Dean defends secrecy of Vt. energy task force - Boston Globe

[Smashmouth]

I thought it was Kerry that the Boston Globe went after all the time. Isn't this the third article in a row?

Dean defends secrecy of Vt. energy task force

Rejects comparison to Cheney's group

By John Solomon, Associated Press, 12/29/2003

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/articles/2003/12/29/dean_defends_secrecy_of_vt_energy_task_force/

WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean has demanded the release of the secret deliberations of Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force. But as Vermont's governor, Dean had an energy task force that met in secret and angered state legislators.

Dean's group held a public hearing and afterward volunteered the names of the industry executives and the liberal advocates it consulted in private, but the Vermont governor refused to open the task force's closed-door deliberations.

In 1999, Dean offered the same argument the Bush administration uses today for maintaining the secrecy of the deliberations of a policy task force.

"The governor needs to receive advice from time to time in closed session," Dean was quoted as saying. "As every person in government knows, sometimes you get more open discussion when it's not public."

The secrecy of the Vermont task force that devised a policy for restructuring the state's near-bankrupt electric utilities has escaped national attention, even though he has attacked a similar arrangement used by President Bush.

In an interview, Dean defended his recent criticism of Cheney's task force and his demand that the administration release its private energy deliberations even though Dean refused to do that in Vermont.

More..................................

[Rose Siding]

1. So...Dean did it completely differently,

-had a public hearing, released the names of the participants (of VARYING ideologies) and ended up with a solution that benefitted the state- but it's the *same* as Cheney :shrug:

[sidwill]

2. Its called Hypocrisy

Dean should do just what he is demanding of Cheney, release those papers to the light of day.

If it is criminal that Cheney is able to hide from the American public details of those energy meetings, then why would it be any different if a Democrat tried to pull the same shyt?

What sort of moral authority does Dean think he has to make Cheney release his papers while he refuses?

It looks bad, it smells bad, and it probably is bad.

Cheney knows ( as we all suspect) that releasing those documents would have a negative political impact on the administration. Dean is obviously doing the same damn thing, for the same damn reason.

That is hypocrisy, the defining trait of the Republican party, and of Howard Dean.

[Rose Siding]

7. If it were the same thing but it isn't

so it's not.

[WiseMen]

20. Gaping CHASM between Dean WORDS and DEEDS is impossible to span

Luckly for Dean, few voter see anything more that snippets on the
evening news. Deans secrets are safe from the masses. He really didn't need to lock up his records.

[sandnsea]

8. No, it's exactly the same

"When Gov. Howard Dean wanted to raise money for a possible presidential bid, he followed the example of a former governor of Texas and called on his friends in the energy industry.

Nearly a fifth of the roughly $111,000 collected in its first months by Dean’s presidential political action committee, the Fund for a Healthy America, came from people with ties to Vermont’s electric utilities, according to a recent Federal Elections Commission filing.

It should be no surprise. Dean and utility executives have had a long and friendly relationship."

http://timesargus.nybor.com/Legislature/Story/43125.html

"The timing of the Dean Administration's change of heart is troubling. The Department's support for the Entergy sale was announced just after utility officials made major campaign contributions to the Governor's presidential campaign. Was there a connection? Like Vice President Cheney, the Governor will say no. But only the utilities were in talks with the Governor's energy department. Environmental groups were denied any access to these discussions. And the utilities got what they wanted. If it quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck."

http://www.clf.org/hot/hydro_quebec_to_vermont_yankee.htm

[Rose Siding]

15. Can you link to the diverse list of attendees at Cheney's mtgs?

(and we should forward them to Jusicial Watch and the Sierra Club) Thanks

[Razormill]

17. This is the problem..

with simply supporting Dean no matter what..it smacks of Republican zombie allegience to whomever holds the position.

Dean did EXACTLY what Cheney did, the list of names was already available---the reporters watched them enter and leave several times.

It sounds as if Cheney used Dean's argument. This is why Dean will cripple the election and shows why he cannot get away with a Clintonesque answer.

We need a seasoned democratic nominee that will not come off as a gasbag and spend three days following off the cuff remarks defending them. Karl Rove has probably hired several extra staff members to catalog the issues and missteps of the Dean campaign.It will be a three month roast if we don't nominate a real contender.

Lieberman was screwed by Gore, but he can stand toe to toe with Bush.

[bearfartinthewoods]

3. dean shoves another campaign issue down the hole...

we're not going to have anything left soon....

we are soooo screwed..........

[dkf]

4. Ya know, even negative Dean articles just serve to wipe the other

candidates off the spotlight of the media.

Fascinating.

[sidwill]

5. What is interesting is this

In this particular intance we again see Dean take a position (see guns, medicare) that doesn't jibe with the progressive/liberal agenda.

He is defending the denial of information to the public. As a progressive I have always supported transparency in government as a powerful tool to protect our democracy from being hijacked by corporate interests.

Now we have a candidate who is trying hide what he did while governing. This is NOT the way a progressive should act.
Its the way Repukes act on a daily basis, but not the way a progressive should act.


