Thread: Obama Blocks Request For White House Guest List

Uh oh, now he's going to tick off the liberal media who put his halo on. Not a very smart move, because these guys will eat their own.


Obama blocks list of visitors to White House
Taking Bush's position, administration denies msnbc.com request for logs

PT, Tues., June 16, 2009

Bill Dedman
Investigative reporter


The Obama administration is fighting to block access to names of visitors to the White House, taking up the Bush administration argument that a president doesn't have to reveal who comes calling to influence policy decisions.

Despite President Barack Obama's pledge to introduce a new era of transparency to Washington, and despite two rulings by a federal judge that the records are public, the Secret Service has denied msnbc.com's request for the names of all White House visitors from Jan. 20 to the present. It also denied a narrower request by the nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which sought logs of visits by executives of coal companies.

Updated: CREW says it filed suit Tuesday against the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service. Here's a copy of CREW's complaint.

"We are deeply disappointed," said CREW attorney Anne L. Weismann, "that the Obama administration is following the same anti-transparency policy as the Bush administration when it comes to White House visitor records. Refusing to let the public know who visits the White House is not the action of a pro-transparency, pro-accountability administration."

Updated: The White House reiterated that the policy is under review. See transcript below.

Groups that advocate open government have argued that it's vital to know the names of White House visitors, who may have an outsized influence on policy matters.

The visitor logs have been released in only a few isolated cases, most notably records of visits by lobbyist Jack Abramoff to the Bush White House, and in the "filegate" investigation of the Clinton White House. Only the Bush and Obama administrations are known to have made an argument in court that the visitor logs should be private.

The Obama administration is arguing that the White House visitor logs are presidential records — not Secret Service agency records, which would be subject to the Freedom of Information Act. The administration ought to be able to hold secret meetings in the White House, "such as an elected official interviewing for an administration position or an ambassador coming for a discussion on issues that would affect international negotiations," said Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt.

These same arguments, made by the Bush administration, were rejected twice by a federal judge. The visitor logs are created by the Secret Service and maintained by the Secret Service, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled in 2007 and again this January. CREW had requested records of visits to the Bush White House, as well as the residence of Vice President Dick Cheney, by leaders of Religious Right organizations.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31373407/ns ... ite_house/

so much for transparancy.

H O is just like any other politician, saying anything to get elected

He's probably been filling up the extra rooms with his Chicago thug buddies and doesn't want people to know it. Wouldn't you think by now that the people who voted for this idiot have at least a smattering of buyer's remorse?

Originally Posted by tinybobidaho

He's probably been filling up the extra rooms with his Chicago thug buddies and doesn't want people to know it. Wouldn't you think by now that the people who voted for this idiot have at least a smattering of buyer's remorse?

i have heard of very few people admit that they made a mistake voting for this person and you know most of the blacks will continue to say hes good

Probably doesn't want the public to know that he's allowing the place to be used as a very high end, all expenses paid, historical hotel for his and michelle's pals like Oprah, assorted relatives and their friends.......not to mention any number of other people which would go toward proving anything against him.