The vice president's lawyer wrote the letter as The Washington Post
sought copies of Cheney's visitors at his residence.
The Post requested the records under the Freedom of Information Act.
The newspaper subsequently dropped a lawsuit seeking the information.
The letter regarding the vice president's residence was in addition to
an agreement quietly signed between the White House and the Secret
Service a year ago when questions were raised about visits to the
executive compound by convicted influence peddler Jack Abramoff.
That agreement, which didn't surface publicly until late last year,
said White House entry and exit logs were presidential records not
subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
When the agreement was signed in May 2006, a number of private groups
and news organizations had filed FOIA requests with the Secret Service
in an effort to identify how many times Abramoff or members of his
lobbying team visited the White House.
From The Associated Press, 5/29/07:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1151AP_Cheney_Secrecy.html
Lawyer: Cheney visitor logs not recorded
By PETE YOST
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON --
A lawyer for Vice President ***** Cheney told the Secret Service in
September to eliminate data on who visited Cheney at his official
residence, a newly disclosed letter states.
The Sept. 13, 2006, letter from Cheney's lawyer says logs for Cheney's
residence on the grounds of the Naval Observatory are subject to the
Presidential Records Act.
Such a designation prevents the public from learning who visited the
vice president.
The Justice Department filed the letter Friday in a lawsuit by a
private group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington,
seeking the identities of conservative religious leaders who visited
Cheney at his official residence.
The newly disclosed letter about visitors to Cheney's residence is
accompanied by an 18-page Secret Service document revealing the
agency's long-standing practice has been to destroy printed daily
access lists of visitors to the residence.
Separately, the agency says it has given Cheney's office handwritten
logs of who visits him at his personal residence.
Because of pending lawsuits, the Secret Service says it is now keeping
copies of all material on visitors to Cheney's residence.
________________________________________________
uh huh
Harry
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