So the question becomes: Why haven't Deans supporters demanded he release those documents? Why haven't they demanded that he walk the walk as well as talk it? Will they ask him to be accountable?

Or will they allow the cult of personality that is the DEAN campaign to override their own personal beliefs.

Unless of course Dean supporters are FOR secrecy in government, if thats the case they might as well vote for Bush in 04.

[Smashmouth]

6. And this is good how? n/m

[blm]

12. ever notice that Dean's supporters don't care about ANYTHING that Dean has

done wrong?

Fascinating, but dangerously foolhardy.

[killbotfactory]

16. Ever notice how gross generalizations don't work?

"Dean supporters are fools for not uncritically buying my negative tripe!"

[blm]

19. I didn't ask Dean to deal with the Koch brothers

and Koch Industries, did you?

Did you ask him to keep the details of those meetings and paperwork sealed?

Do YOU trust the Koch brothers? Is not trusting ANY deal by the Koch brothers inconsequential tripe to you?

[redqueen]

9. The amazing thing is imagining

that this isn't the end of it with Dean... I hope we don't have to see any more of this.

And what's up with the 'this is different' sidestep? At least try to use reason to back up assertions like that. IMO it's not different at all.

Dean's supporters better get cracking PDQ if they're going to deal with this effectively. And no, saying, 'but cheney did it too' is not 'dealing with it'.

[no name no slogan]

11. That's my biggest fear

Or at least one of two. Here they are:

1) Dean has many other things like this that will prove "embarassing" if they come out during a GE campaign. Yes, I'm quite sure that Joe Trippi will explain it well enough to the core supporters on the blog, but it will not wash with a cynical electorate who will just see Dean as "another politician"-- even though his campaigning is that of the "outsider" who wants to "take back America".

Dean's got other things just like this in his political closet that are just waiting for the right moment to crop up-- things which he has not adequately explained away that BushCo will have no problem smearing him with in a GE.

2) Dean will be painted as a "New England Liberal" by the establishment press. Since he's really not a liberal, Dean will continually insist he's not a liberal and do many things in public to prove that he's "tough".

REAL left-leaning voters will see this as a cop-out of his supposedly "liberal" leanings, while conservatives will write it off as yet another attempt by some eastern "Establishment" liberal to play to the conservatives in "Middle America".

"Oh, but Dean won't let that happen! He's got lots of money!" Oh really? Look at Mike Dukakis, our last candidate who was a governor of a small New England state, riding around in a tank in 1988. Dukakis looked ridiculous (and disappointed a lot of leftish voters) by caving in to the right-wing rhetoric directed against him. Of course, the "moderates" and conservatives he was trying to impress wrote him off as some sort of buffoon pandering for their votes.

[rock]

10. "Sometimes you get more open discussion when it's not public."

I thought then (with bushsucks* and cheney) as I do now: keeping the government open is more important than some theoretic, minor advantage. Another way I would state this same thought is that I'm always glad to share publically my thoughts (if they are too private to be shared I'd just shut up).

[killbotfactory]

13. It's SOOOO similar I could almost die!

I mean, here's Dean having confidential talks with a wide variety of people to help solve an energy crisis, he released the names of who he consulted with after the meeting, and they came up with an energy efficiency utility which has helped dramatically cut down greenhouse gasses and energy expendature.... sounds horrible to me!

Oh yeah, that's totally the same as Cheney having secret meetings with people who's names he won't release and writing a plan that's basically a giveaway to all his buddies.

Totally the same!

[Upfront]

14. Dang This Is The End.

Not! LOL Although greatly concerned, Not! I think I will still vote for Dean. Good heavens, Democrats? lol

[lurk_no_more]

18. Hypocrisy by any other name is still hypocrisy

Are these all part of the sealed "corespondents only" files we are assured will show nothing wrong or corrupt?

The more I see, the more it appears to be the democratic wing of the republican party.

[w4rma]

21. Are you people so desperate to tear down Dean in **hopes** that your own

candidate (with their own, but different, problems) will be the nominee, instead?

Or are you hoping for 4 more years of Bush, by trying to equate Bush with Dean which undermines your whole campaign (no matter who the nominee is) against Bush.

[Cheswick2.0]

22. works for me

<<<<Dean's campaign said it was "laughable" to compare the two task forces. "Governor Dean confronted and averted an energy crisis that would have had disastrous consequences for the citizens of Vermont by bringing together a bipartisan and ideologically diverse working group that solved the problem. Dick Cheney put together a group of his corporate cronies and partisan political contributors, and they gave themselves billions and disguised it as a national energy policy," spokesman Jay Carson said yesterday.
>>>>>

[Myra]

23. From what I've seen it's Dean they go after.

I assumed it was 'cause they're in Kerry's state,
tho' this is purely an assumption.
I don't know that much about this paper.

[KaraokeKarlton]

24. From what I recall, this wasn't a group to "advise" Dean

It was a group that discussed some difficult issues facing Vermont's utility problems and issued a report of their findings. They didn't make policy and although their discussions weren't public, their final report was.

This is just another feeble attempt at making something out of nothing. :shrug: