Dick Cheney's own branch of government

The Bush Administration refuses to hold itself accountable for the protection of our national security, and Vice President Cheney is a key part of the problem. It was his office that leaked the identity of a CIA agent to the media. He's part of an Administration under investigation for using email accounts of the Republican National Committee to conduct official government business. According to the Washington Post:

Across the board, the vice president's office goes to unusual lengths to avoid transparency. Cheney declines to disclose the names or even the size of his staff, generally releases no public calendar and ordered the Secret Service to destroy his visitor logs.


The Vice President claims he's exempt from presidential executive orders because, as President of the Senate, he is "attached" to the legislative branch. But the Senate has even more stringent regulations on the handling of classified material -- even more rules that the Vice President hasn't followed. In typical fashion, the White House will only say that this is an "interesting constitutional question that people can debate."

Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution clearly states:

The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same term, be elected ...

It's time to remind the Vice President that he can't ignore our nation's laws.

A government unto himself.

Dick Cheney was starting his second term in Congress when I arrived in Washington in 1981 as Press Secretary to then-Congressman Paul Findley of Illinois.

But Cheney was already on a fast-track to power, moving into chairmanship of the Republican Policy Committee after just two years on the Hill. He may have been a newbie in Congress but Cheney was an insider, a former White House chief of Staff with the proverbial friends in high places.

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cont/node/2782

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Vice President Dick Cheney's office refused to cooperate with an agency that oversees classified documents, then tried to abolish the office when it challenged the actions, House oversight committee Chairman Henry Waxman said.

The National Archives' Information Security Oversight Office is charged by presidential order with ensuring that classified information and documents are properly handled by executive branch agencies.

According to a letter from William Leonard, director of the oversight office, Cheney's office argued it did not meet the definition of an executive branch agency and therefore was exempt.

Leonard also wrote that Cheney's office suggested his agency be abolished under a revision of the presidential order now under consideration. (Watch how Cheney's office defines its role )

"I question both the legality and wisdom of your actions," Waxman, D-California, wrote in a letter Thursday to Cheney.

"Your decision to exempt your office from the president's order is problematic because it could place national security at risk," wrote Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/06/22/cheney.documents/