Judge: White House Logs are Public

Yesterday, the AP reported that U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth rejected White House claims that the Secret Service logs are private information.

In a lawsuit brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a liberal watchdog group, Lamberth ordered the Secret Service to turn over visitor logs regarding nine conservative religious commentators, including James Dobson, Gary Bauer and Jerry Falwell.

The judge then went on to describe how the records became classified in the first place:

Visitor records are created by the Secret Service, which is subject to the Freedom of Information Act. But the Bush administration has ordered the data turned over to the White House, where they are treated as presidential records outside the scope of the public records law.

But U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled logs from the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's residence remain Secret Service documents and are subject to public records requests.

Emphasis mine.  The ruling on Cheney's residence could get interesting.

They went over every single Clinton visitor with a fine-tooth comb and now they don't want anyone to know that Falwell was visiting the White House?  Why do I not buy the storyline that they are worried about the religious zealots visiting the White House?  Seems to me they should be much more concerned with the Jack Abramoffs' of the world who seemed to come and go as they pleased......at least as long as the checks were coming in.  That leads to the 2nd case before the Judge Lamberth.

In a separate case, CREW had sought an order declaring illegal a Bush administration policy under which the Secret Service destroys its copies of the logs once they are turned over to the White House.

In that second case involving White House visits by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Lamberth said he did not have the authority to issue such a ruling.

Because the logs were declared Secret Service records, however, they cannot be destroyed without approval from the National Archives.

Why in the world would the Secret Service destroy all of their logs based on demands from the White House?  It sounds like a coordinated cover-up at that point.  Especially when you consider that the Secret Service turned over all records to the White House from the period of Jan 20, 2001 to April 30, 2006.......Just in time for Abramoff's guilty plea.

On Monday, Lamberth detailed the Secret Service's acquiescence as the Bush administration took control of White House visitor records. The move took place amid the Abramoff scandal.

In May 2006, Lamberth noted, the Secret Service transferred to the White House all records of visitors' entries and exits during Bush's presidency from Jan. 20, 2001, to April 30, 2006.

How convenient for the Bush administration.

A White House spokesman said they would appeal......and I expect nothing less.  Bravo to CREW for keeping this case alive.