Search archives or Site Search Temp 60° F Metro Family Fresno CA No restrictions All News Sports Beehive Blog Business Columnists Entertainment Life Opinion Odd News Multimedia Special Reports Obituaries Corrections Text PDA Classifieds Site Map Advertise With Us Contact Us Search Communities Log in Lost Password Join Now Why register FAQ Subscribe Support NIE Get Coupons Quick Facts Enhanced Classifieds FAQ Year of the Metro Cheese maker breaks water law 30 years of Freedom of Information Sports Letters to Sports — 12 26 04 By Thomas S Blanton Business 2004 Updated Sunday December 5 2004 5 35 AM Life Thanksgiving week marked the 30th E-mail This Article anniversary of a bitter Washington battle Printer-Friendly Format that produced a landmark open government law -- the modern Freedom of Information Receive the Daily Bulletin Act -- over a presidential veto It also warns Subscribe to Print of new threats to that law and rising Join a Forum government secrecy as the leading losers in 1974 now dominate the vice presidency the Pentagon and the Supreme Court The current poster-child court case concerns Vice President Dick Cheney's preventing public release of the minutes and participants from his task force on energy policy When ABC's Cokie Roberts asked the vice president why he turned what would have been a one-day news story about meeting with oil industry buddies into a four-year front-page saga to the Supreme Court and back at first Cheney answered that the lawyers decided to draw the line But then he reached back to 1974 and denounced the unwise compromises that have been made over the last 30 or 35 years where it's demanded that the president cough up information In 1974 Cheney had his first really big job in Washington as deputy to the White House chief of staff Donald Rumsfeld President Ford faced a tough choice whether to veto the Freedom of Information Act amendments Congress passed overwhelmingly after Richard Nixon's resignation As members of Congress in 1966 Rumsfeld had sponsored and Ford had voted for the original FOIA But weaknesses in the law and endless bureaucratic delays together with the secrecy abuses of Watergate had persuaded Congress by 1974 to put teeth in the law and to ensure judicial review over executive branch secrecy decisions The Nixon administration had vigorously opposed the bill One FBI memorandum from June 17 1974 even noted orders from White House staffers who want no changes made in this legislation since they want it to remain as bad as possible to make their case stronger for sustaining a certain veto But President Ford scribbled on his first legislative briefing after taking office that a veto presents problems How serious are our objections White House aide Ken Cole wrote Ford on Sept 25 1974 There is little question that the legislation is bad on the merits the real question is whether opposing it is important enough to face the political consequences Obviously there is a significant political disadvantage to vetoing a freedom of information bill especially just before an election when your administration's theme is one of openness and candor Before the FOIA bill had even arrived at the White House the head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel Antonin Scalia was organizing the opposition According to CIA documents the agency had weighed in with the Office of Management and Budget against the bill but Scalia told them if we wanted to have any impact we should move quickly to make our views known directly to the president Apparently expecting that neither State nor Defense would be recommending veto Scalia even telephoned the CIA on Sept 26 1974 to urge direct contact with a particular White House staffer against the bill The timing was right because President Ford was most worried about leaks not open government Notes from the first White House senior staff meeting presided over by Rumsfeld and Cheney Sept 30 1974 show rising anger over leaks and Ford himself opened the National Security Council meeting on Oct 7 1974 by complaining about leaks for a full two pages of the transcript asking for recommendations on how to tighten up this system and telling his advisers that I could have ordered an FBI investigation on this but Don and I thought it would be better to see what you could do first Top ten in Checking back Wastewater Treatment Operator Del Rey Ju CUSTOMER SVC NEW CAREER FOR THE NEW YEAR WELDER SWF COMPANIES is a wholly-owned s LAB ASSISTANT Primary duty phlebotomy P DRIVER Class C Lic Need clean driving r MAINTENANCE MECHANIC SK Foods is a growi ORTHODONTIC ASSIST Immediate opening fo Wastewater Operator- inTraining City of THERAPIST Academy of the Sierras the fi COUNSELOR TECH FT For monitoring client CHIEF BUSINESS OFFICIAL SONORA UNION HIG OFFICE MGR for busy auto repair shop Fu ELECTRICIAN Journeyman level with indus RETAIL Reliable Worker to Set Merchand TRAINING COORDINATOR Sequoia a dynamic PROOFREADER Certified Ad Services has fu CABINET DOOR MAKER Cabinet shop Looking DENTAL Receptionist Biller Must be Exp' ROOFING Business in need of Excellent pe LVN RN- F T for Indian Health Clinic in Ford vetoed the Freedom of Information Act amendments on Oct 17 1974 calling them unconstitutional and unworkable On Nov 20 the House overrode the veto by a 371-to-31 margin the Senate vote Nov 21 was 65 to 27 to override Today the federal government responds to 3 million FOIA requests a year at a cost of $1 10 per citizen about what we spend on peanut and sugar subsidies or a single C-17 aircraft FOIA requests regularly make headlines exposing corruption and conflicts of interest and the leading users are veterans and their families seeking information on their benefits and service records The veto crowd was wrong in 1974 but the Cheney task force lawsuit reminds us that the battle for open government is still raging Thomas S Blanton is director of the National Security Archive at George Washington University and co-chair of OpenTheGovernment org a coalition of more than 30 organizations concerned about rising government secrecy Write to him at Gelman Library George Washington University 2130 H St NW Suite 701 Washington D C 20037 or via e-mail at tblanton@gwu edu © 2004 The Fresno Bee News Sports Business Classifieds Contact Us Text Only Subscribe Your Privacy User Agreement Child Protection Advertiser Links Travel Insurance Druckerpatronen Shop Seen On TV HGH Cortislim Actiongames Schools Colleges Email Marketing Band T-Shirts Woodworking Supplies Garden Sheds-Pool Cabanas Top DUI-DWI Lawyers in USA Mexico Hotels Web Site Optimization Nanny Agency Great AuPair Color Laser Printer Buy DVD movies at BestPrices com Financial Info Business Intelligence