Standing up to Bush

Monday, Jan. 5, 2009 | 2:07 a.m.

Recurring themes of the Bush administration — secrecy and low regard for science — are prevalent in two White House actions that are now stimulating considerable opposition.

Secrecy is at the root of a 2001 executive order by President Bush that gives presidents and their heirs unprecedented control over White House records.

And the Bush administration’s low regard for science is at the root of administrative changes to the Endangered Species Act, which were announced in August and enacted in December following a brief, pro forma public comment period.

Historians and advocates of open records are leading the opposition to Bush’s executive order, which fundamentally changed the 1978 Presidential Records Act, one of the reforms following Watergate.

They are pinning their hopes on President-elect Barack Obama, whose campaign Web site contained a promise to “nullify the Bush administration’s attempts to make the timely release of presidential records more difficult.”

Bush’s executive order gave ex-presidents and, for the first time, their heirs, authority to block release of White House records for any reason and in perpetuity, according to reporting by Cox News Service.

Obviously this could prevent the public from ever gaining a more complete picture of what motivated a president to act the way he did.

As for the 11th-hour regulatory changes to the 35-year-old Endangered Species Act, they allow federal agencies to now issue permits for mining, logging and other land-disrupting activities on their own authority. They do not, as required by original regulations, have to consult with federal scientists, say, from the Fish and Wildlife Service, to go ahead with their plans.

The regulatory changes are opposed by California, which filed a lawsuit last week that seeks to block their implementation until Obama has time to review them. Obama, according to the Associated Press, has said he opposes the changes.

We hope California’s suit is successful and that Obama does indeed “nullify” Bush’s 2001 executive order. Ending eight years of disrespecting science and of making secret what should be in the open is a priority.