Wed, Jul 11 2007
THE POLITICS OF CORRUPTION PART DEUX
Bush orders Miers not to testify
WASHINGTON, Associated Press - President Bush ordered his former White House counsel, Harriet Miers, to defy a congressional subpoena and refuse to testify Thursday before a House panel investigating U.S. attorney firings.
"Ms. Miers has absolute immunity from compelled congressional testimony as to matters occurring while she was a senior adviser to the president," White House Counsel Fred Fielding wrote in a letter to Miers' lawyer, George T. Manning.
Manning, in turn, notified committee chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., that Miers would not show up Thursday to answer questions about the White House role in the firings of eight federal prosecutors over the winter.
Conyers, who had previously said he would consider pursuing criminal contempt citations against anyone who defied his committee' subpoenas, revealed the letters after former White House political director Sara Taylor testified Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Taylor said she knew of no involvement by the president in the firings of the U.S. attorneys.
She irked senators by refusing to answer many questions from a panel investigating whether the firings were politically motivated. She said she was bound by Bush's position that White House conversations were protected by executive privilege.
Conyers said of Miers, Bush's former White House lawyer, "As a former public official and officer of the court, Ms. Miers should be especially aware of the need to respect legal process, and we expect her to appear before the committee tomorrow as scheduled."
Fielding said the Justice Department had advised the White House that Miers had absolute immunity from compelled congressional testimony.
"The president has directed her not to appear at the House Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday, July 12, 2007," Fielding wrote.
Across the Capitol a Senate committee spent Wednesday grilling a second reluctant Bush aide about the White House role in the firings.
Unlike Miers, Taylor showed up and haltingly tried to satisfy both the subpoena compelling her testimony and Bush's executive privilege order not to reveal internal White House discussions.
"I did not speak to the president about removing U.S. attorneys," Taylor said under stern questioning by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the Senate Judiciary Committee's chairman. "I did not attend any meetings with the president where that matter was discussed."
When asked more broadly whether Bush was involved in any way in the firings, Taylor said, "I don't have any knowledge that he was."
She quickly found out what Miers might have already known: It's almost impossible to answer some questions but not others without breaching either the subpoena or Bush's executive privilege claim.
"I have not done a great job at that," Taylor said of the predicament at one point. "I have tried."
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said that may not be enough to protect her from a contempt citation.
"There's no way you can come out a winner," said Specter, the panel's senior GOP member and also its former chairman. "You might have been on safer legal ground if you'd said absolutely nothing."
As for the prospects of pursuing a criminal citation for contempt of Congress, Leahy said, "That's a decision yet to be made."Wed, Jul 11 2007
THE POLITICS OF CORRUPTION
Carmona says Bush officials muzzled him
WASHINGTON, Associated Press - President Bush's most recent surgeon general accused the administration Tuesday of muzzling him for political reasons on hot-button health issues such as emergency contraception and abstinence-only education.
Dr. Richard Carmona, the nation's 17th surgeon general, told lawmakers that all surgeons general have had to deal with politics but none more so than he.
For example, he said he wasn't allowed to make a speech at the Special Olympics because it was viewed as benefiting a political opponent. However, he said was asked to speak at events designed to benefit Republican lawmakers.
"The reality is that the nation's doctor has been marginalized and relegated to a position with no independent budget, and with supervisors who are political appointees with partisan agendas," said Carmona, who served from 2002 to 2006.
Responding, the White House said Carmona was given the authority and had the obligation to be the leading voice for the health of all Americans.
"It's disappointing to us if he failed to use his position to the fullest extent in advocating for policies he thought were in the best interests of the nation," said Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto. "We believe Dr. Carmona received the support necessary to carry out his mission."
Confirmation hearings are scheduled to be held Thursday for Dr. James. Holsinger Jr., the Kentucky cardiologist Bush nominated as the nation's 18th surgeon general. The nomination has been criticized by gay rights groups.
Carmona testified Tuesday at a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Also appearing were Drs. C. Everett Koop, who served as surgeon general from 1981-1889, and David Satcher, who served from 1998-2001.
"Political interference with the work of the surgeon general appears to have reached a new level in this administration," said committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif.
Koop is probably the most recognized former surgeon general. He talked about AIDS as a public health issue rather than a moral issue, which won him many admirers and some critics. He said President Reagan was pressed to fire him every day, but Reagan would not interfere.
Koop said that after he left office he had more access to the secretary of Health and Human Services than his successor, Satcher, and that embarrassed him. "Dr. Carmona was treated with even less respect than Dr. Satcher," Koop said.
A report condemning secondhand smoke was a hallmark of Carmona's tenure.
Another report, on global health challenges, was never released after the administration demanded changes that he refused to make, Carmona said.
"I was told this would be a political document or you're not going to release it." Carmona said. "I said it can't be a political document because the surgeon general never releases political documents. I release scientific documents that will help our elected officials and the citizens understand the complex world we live in and what their responsibilities are."
He refused to identify the officials who sought the changes.
Carmona said he believed the surgeon general should show leadership on health issues. But his speeches were edited by political appointees, and he was told not to talk about certain issues. For example, he supported comprehensive sex education that would include abstinence in the curriculum, rather than focusing solely on abstinence.
"However, there was already a policy in place that didn't want to hear the science, but wanted to quote, unquote preach abstinence, which I felt was scientifically incorrect," Carmona said.Wed, Jul 11 2007
JUNK SCIENCE, BROUGHT TO YOU BY...
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