The smell of cover-up in the morning

The smell of cover-up in the morning Hugh Hewitt Columnists Washington Examiner

By: Hugh Hewitt | 11/06/11 8:05 PM
Examiner Columnist

Kathryn Ruemmler is the White House counsel, President Obama's third White House counsel, in fact, following Robert Bauer and before him Greg Craig.

Ruemmler has been at her post since June 30. Bauer lasted 18 months in the job, the Siege Perilous of Team Obama, and Craig just a year.

Ruemmler is a formidable lawyer, a partner at the powerhouse law firm of Latham & Watkins before joining the Obama White House, and before that a prosecutor -- of Enron's Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, in fact.

So Ruemmler surely knows what a subpoena means and what its recipient is obliged to do when it comes to good faith compliance.

On Friday, Ruemmler sent Rep. Fred Upton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Cliff Stearns, chairman of that panel's oversight and investigations subcommittee, a letter rejecting the committee's subpoena for all internal White House documents relating to Solyndra, the now-bankrupt solar panel maker with friends in high places that took a half billion in taxpayer dollars with it into insolvency.

The Ruemmler letter is a work of lawyer's art, turning an ordinary request for documents into a "significant intrusion into Executive Branch interests," one she regrets to conclude appears to have been driven by "partisan politics."

She copied Rep. Henry Waxman, the California Democrat who preceded Upton as chairman of the committee, on the letter in an obvious attempt to bring a nonpartisan peacemaker to the process, and Rep. Diana DeGette, the Colorado Democrat who went on record against the subpoena in the subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, saying "I believe White House documents should be produced," -- just not the ones Obama wants to keep private apparently.

The committee is seeking the paper trail of green tears that followed Solyndra in and out of the West Wing, mind you, not the president's BlackBerry messages (the new era's version of Nixon's tapes) or committee appearances by Rahm Emmanuel or Valerie Jarrett (though Van Jones would certainly be an interesting witness).

And Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, told me on air that he will be summoning venture capitalists deep in the green business before his committee in the new year.

"Any document that references Solyndra, even in passing, is arguably responsive to the Committee's request," Ruemmler complained. Why yes, that's what document production usually involves.

Perhaps someone can look to any subpoenas Ruemmler relied upon in the Enron prosecution for comparison purposes?

Responding, Ruemmler complained "would require the devotion of substantial resources to gather and review many documents," creating "an unreasonable burden on the president's ability to meet his constitutional duties."

As though the president would have to abandon his golf games to sort through cabinet files himself.

Upton was not pleased: "Our request for documents is reasonable -- we are not demanding the president's BlackBerry messages, as we are respectful of Executive Privilege."

Upton further asked: "What is the West Wing trying to hide? We owe it to American taxpayers to find out."

Ah, the smell of cover-up, like that of burning leaves, is instantly recognizable.

Listen for "modified, limited hangout" and "twisting slowly, slowly in the wind" in a mainstream media version of Groucho's old "secret word" game from "You Bet Your Life."

Solyndra is rich in material, now turbocharged by White House stonewalling.

Some enterprising publisher will recognize that the game is just now begun, and should advance some credentialed crusader a considerable sum to come out with a Solyndra book in October 2012. The sales it will have!

Toss in Fast and Furious and it will stay weeks at the top of the New York Times' list.

Examiner Columnist Hugh Hewitt is a law professor at Chapman University Law School and a nationally syndicated radio talk show host who blogs daily at HughHewitt.com.

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