Setting the stage for a potentially precedent-setting courtroom duel between the executive and legislative branches of government, the General Accounting Office (GAO) officially notified President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney Wednesday of its plans to file a lawsuit to gain access to records and information of the Cabinet-level task force that developed the administration’s energy policy.

The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, said it will file the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, DC within the next few weeks, challenging the decision of Bush and Cheney to withhold the documents on the grounds that it would encroach on the authority of the executive branch. This marks the first time the GAO will bring legal action against the executive branch to compel production of information and records.

“…[A]ll of our attempts to reach a reasoned and reasonable accommodation, including reducing the scope of our request, have been rebuffed, and we have now exhausted the statutory process for resolving our access requests,” Comptroller General David M. Walker said in a letter announcing the GAO’s planned action, which was sent to both Bush and Cheney. “Our only remaining recourse is either to file suit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, or to forego further assertion of our access rights.”

The agency began its pursuit of the task force records nearly nine months ago at the request of Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and John Dingell (D-MI). The two suspected that large campaign contributors, such as former Enron Corp. Chairman Kenneth Lay, had unduly influenced the drafting of the energy policy. The collapse and bankruptcy of the energy trader has piqued the interest of other Capitol Hill lawmakers about Lay’s role.

The “recent bankruptcy of Enron has served to increase congressional interest in energy policy, in general, and [task force] activities, in particular. This, plus the Senate’s expected consideration of comprehensive energy legislation this session, reinforces the need for the information we requested,” Walker said.

Cheney, who chaired the energy task force, earlier this week argued that while the GAO’s authority extended to federal agencies, it did not apply to the Office of the President and Vice President. Walker countered, however, that the sought-after documents were “clearly within our statutory audit and access authority.”

The GAO has no other choice but to go to court over the access issue, Walker noted, adding that to not do so would set a dangerous precedent. “Failure to pursue this matter could lead to a pattern of records access denials that would significantly undercut GAO’s ability to assist Congress in exercising its legislative and oversight authorities.”

Waxman and Dingell sought out the GAO’s help to obtain the energy task force records from Cheney back in April 2001, long before the Enron scandal hit the newspapers. Specifically, the lawmakers want information on Cheney’s meetings during which the energy policy was discussed, as well as the details on the meetings of the staff of the task force (whom they met with, and what was discussed).

Until now, Cheney and the White House have been able to dismiss the GAO inquiry as the product of partisan politics by Waxman and Dingell. But with daily disclosures about Enron’s influence in Washington, a mounting number of Democrats and even Republicans in Congress have called for the White House to accede to the GAO’s request.

Republican lawmakers doubt that the White House engaged in questionable behavior while developing the national energy policy, but they believe the Bush administration’s persistent refusal to make the records available gives the appearance of impropriety.

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