite the administration's stonewalling, some insight into Cheney's methods has been revealed. The vice president and others in the administration met almost exclusively with corporate insiders in writing energy policy. Kenneth Lay, the soon-to-be-disgraced chairman of Enron Corp., got 30 minutes with Cheney, and both Chevron Corp. and the National Mining Association were asked for detailed recommendations that made it into the final recommendations.
Not surprisingly, the policy that emerged promoted more oil drilling and coal mining, a relaxation of environmental oversight and tax breaks for nearly every player in the energy industry. Conspicuously absent were protections for consumers and the environment, whose advocates were not consulted in any meaningful way. A final energy bill has been tied up in the Senate, where Democrats legitimately distrust the administration's motives. Congress would be wise to start over, this time informing Americans along the way.
One would think that the president and Cheney would at least be a little embarrassed by a revelation of their heavy-handed methods. They aren't. In fact, they don't feel as though they have to answer to the public or Congress. We have seen this administration's disrespect for the separation of powers in other issues, as well.
The GAO has confirmed that in an important matter, the White House was marred by secrecy and a lack of accountability.
