Dick

On its second go-round the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Tuesday dismissed lawsuits that sought to force Vice President Dick Cheney to turn over records and documents disclosing the names of energy companies and lobbyists participating in task force deliberations that crafted the 2001 national energy policy.

Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn’s energy adviser, Richard “Dick” Burdette, 61, died last Wednesday from a heart attack. Burdette’s funeral was held Monday in Carson City, NV. A U.S. Naval Academy graduate, Burdette was named energy adviser in December 2003 after serving five years at the Nevada Public Utilities Commission as its manager of resource and market analysis. He was a consultant in several regulated industries, worked as a aide to a U.S. senator and was a public affairs officer and acting deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Transportation Department.

The staff of Vice President Dick Cheney submitted a proposal Tuesday to the House and Senate tax writers that seeks to resolve the outstanding tax items that have halted progress on comprehensive energy legislation over the past weeks, according to a Republican aide. At press time, the details of the proposal were not known, and the tax writers had not yet responded.

Vice President Dick Cheney and 13 other prominent members of the Bush administration have asked a federal court in Washington, DC, to dismiss lawsuits filed by Judicial Watch Inc., a public watchdog group, seeking documents related to the task force that crafted the national energy policy.

Weighing in on the battle between Vice President Dick Cheney and the General Accounting Office over energy task force records, former White House Counsel John Dean said in an op-ed column printed in the New York Times Monday that it could take several years for the dispute to be resolved. Dean, who served under President Nixon, said “as a matter of law, it is clear that the General Accounting Office has a right to the information.” Cheney has refused to turn over records from meetings of the task force which drew up the administration’s energy policy (see Daily GPI, Jan. 29).

Vice President Dick Cheney and key Cabinet members were dispatched around the country early last week in an effort to resuscitate the public’s interest in the Bush administration’s package of energy proposals, which had been largely stalled in Congress after being unveiled to much fanfare in May.

Vice President Dick Cheney says he expects to see a broad range of energy legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush by the end of the year.

Vice President Dick Cheney unofficially confirmed that Pat Wood III, who was sworn in as the newest member of FERC last Tuesday, soon will be named chairman of the Commission, replacing current Chairman Curt Hebert, according to a joint Frontline/New York Times television report.

Vice President Dick Cheney unofficially confirmed that Pat Wood III, who was sworn in as the newest member of FERC Tuesday, soon will be named chairman of the Commission, replacing current Chairman Curt Hebert, according to a joint Frontline/New York Times television report.