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Enron: Cheney against giving documents to investigators
By Sridhar Krishnaswami
WASHINGTON, JAN. 28. The U.S. Vice-President, Richard Cheney, has made it clear that he did not plan to give Congressional investigators any internal documents relating to the administration's energy plan that would include material on the failed energy giant, Enron Corporation.
``It would make it virtually impossible for me to have confidential conversations with anybody... You just cannot accept that proposition without putting a chill over the ability of the President and the Vice-President to receive unvarnished advice,'' Mr. Cheney remarked. ``The fact is, Enron didn't get any special deals.''
Mr. Cheney's attitude pits the White House against the General Accounting Office (GAO), whose head has promised to go to court to get the relevant documents. The Comptroller-General, David Walker, believes that the Congress and the GAO have a right to know about the energy task force as it was funded with taxpayers' money.
The tough stance of the Vice-President and the White House might also set the stage for a re-run of the days of the earlier Democratic administration when Bill Clinton and his aides insisted on exhausting all legal avenues, including going right up to the nation's highest court, before turning over certain documents.
As it is, many Americans feel that the White House is ``hiding'' something over Enron Corporation, and there is the comparison between the current goings-on and Whitewater, which dragged on for a good part of Mr. Clinton's Presidency.
There is no doubt that the Democrats are trying to get back into the political scheme of things after being in the sidelines following the September 11 incidents. With the campaigning for the November 2002 Congressional elections slowly beginning, Democrats want to be in a position to at least embarrass the Republican Administration and gain some mileage.
Calling Mr. Cheney's decision ``unfortunate'' and arguing that it was not only a matter of principle but also of law, the Senate Majority leader, Tom Daschle, has given every indication that the Democrats are ready for a political and legal showdown.
``If this has to be resolved in the courts, I think that may be the only recourse. The GAO is on solid ground in demanding that these records be turned over. The American people have a right to know what the facts are,'' the South Dakota Democrat said.
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