(House) Panel May Subpoena Bush Aides on (Katrina) Storm

[papau]

Dems want to subpoena the Bush Administration for e-mails from top officials, and accuse the White House of trying to "run out the clock" on the investigation.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/13/AR2005121301963_pf.html

Panel May Subpoena Bush Aides on (Katrina) Storm
Democrats Accuse White House of Stalling
By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005; A15

Democrats yesterday pushed a Republican-led House panel investigating the response to Hurricane Katrina to vote today to subpoena the White House, saying the Bush administration is refusing to produce key documents to "run out the clock" on the three-month-old investigation.

Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.) wrote members of a House select investigative committee on the eve of a hearing today into the state's response to the Aug. 29 storm. Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D) is scheduled to testify about 100,000 pages of documents she released this month.

White House officials told House investigators Dec. 1 that it would take more than a year to review 71 million electronic records for e-mails from top officials, Melancon said. He said Bush aides raised separation-of-powers concerns and added: "You're not getting Andrew Card's e-mails." Card is President Bush's chief of staff.

Melancon said the White House has also declined to release e-mails of Card's deputy, Joseph Hagin; homeland security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend; and Townsend deputy Kenneth Rapuano. He said the information is important because, for instance, newly disclosed Department of Homeland Security records show that top officials realized the severity of flooding in New Orleans late Aug. 29, earlier than previously acknowledged.
<snip>

[papau]

1. Davis (R) faces (Katrina) subpoena dilemma

Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-LA) will attempt to subpoena documents about Hurricane Katrina from the White House later today.

http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/121405/news4.html

Davis faces subpoena dilemma
By Josephine Hearn

Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.) will attempt to test Rep. Tom Davis’s (R-Va.) resolve to conduct a vigorous investigation of the administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina by trying to subpoena documents from the White House today.Melancon will offer as many as four subpoena motions at a hearing of the House select committee on Hurricane Katrina today, his spokesman said, seeking specific communications from the White House, the Defense Department and the governors of Mississippi and Alabama.In the past, Davis, the chairman of the committee who is generally well-regarded by Democrats, has indicated that he wants to conduct a thorough investigation and that he might be amenable to subpoenas, but he and the panel’s 10 other Republicans will likely face significant pressure from the White House and Republican leaders to thwart the subpoena motions.The potential showdown comes after House Democratic leaders denounced the committee when it was created in the early fall as a “sham,” arguing that a Republican-controlled panel could not effectively investigate a Republican administration. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has refused to appoint members to the select committee, although Melancon and several other Democrats from districts affected by the storm accepted invitations from Davis to participate.<snip>

[Al-CIAda]

3. K&R, btw/fyi, his name is pronounced 'Mel-on-saun' -nt

[papau]

5. Davis made his decision - no subpoena for Bush "at this time"

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/state/13405974.htm

House panel will not immediately subpoena White House for Katrina documentsLARA JAKES JORDANAssociated PressWASHINGTON - The Republican chairman of a special House panel investigating the government's response to Hurricane Katrina decided Wednesday to reject, at least for now, a proposal to subpoena the White House for documents detailing internal communications before and after the storm hit on Aug. 29.
But lawmakers agreed to subpoena the Pentagon for similar Katrina-related documents if Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld refuses to immediately turn them over or explain why he cannot. And the panel's chairman, Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., left open the possibility of subpoenaing the White House later.
"We cannot do our job if we don't get these documents, and we won't get these documents if we don't subpoena them," said Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-La., who sought to get internal memos, e-mails, and other communications from the White House and the Pentagon.
Davis agreed the Pentagon so far had not fully cooperated with the investigation, and should be subpoenaed. He said an immediate legal push against the White House might be premature before lawmakers are briefed Thursday by top administration officials.
Lawmakers "will have ample opportunity to, at that point, ask what was going on, who was there, and what was being said," Davis said. "Hopefully that will give the committee the information it needs. If it doesn't, we'll revisit it at that point."
The committee, which is wrapping up its investigation and plans to issue its findings Feb. 15, requested hundreds of thousands of documents more than two months ago from the Bush administration, state and locals officials in Washington and the Gulf Coast. Though Davis said the White House has handed over some documents, it has refused others sent to and from White House chief of staff Andrew Card, citing executive privilege.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers also agreed to shelve subpoenas against Mississippi and Alabama officials for now after the states said they were trying to locate all the documents. Louisiana has handed over more than 100,000 documents to the committee.
While some Democrats are participating in the committee, party leaders have asked lawmakers to boycott the inquiry that they believe should be done by an independent commission.
The subpoena debate led the committee's final hearing, which was set to hear testimony from Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. The hearing came as Gulf Coast lawmakers scrambled to secure aid for the devastated region before Congress leaves Washington for the rest of the year.
Republican lawmakers pointedly questioned Blanco about why a mandatory evacuation was not ordered until the morning before Katrina hit.<snip>

[texpatriot2004]

2. The GOP should stop stonewalling these important investigations

which are clearly non-partisan issues but issues that are important to the American people and to America as a whole.

[lebkuchen]

4. These hearings have Bush on the defensive

"I am not a racist!"

Defense is a good place for the Chimp to be, for a change. Today's he's speech-making again in support of a war that the troops themselves no longer "get."

[applegrove]

6. I bet. How embarrasing would it be to find the emails filled with

making fun of the LA governor for not requesting itemized lists of things and for being vague like: "GIVE ME EVERYTHING YOU GOT!"