Judicial Watch Sues Howard Dean Over Secret Records

[Tinoire]

For Immediate Release
Dec 3, 2003 Contact: Press Office
202-646-5172


JUDICIAL WATCH SUES HOWARD DEAN OVER SECRET RECORDS

ACCESS TO PUBLIC RECORDS LAWSUIT FILED IN VERMONT STATE COURT



(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it filed a lawsuit in Vermont to gain access to hundreds of thousands of documents concerning the administration of former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. In addition to Dean, the lawsuit names the State of Vermont, the Vermont Secretary of State, and Vermont’s State Archivist as defendants. Judicial Watch had sought and was repeatedly denied access to Governor Dean’s records from his tenure as governor. Governor Dean has cited his presidential run as the basis for denying the public access to these government records, reportedly telling Vermont Public Radio, “Well, there are future political considerations. We didn’t want anything embarrassing appearing in the papers at a critical time in any future endeavor.” Judicial Watch uncovered, through a public records request, that, in negotiating the agreement to seal the records, lawyers for Dean and Vermont state officials repeatedly discussed Dean’s presidential campaign as a basis for keeping the records secret.

In its lawsuit, filed this afternoon in Vermont state court in Montpelier, Judicial Watch asks the state court to provide it, the media, and the public access to upwards of 400,000 records being withheld from public scrutiny pursuant to an unprecedented agreement between Dean and the State of Vermont. The records in dispute would otherwise not be made public for 10 years. Dean had initially sought to keep these records sealed for 24 years. Vermont law provides for expedited court consideration of this lawsuit.

(Judicial Watch has also filed two lawsuits to gain access to the records of Vice President Cheney’s Energy Task Force. Dean had criticized Vice President Cheney for withholding these records from public scrutiny.)

“It is unlawful for Governor Dean to deny the public access to his gubernatorial records because of ‘future political considerations.’ We hope the Vermont courts will agree that it is in the public interest that Dean and the State of Vermont immediately unseal these important records,” stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

To view a copy of the complaint click here (Adobe pdf) or here (text format).

http://www.judicialwatch.org/3535.shtml#top

[Cha]

1. Yeah, and are they "suing" bush and reaguns over

their "secrets"?

[drfemoe]

8. this is a skewed bunch

106. JUDICIAL WATCH, INC. v. THE UNITED STATES SENATE, et. al. - Judicial Watch, Inc. has suffered and is continuing to suffer significant, irreparable harm by reason of the unconstitutional application of Senate Rule XXII and Senate Rule V to the Estrada and Owen nominations. But for the efforts of a minority of U.S. senators to use Senate Rules XXII and V to prevent the confirmation of former Assistant Solicitor General Estrada and Justice Owen to federal judgeships, these well-qualified judicial nominees would have been confirmed, and will be confirmed, for appointments to the D.C. Circuit and Fifth Circuit, respectively, and their confirmations would have lessened, and will lessen, the high vacancy rates and resulting significant and prejudicial delays experienced by Judicial Watch, Inc. in litigating in the federal courts.

[Cha]

12. "skewed" is being too kind!

larry klayman who is some kind head hunter for judicial watch is said to be running for Senator in Florida and has been quoted as saying he will become Senator Clinton's worst nightmare if elected...
Giant Earthling Asshole if you ask me!

[goforit]

42. Klayman like Nadar just blowing hot air!

Cheney investigation + Bush investigation = Maximum Failure


So like Bush with third world countries,...Klayman goes back to lynch the little guy.

Klayman is showing his lack of moral fiber.

[librechik]

2. Doh!

what a pain!

[thinkahead]

3. You know you've made it when...

n/t

[janx]

4. Man, the reich wing really is desperate to discredit Dean!

How can they sue him? Isn't he a civilian, and doesn't the decision rest, ultimately, with the state of Vermont?

Did anyone try and sue Chimpy when his records were whisked off to Poppy's presidential library at Texas A&M?

[Hawkeye-X]

5. Sorry. this lawsuit won't fly

They may be able to knock it to down to 6 years, but they aint seeing the records unless Chimpy shows his entire records from Raygun to Poppy to Chimpy. Fair's fair. Even Gov. Douglas is backing Dean in this issue. Non-partisian, my ass!

[janx]

6. No doubt, Hawkeye. Chimpy has been the worst example

of record hiding--absolutely the worst. This is common knowledge. It's hard for me to believe that the RNC can raise this matter at all.

[molly]

7. Why did he seal them if he had nothing to hide?

[clarknyc]

9. Why?

What is your speculation?

[molly]

11. What other presidential candidates have

sealed ANY records or have tried to hide something. The premise of "protecting others" sounds like a Nixon ploy. Let him unseal them because this will obviously return again and again and IF he ends up as the DEM candidate, you can bet on this becomming a very BIG issue.

