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Bush Won't Release All Miers Records

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Doll
Commander

Joined: 04 Jul 2005
Posts: 339
Location: The Beltway

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2005 8:44 pm Post subject: Bush Won't Release All Miers Records

Quote:

Bush Won't Release All Miers Records

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Monday he would not release any records of his conversations with Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers that could threaten the confidentiality of advice that presidents get from their lawyers.

And a Democratic senator called on the beleaguered nominee to give the Senate her income tax records.

Both Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are demanding more documents about Miers, including from her work at Bush's counsel.

"It's a red line I'm not willing to cross," Bush said of White House records.

"People can learn about Harriet Miers through hearings, but we are not going to destroy this business about people being able to walk into the Oval Office to say, Mr. President, this is my advice," Bush said after a meeting with his Cabinet.

Later, Sen. Max Baucus (news, bio, voting record) of Montana, a Finance Committee member, called for Miers' tax records.

"What people do on their tax returns is a window into what they would do in private and is a good barometer of their integrity, character and suitability for office," Baucus said.

Bush did not directly answer the question that was posed to him by a reporter at the end of the Cabinet meeting — whether the White House is working on contingency plans to withdraw Miers' nomination in the face of opposition to her from liberals and conservatives. Instead, he said that she is an "extraordinary woman" and that he understands people want to learn more about her.

"Recently, requests, however, have been made by Democrats and Republicans about paperwork out of this White House that would make it impossible for me and other presidents to be able to make sound decisions," Bush said. "In other words, they've asked for paperwork about the decision-making process, what her recommendations were. And that would breach very important confidentiality."

Earlier, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Bush is committed to sticking with Miers until the Senate vote.

"He's confident that she will be confirmed because as senators come to know her like the president knows her, we're confident that they will recognize she will make an outstanding Supreme Court justice," McClellan said.

New York Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record), a Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee that will hold hearings on her nomination said Sunday that she doesn't have the votes to be confirmed. Republicans countered that Schumer cannot predict how the GOP-controlled Senate will decide Miers' fate.

Many Republicans have yet to commit to approve President Bush's second nominee to the high court, and some outside conservatives have started organized efforts to force the White House to withdraw her name.

Conservative groups like the Third Branch Conference, Eagle Forum, and Center for Military Readiness are now organizing efforts to force Miers' withdrawal, including starting a Web site: http://www.withdrawmiers.org/.

"If President Bush continues with this nomination, he's in serious danger of permanent losing the support of the majority of the conservative movement," said Richard Viguerie, a conservative direct-mail fund-raising guru who runs American Target Advertising.

Miers' confirmation hearings begin Nov. 7. Schumer said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," that lawmakers of both parties are concerned about Miers' independence and judicial philosophy.

"I think, if you were to hold the vote today, she would not get a majority, either in the Judiciary Committee or on the floor," he said. "I think there is maybe one or two on the Judiciary Committee who have said they'd support her as of right now."

Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., rejected the notion that Miers' nomination was shaky. He said most senators are waiting for the hearings before making up their minds. "There are no votes one way or another," he said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Miers, a longtime Bush confidante who has never been a judge, was nominated to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The choice has troubled some conservatives who say it was risky because Miers was a blank slate on issues such as abortion and gay rights.

Democrats, too, have expressed concerns about whether Miers could sever her close ties to Bush and rule independently once on the bench.

___

Associated Press reporter Jesse Holland contributed to this report.

Yahoo News
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GM Strong
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy

Joined: 18 Sep 2004
Posts: 1579
Location: Penna

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2005 11:25 pm Post subject:

He should not have to release any. It's about time some of the Republican leadership said no and quit pandering to get along. Everytime they do the Libs shove it up their (_!_) .. _________________ 8th Army Korea 68-69

msindependent
Vice Admiral

Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 891
Location: Colorado

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 12:26 pm Post subject:

hell no bush should not turn over these records, have they gone mad? i have a gut feeling that mier's is a lot more conservative on social issues than i, yet i keep defending her. why? i think i found the answer in something hugh hewitt wrote:

Quote:

Question: Well into his second term, mired in scandal and obvious unending lies and deepening crisis, did any senior Democrat turn on Bill Clinton? One year into his second term, and days after a huge and historically significant election in Iraq and a month after yet another unfair savaging at the hands of the MSM over Katrina, George Bush surveys his allegedly supportive pundits and the GOP Senate majority that he made, and he finds what?

he found a bunch of self serving hypocrite snob rinos trying to cripple him, that's what. he found a slap in the face that is so unfair and just plain not right. does bush deserve this after all his hard work since 9/11 and all that followed? i think not.

Quote:

Is the GOP incapable of governing as a majority?

2006 is coming and i hope they can get past this because i can't stand to have a bunch more barking moonbats slip into office. gee, just when i thought perhaps i had become a republican (granted a south park one), some let power go to their heads and they act like the flesh eating democrats.

and then we have this jewel, blackmail is so not attractive.

Quote:

If President Bush continues with this nomination, he's in serious danger of permanent losing the support of the majority of the conservative movement," said Richard Viguerie, a conservative direct-mail fund-raising guru who runs American Target Advertising.

SBD
Admiral

Joined: 19 Aug 2004
Posts: 1022

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 4:35 am Post subject:

Bush made a mistake with this nomination and it should be withdrawn before things get real ugly. Do we really want to see Dan Rather and Memogate start all over again? Didn't the President know that by nominating Miers, it gives more credence to the allegations that she helped kill the Guard story while at the Texas Lottery and this nomination could be seen as a payback?

