It takes an army these days to keep track of all the scandals emanating from the White House. Prosecutor-gate, GSA-gate, NSA-gate, illegal war-gate and so much more continuously makes the news because of the corrupt Bush Administration. Well now there is yet another potential abuse of power perpetrated by George's merry men.
From The LA Times:
Waxman told the Los Angeles Times in a statement that a separate "e-mail system for high-ranking White House officials would raise serious questions about violations of the Presidential Records Act," which requires the preservation and ultimate disclosure of e-mails about official government business.
Waxman's initial request to the RNC seeks e-mails relating to the presentation of campaign polling and strategy information to Cabinet agency appointees. He is also expected to ask for e-mails relating to Abramoff's activities, which Waxman is also investigating.
The Senate and House Judiciary Committees are also expected to formally request e-mail records from the RNC that relate to last year's firing of eight U.S. attorneys.
The private e-mail system came to light in the U.S. attorney controversy because one of Rove's deputies used an RNC-maintained e-mail domain — gwb43.com — to communicate with the Justice Department about replacing one of those prosecutors.
So from the prosecutor purge debacle this new potential scandal is coming to light. Using back-channel emails in this manner may violate the Presidential Records Act because of the White House's desire for ultimate secrecy. That hush-hush attitude has gotten the Administration in hot water already and this can just add more fuel to the fire.
Republicans are visibly worried over this latest request for information by Congressman Waxman because of the damning material that may be in those emails. Using the government for political maneuvering in this manner is a serious no-no and it doesn't seem that the White House really cared to follow those rules. Republican officials say that they created the email system to avoid troubles that arose in the Clinton years, but as the Republican and former Asst. Press Secretary Adam Levine said: "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."
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