[drfemoe]

18. He will make the right decision

I don't think he should open them.. but now a court will decide.

No matter what he does, it won't please his distractors.
I refer you to post #13 .. if he opens them, he is 'unprincipled'
.. if he doesn't he's hiding some big dark secrets .

btw . *u*h's records are not available for viewing.
This topic has been re-threaded at DU for the past many days.
If it is so important to people, why not do the homework?
Plenty of info re: jr's "open" records have been posted.
If the motive is just to keep the *heat* on . . :nopity:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

29. I guess then we would have to get the Chimpster to unseal his records...

...and if HE doesn't do it, how big of an issue can it become?

[pezcore64]

10. my understanding...

was that alot of the records were sealed for the sake of the other parties involved, not just governor deans sake. Atleast I heard somewhere that it was for the sake of others mentioned in the documents. *shrugs*
also youll find that Bush tried to seal his, only they wont allow it to happen in Texas. So he had them moved to his fathers archives. You can get at most of the papers inside, but you hafta use the freedom of informations act in most cases..
I see nothing wrong here... he only did was he thought he had to do to secure a long political career outside of vermont and did it completely legit since its allowed by the government of vermont.

*shrugs*

[ozone_man]

51. I think your understanding is very good.

How does it play out from here? I would hope that Dean would tie the release of his papers to Bush's release. He has suggested that.

Or, he could bare himself first and leave it as an open challenge to Bush. My own limited understanding is that a governor's papers are a bit more personal and far reaching than a congressman's papers, but I don't know. Maybe someone who does know could offer an opinion on this.

[Guaranteed]

35. Why's he considering unsealing them

if he HAS something to hide?

It doesn't seem to me that Dean really cares all that much, either way, as long as the confidential stuff that the public really has no right to know doesn't get out.

[Debi]

44. Are you going to tell me

That John Kerry has no 'confidential' correspondence from his terms in office? Please, quit helping the jerks.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

13. Dean is caving in to the pressure, may give in

In other words he's an unprincipled prick:

"Facing criticism for another day over his decision on leaving office as governor of Vermont to keep many of his official papers secret for a decade, Howard Dean said on Tuesday that he was now considering unsealing some of the records.

"We're talking about trying to be accommodating," Dr. Dean told reporters here before a town hall meeting. "We think that transparency is important. But executive privilege is a serious issue, and there are private things in there that can't be let out. We are kind of having that internal discussion."

Mr. Dean, one of nine Democratic presidential contenders, made his comments shortly before Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee, planned to go after him at a fund-raiser in Vermont, for refusing to open the records.

Dr. Dean had said earlier in the day that his campaign would have a statement and backtracked...."

Dean Says He's Now Considering Unsealing Vermont Files

[Davis_X_Machina]

14. Let's see...

...if he doesn't give in, he's a secretive prick. If he does give in, he's an unprincipled prick.

You could just have said you thought he was a prick, and skipped the ratiocination.

[Fleshdancer]

16. our posts are spookily similiar.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

19. Of course you both understand Dean's dilemna because it is true

If he unseals the records then one can conclude there was no good reason to seal them to begin with. The only constant here is political expedience.

[drfemoe]

22. no, even if he was a 'loser'

some would still criticize. I don't think you can get to the
wh unless you know a few things about politics. That's one
step. There are many others. If you want to gripe about his
effectiveness as a political leader, bmg.

1. The quality of being expedient or advantageous; fitness or suitableness to effect a purpose intended; adaptedness to self-interest; desirableness; advantage; advisability; -- sometimes contradistinguished from moral rectitude.


Much declamation may be heard in the present day against expediency, as if it were not the proper object of a deliberative assembly, and as if it were only pursued by the unprincipled. --Whately.

[Fleshdancer]

15. let me get this straight....

If he keeps the records sealed, then he's a deceptive prick and when he unseals the recods, then he's an "unprincipled prick"?

So what should he do? Enlighten me with the right answer.

[drfemoe]

20. He needs to TIME TRAVEL

back and NEVER HAVE SEALED THEM.

That's the only option. But what will they say about a
candidate traveling through time? hmmmm
I go with the notion that you just can't satisfy every-f*cking-body. . and don't even need to try.

Every ballot I've ever seen has more than one option.
Pick one.

[LittleDannySlowhorse]

39. He should partially unseal them

and leave the door to the records warehouse slightly ajar. Then everybody will be happy.

[ozone_man]

52. Well, I think you have hit the nail on the head.

I think that's what he will do. Make most of his papers available and seal those that need to be sealed. Who decides? Dean/State Attorney General maybe.

[retyred]

21. unprincipled prick?

wishy-washy....yes, flip-floppy....yes, opportunistic....yes, but unprincipled?.....ummm....yes!



retyred in fla
“good night paul, wherever you are”
So I read this book

[drfemoe]

23. so what difference does it make?

If he's already in the toilet (by your reckoning)
who gives a Sh*t?

eoms

[retyred]

25. in the toilet?

I hadn't thought of it quite that way, but to answer your question, who gives a Sh*t? If deans in the toilet, I'll bet he cares who gives a Sh*t?



retyred in fla
“good night paul, wherever you are”
So I read this book

[NewYorkerfromMass]

27. Yep. Here's some agreement on Dean's problem:

Howard Dean seems afflicted with Brooklyn Bridge syndrome. This was epidemic when I was a kid -- its symptom being the explanation to a parent that you had done something stupid because a friend had done it first. "And if he jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you follow?" the parent would ask. The answer was supposed to be no....

..."I'll unseal mine if he'll unseal all of his," Dean said, waxing about as Brooklyn Bridgeish as you can get.

.... the fuss over his state papers has been around since the summer. Dean had plenty of time to come up with a better explanation than the one he gave -- especially when he got his facts wrong to boot.

Dean, Leaping Into Trouble

[drfemoe]

37. Political expedience..

now brooklyn bridge syndrome?

How many spin variations can you find?
Thank gawd the 'media' is on Dean's side!

[Name removed]

32. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[truthisfreedom]

33. what is your party affiliation?

i'm personally interested.

[w13rd0]

36. it's waiting for its psychic to tell it...

...what party affiliation it is, and likely which candidate to support. Possibly one that keeps Michael Jackson from calling down the alien invasion and putting some fungal growth in that space its brain once occupied before it liquified and leaked out its nose...

[Guaranteed]

34. That's "we" as in his campaign staffers. nt

[NewYorkerfromMass]

38. That's "we" as in "I" implies too much personal responsibility

The man is a wimp.

[nolabels]

17. Klayman will always go for the Dems more

Using free pub is so necessary in trying people in the public opinion court. Corporate Media loves keeping the Dems in line with it's plans and using people like Klayman when they are not

[Cooley Hurd]

24. Larry Klayman...

...what an asshole!!! Now I KNOW he's nothing but a publicity hound. He has NO reason to be intersted in the sealed gubernatorial papers of freakin' VT, other than to be a weasely troublemaker and get his name in the news.

Great... this also means Scaife is up to his old shenanigans. Thank GOD Soros is there to offset another Mellon-Scaife funded barrage of bullshit.

[PaDUer]

26. Why the hell doesn't this screwball

sue the current administration for hiding all their own records!

[Pastiche423]

31. He tried

And he failed.

[truthisfreedom]

28. WHO CARES? nothing is going to happen. forgeddaboudit.

machts nichts, as my German neighbor used to say. makes for nothing.

[salinen]

30. I loathe Larry Klayman

and Judicial Watch. They attempt to be the people's protectors when they are actually the RW geshtapo.

[goforit]

40. Hello JW.............What about the hidden records of GW Bush??????

Hypocrits to the max!

[realFedUp]

41. And are all past governors facing the same suit?

I guess Klay Man's looking for his piece of
the plum pudding this Christmas....

[NewYorkerfromMass]

43. Which ones are running for president?

[Debi]

45. Which ones are running for President???

George W. Bush....DUH

[NewYorkerfromMass]

46. and Howard Brush Dean

duh.

And did Bush say that he was doing it to protect privacy? and then get caught in a lie?.... duh again.

[bobbyboucher]

47. Have you considered

therapy?

You've got real issues.

[Melinda]

48. DUers saw this coming when Klayman first filed since against Unca Dick

a few years back, remember? It's the natural progression of their well laid plans and what those uglies do. Dean on this digit, Clark on another, ad nauseum.... Totally predictable, means diddly.

[Just Me]

49. Excuse me,...

,...I want an organization that seeks transparency across all parties. I acknowledge the difficulties this organization has in establising transparency, particularly with respect to this gestapo administration. However, attacking them on this particular basis,...is bias. If you are seeking ANY TARGET POSSIBLE,...look broadly around,...as the targets are moving. I tend to stick with the objective.

[Just Me]

50. They have shown even-handedness,...

,...and I am surprised at the leap on this thread. I thought fairness and equality most counted.

Who gives a rat's ass about those records? Even with 3rd parties' protections revealed,...to each his/her own responsibility, right? What is the big deal? And if someone tries to "make" a big deal,...treat them like they are just plain what they are,...S-T-U-P-I-D!!!!!