Quote:

The Dallas Morning News

July 28, 1999, Wednesday THIRD EDITION

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 23A

LENGTH: 989 words

HEADLINE: Ex-official wants Bush's testimony;
Accusations sur- rounding Guard assignment denied

SOURCE: Austin Bureau of The Dallas Morning News

BYLINE: George Kuempel, Pete Slover

DATELINE: AUSTIN

BODY:
AUSTIN - Attorneys for former Texas Lottery Director Lawrence Littwin want to question Gov. George W. Bush under oath about how he landed a spot in the National Guard at the height of the Vietnam War.

Court records indicate that they are trying to determine whether former Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes, an ex-lobbyist for Gtech Corp., the state's lottery operator, helped Mr. Bush get into the Texas Air National Guard in 1968.

And they are questioning whether Bush allies, in return, helped Gtech fend off efforts by Mr. Littwin that might have upset its lucrative state lottery contract.

Gtech officials have denied the allegations. Mr. Barnes has said he doesn't recall whether his office interceded with the Guard on behalf of Mr. Bush, now the GOP front-runner for president.

Mr. Bush has said he received no special treatment, and spokeswoman Linda Edwards said he would have nothing to add in Mr. Littwin's suit.

"There is no reason for the governor to go to court because the governor was not involved in the Lottery Commission's decision to dismiss Mr. Littwin," she said.

Mr. Littwin contends in his suit filed last year in federal district court in Dallas that Gtech was responsible for his firing in 1997 as lottery executive director.

He said he was let go after five months because of his aggressive investigation of alleged contract violations by Gtech - against the wishes of his bosses on the Bush-controlled Lottery Commission.

He said Gtech also opposed his attempts to encourage competition for the company's $ 150 million yearly state contract.

Gtech officials have denied that. Commissioners said at the time of his dismissal that they had lost confidence in Mr. Littwin.

Scott Levine of Dallas, one of Mr. Littwin's lawyers, has twice notified Attorney General John Cornyn of his plans to question Mr. Bush in connection with the case, according to Mr. Cornyn's office. Mr. Levine did not return several calls.

Ted Delisi, a Cornyn spokesman, said the attorney general will challenge any subpoena for Mr. Bush's testimony.

In documents filed with the federal court, Mr. Littwin accused Gtech of hiring Mr. Barnes to ensure that the company won and kept its contract.

"Barnes . . . is alleged to have helped the current Governor George Bush avoid active duty during the Vietnam War," Mr. Littwin said in the documents.

Mr. Bush, who has faced questions from political rivals about his Guard service, said no strings were pulled. Mr. Bush and Guard officials who approved his application said he qualified for existing vacancies as a jet pilot in a unit based in Houston.

Questions by Mr. Littwin's lawyers about the Guard were prompted by copies of an unsigned letter to federal prosecutors in 1996 that the the lawyers obtained along with other records in pursuing their case.

The letter was sent after the three-member Lottery Commission voted unanimously to extend the Gtech contract for five years rather than seek new bids.

It alleged that Gtech was allowed to keep its contract in exchange for Mr. Barnes not revealing his help in getting Mr. Bush into the Guard. A former top Bush aide who now lobbies for Gtech brokered the deal between the governor and Mr. Barnes, according to the letter.

Both the former aide and Lottery Commission Chairwoman Harriet Miers of Dallas rejected the accusations.

"At no time did the governor request or suggest that I take action or not take action with respect to Gtech," Ms. Miers said.

Mr. Barnes was speaker of the Texas House when Mr. Bush joined the Guard.

In a recent deposition conducted by Mr. Littwin's lawyers, Nick Kralj, a former Barnes aide, spelled out in part how some Texans contacted the speaker's office for assistance in joining the Guard. Such domestic units were seen by many as way to avoid going to Vietnam.

Mr. Kralj, an Austin lobbyist, testified that Mr. Barnes and one of his assistants, Robert Spellings, sometimes passed on to him names of people wanting to get into the Guard.

Mr. Kralj was a member of the Texas Air National Guard and an assistant to the late Gen. James Rose, head of the Texas Air National Guard. Mr. Kralj testified that he turned the names over to the general but did not know whether they were accepted.

Mr. Kralj also said that he couldn't recall any of the names but that Mr. Bush's was not among them.

"I guess the bottom line here we want is that I did not help George Bush Sr. [then a congressman] or George Bush Jr. get in the National Guard," he said during questioning by Mr. Levine.

Pressed further, Mr. Kralj said, "I didn't do it because I think that, you know, it would have been something that I would have remembered. He was a United States congressman. It would have been his son. I think I would have recalled something of that."

Mr. Kralj also said Mr. Spellings sometimes gave him names of people seeking placement in the Guard.

Mr. Spellings, in a telephone interview, said there were no such calls on Mr. Bush's behalf. "I knew everything that was going on in that office, and that didn't happen," said Mr. Spellings, a Austin lawyer.

Mr. Barnes has not been deposed in the case.

As for the lottery dispute, Gtech's contract was about to expire in 1996, and lottery commissioners considered putting it up for bid.

A Gtech rival, Automated Wagering International, said it wanted to compete and asked for more time to prepare a bid. But commissioners instead voted that May to extend Gtech's contract for five more years.

Ten months later, after questions arose about Gtech's business practices, they reversed themselves and decided to take bids. Gtech complained and declined to submit a bid, suing the agency instead.

Automated Wagering and another company did present bids. But lottery executive director Linda Cloud, who succeeded Mr. Littwin, rejected both. That left the business with Gtech, which later dropped its suit.

SBD

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