WAXMAN Demands Political Briefing Info From 27 Fed Agencies & Departments (TEXT OF LETTER TO DOAN)

[Hissyspit]

www.thinkprogress.org

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) “asked 27 federal departments and agencies yesterday to turn over information related to White House briefings about elections or political candidates,” substantially widening the scope of his investigation into potentially illegal partisan activities being conducted by federal officials.

http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1272

Oversight Committee Asks Agencies for Information on Political Presentations

Following media reports that at least 20 political briefings were given to officials of at least 15 federal agencies, Chairman Waxman writes to government agencies requesting further information and documents about any briefings mentioning elections or candidates provided to agency employees by officials in the White House.

Documents and Links
(Go to above link to click on these links and read letters)

Letter to Secretary Gutierrez
Letter to Administrator Johnson
Letter to Attorney General Gonzales
Letter to Secretary Jackson
Letter to Secretary Peters
Letter to Secretary Rice
Letter to Secretary Kempthorne
Letter to Secretary Nicholson
Letter to Secretary Gates
Letter to Secretary Spellings
Letter to Secretary Chertoff
Letter to Secretary Johanns
Letter to Secretary Leavitt
Letter to Secretary Bodman
Letter to Secretary Chao
Letter to Secretary Paulson
Letter to Chairman Cox
Letter to Director Springer
Letter to Chairman Lenhard
Letter to Chairman Majoras
Letter to Chairman Martin
Letter to Administrator Preston
Letter to Chairman Nord
Letter to Administrator Griffin
Letter to Director Walters
Letter to Director Marburger
Letter to Administrator Doan

Here is the text of the letter to Lurita Doan:

Dear Madame Administrator:

I am writing to request information about political briefings given by White House officials to federal agency officials.

On March 28, 2007, the Committee held a hearing in which Lurita Doan, the head of the General Services Administration, testified that White House officials in the Office of Political Affairs conducted a political briefing at GSA headquarters on January 26, 2007. The briefing slides, which the Committee reviewed, identified the Republican party's top electoral targets in the 2008 elections. After the presentation, Lurita Doan asked her staff to discuss how GSA resources could be used to help "our candidates" in the next election.

An article in today's Washington Post reports that White House officials now confirm that, in the past year alone, at least 20 similar briefings were given to officials of at least 15 federal agencies, including the Interior Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Commerce Department, among other.

To assist with the Committee's continuing investigation of this issue, I request that you provide information about any briefing mentioning elections or candidates provided to agency employees by officials in the White House between January 20, 2001 and April 26, 2007. Please provide the dates, times, attendees, and locations of these briefings, as well as any communications and documents relating to the briefings. Please provide these materials to the Committe by May 18, 2007.

I wrote to you earlier this month requesting that your agency preserve and inventory all e-mails sent between White House officials and agency emplyees through accounts controlled by the Republican National Committe or other nongovernmental entities. At the request of the White House Counsel, I am postponing temporarily the deadline for responding to the Committee's request. This postponement will last for two weeks, extending the deadline for response to the letter to May 18, 2007. The Committee's postponement does not apply to the request that you take steps to preserve such e-mails.

- snip -

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the principal oversight committee of the House of Representatives and has broad oversight jurisdiction as set forth in House Rule X. An attachment of this letter provides additional information about how to respond to the Committee's request.

I would appreciate your cooperation with this request.

Sincerely,

Henry A. Waxman,
Chairman

[babylonsister]

1. Holy Mackeral! Can/will they all stonewall him? nt

[in_cog_ni_to]

2. I think Waxman has more information than WE know about.

If Doan did what she did in her agency, surely, others did too and Waxman knows it. Just a guess.

[robinlynne]

10. already public. They admitted to having those briefings in 20 agencies.

[rodeodance]

3. Scott Bloch will try to whitewash but Waxman is onto him (keep in good health Mr. Waxman)

[rodeodance]

4. Bloch was on Cspan today---a whole hr. of "I run a great department"

[Frustratedlady]

5. Does this mean he's trying to get a step ahead of Bloch?

Or am I reading this wrong? Dang! There are so many things going on at once, I can't keep track.

Go, Waxman. Let's get this stuff going at a good speed before summer breaks get in the way.

[rodeodance]

6. I kinda doubt that Bloch would do a complete investigation

[Hissyspit]

7. Kick with text of letter added. n/t

[Hissyspit]

8. and again. n/t

[loudsue]

9. I'll help out here: Waxman ROCKS!!

:kick::kick::kick:

[lovuian]

11. drip by drip by drip

and the army of Bush starts getting up to the real fighting
lets see how they handle real fire power

[Hissyspit]

12. .

[SalviaBlue]

13. GO WAXMAN!!!

Every time Waxman makes a move, I get this surge of hope for our future... something that has been missing from my emotions for a long time.

Thanks for posting this Hissyspit!

K&R