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Openness emerging
White House visitors will be disclosed under Obama’s new policy
Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009 | 2:04 a.m.
On Jan. 21, his first full day in office, President Barack Obama announced that his administration would usher in “a new era of openness.” He wanted to quickly break with the administration of former President George W. Bush, which was notoriously secretive.
In a memo sent that day to every federal department and agency, Obama declared, “This administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information, but those who seek to make it known.”
Last week Obama stood by his words in announcing that the names of most people visiting the White House would be publicly disclosed on a regular basis, the first time in decades that this has been done.
The announcement followed a lengthy review of the Bush administration’s contentious policy, which had been to shield its visitor list from all requests to see it.
“Americans have a right to know whose voices are being heard in the policymaking process,” Obama said Friday.
His new rule will take effect Sept. 15, with visitor disclosures being posted online once a month thereafter. Although the names of White House visitors on official business, and the names of the officials they met with, will be of the most importance, the names of people taking White House tours will also be released.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, an advocacy group, had filed four lawsuits during the Bush administration in an effort to pry loose the names of visitors conducting business. The group has now dropped its suits.
The disclosure policy contains exceptions pertaining to people on “purely personal” visits and those visiting to meet on clearly confidential matters. Nevertheless, CREW is hailing the policy, saying Obama has created the “most open White House in history.”
Obama’s announcement follows Attorney General Eric Holder’s March memo directing federal agencies to “apply a presumption of openness” when responding to requests for information.
Having a president who promotes openness in word and deed is a refreshing change from the days of Bush and Dick Cheney.
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How can the Sun print these lies? This is from an MSNBC article on June 16:
"The Obama administration is fighting to block access to names of visitors to the White House, taking up the Bush administration argument that a president doesn't have to reveal who comes calling to influence policy decisions.
Despite President Barack Obama's pledge to introduce a new era of transparency to Washington, and despite two rulings by a federal judge that the records are public, the Secret Service has denied msnbc.com's request for the names of all White House visitors from Jan. 20 to the present."
Google it - it's no secret. Obama's "openness" emerged when he was forced into it.
Veteran EPA analyst Alan Carlin reported in his 98 page analysis "I have become increasingly concerned that EPA has itself paid too little attention to the science of global warming." The EPA attempted to suppress its own internal report of climate change because of its political inconvenience. Kim Strassel reminds us that President Obama said in April the days of science taking a backseat to ideology are over.. We should check with Mr. Carlin to see how this policy is working out.
Appears science has been moved from back seat and into the trunk for the current administration. A new era of openness...LOL
LOL there are still major exemptions
For one "personal" visits will not be reported and that covers a lot of people
The editorial states: "The announcement followed a lengthy review of the Bush administration's contentious policy, which had been to shield its visitor list from all requests to see it."
I thought that several news outlets had to file "Freedom of Information Requests" to get this information.