Waxman to probe WH censoring of Surgeon General.
Waxman to probe WH censoring of Surgeon General.
Today House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt requesting documents related to political interference with the work of the Office of the Surgeon General.
The text of the letter follows:
July 11, 2007
Honorable Michael O. Leavitt
Secretary
Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20201Dear Mr. Secretary:
I am writing to request documents related to political interference with the work of the Office of the Surgeon General.
Yesterday, the Committee held a hearing on the Surgeon General’s Vital Mission: Challenges for the Future. At the hearing, Dr. Richard Carmona, the most recent Surgeon General, testified that during his term, political appointees edited his public remarks, blocked him from developing or issuing several reports or calls to action, and denied travel requests on political grounds.
To assist the Committee in its investigation of these events, I request that you provide the following:
1. All documents related to the Surgeon General’s report on global health;
2. All documents related to the Surgeon General’s report on prison health;
3. All documents related to the Surgeon General’s proposed reports on mental health preparedness and on emergency preparedness;
4. All documents relating to requests for Dr. Carmona to speak at events outside the Department, including events for other government agencies or the White House. Please indicate whether the request was accepted or denied; and
5. All travel requests submitted by Dr. Carmona, beginning in August 2002 through the end of his term. Please indicate whether the request was approved or denied.
The Committee requests that you produce these documents on or before July 25, 2007.
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the principal oversight committee in the House of Representatives and has broad oversight jurisdiction as set forth in House Rule X. An attachment to this letter provides additional information about how to respond to the Committee’s request.
If you have any questions regarding this request, please contact me or ask your staff to contact Art Kellermann or Naomi Seiler with the Committee staff at (202) 225-5056.
Sincerely,
Henry A. Waxman
Chairman
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Damn, that Waxman is a pit bull!
July 11th, 2007 at 5:05 pmWhere does he get all of his energy? Relentless – I love it!
July 11th, 2007 at 5:06 pmOn the same day that former Surgeon General Richard Carmona told Congress about the politicization of his office by the White House, a bizarre story from China served as a reminder of other past Bush wrong-doing at the FDA. The Beijing government punished the former head of the Chinese Food and Drug Administration for approving bogus medicine in exchange for cash. Which sounds like President Bush’s former FDA chief, Dr. Lester Crawford.
For the details, see:
July 11th, 2007 at 5:08 pm“Politics and Crime at the Bush FDA.”
Go Henry!
July 11th, 2007 at 5:09 pmJesus Christ on a Crutch! Is there anything about this government that is actually working honestly For the People?
July 11th, 2007 at 5:10 pmI appreciate Mr. Waxman’s vigilance and the return of Congressional oversight to government process.
However, the stifling of the Surgeon General or other political appointee’s ranks about 10th on the priority list of things Congress should be investigating this Administration for.
Congress must focus on the 3 issues most important to our democracy
1) The war in Irag
2) Illegal warrant-less wire taps
3) The obstruction currently taking place over the investigation into the US Attorney issue.
It is not my intent to minimize the the blatantly political or criminal behavior of the Administration but too many simultaneous hearings and investigations diminish the significance of the most important issues. The Administration and the GOP would love nothing better than to paint these investigations as nothing more than a partisan witch hunt.
July 11th, 2007 at 5:25 pmsadly, no. each and every agency seems to have been infected and rotted by these scumbags. They blatantly ignore facts and testimony. I think ALL these Rethugs are “in on it” and part of this cover up. This is a nationwide election fraud issue, they rigged the 2004 election and then have set about perfecting their covert invasion of their sick ideals and incompetence and set about trying to place these operatives in every position of power, control the puppet Gonzales and take over the Justice Dept. thereby allowing themselves a magic power to do any and every illegal and immoral thing they please. Isn’t there a provision in our Constitution that allows us to remove ALL parties of a corrupt administration. There MUST be something, we have to remove them ALL.
July 11th, 2007 at 5:27 pmStart NOW with Gonzales! Ugh. this is so frustrating.
Frustrating only partially describes it. I can’t even put into words how depressing it is to see this great country being taken over and ruined by people who have an agenda (ruling the world through ruling the world’s resources).
What a sad, sad thing. A fine country ruined by a bunch of thugs and thus far with no ramifications or accountability.
I hope the Sergent at Arms takes Miers and Taylor into custody. Miers isn’t going to give anything up – she’s a notch below Cheney in the dishonesty department. But perhaps the thought of losing her law license (ABA…you listening??) might do something.
I am not going to hold my breath. I only hope that this country sees the 2008 elections and we don’t see martial law instead. How screwed are we going to be then?
July 11th, 2007 at 5:38 pmOf course every office in the government is used politically, but there’s a huge difference between trying to suppress a report because it looks bad politically (such as when the Clinton administration did not want a report released that showed that needle-exchange programs helped reduce the spread of disease because it might make them look “soft on drugs”) and suppressing it for ideological reasons (such as when the current admin wanted to stop the SG from discussing the use of contraceptives).
Regardless of which party is in power, the issue of public health should be free from political interference, especially when the politics of the party in power has flatly rejected science (which actually tests theories to see if they are true) in favor of political ideology (which relies on ignorance and what sounds good to the people who support them.)
July 11th, 2007 at 6:00 pmHenry Waxman. A pit bull in the back pocket of AIPAC. His work needs to be viewed with skepticism. AIPAC works both sides of the political fence in America. Public opinion is important, so there are lots of shows put on for you. Keeps people believing that the system is trying to work in their favor. Elections mean nothing. The state is your enemy. It keeps you enslaved. Governments cannot be reformed from within. If they could, the world would have been a better place a long time ago. It is up to the individuals to go forward without being dependent on the state and create that better world. Politicians are not going to do it for you.
July 11th, 2007 at 6:04 pmBut perhaps the thought of losing her law license (ABA…you listening??) might do something.
Comment by MsJoanne — July 11, 2007 @ 5:38 pm
That’s a good point, MsJoanne. Miers no longer works for the president, so he can’t claim Executive Privilege based solely on that. But she can claim attorney-client privilege on areas where the legality of things were discussed (though I have a hard time believing they ever did that.) On all other matters, she can and should be compelled to testify. If her political policy advice was being sought, that does not fall under attorney-client privilege.
This reminds me of an episode of “The Practice” when they went after a tobacco company and the tobacco company said that everything the firm wanted was protected by attorney-client privilege. To believe that, Lindsey argued, you’d have to believe that they had a lawyer sitting in on every experiment in every research lab.
Uh-oh, Big thunderstorm moving through our area. I’d better shut down for a while. See you all later.
July 11th, 2007 at 6:07 pmGeez X Kreist, he’s a gettin busy!
July 11th, 2007 at 6:21 pmWayne, the Office of the President cannot claim attorney client priviledge as regards Congressional requests for information. Here’s an excellent link on the topic.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-garbus/attorneyclient-privilege_b_8342.html
July 11th, 2007 at 6:27 pmComment by Jeb — July 11, 2007 @ 6:27 pm
Thank you, Jeb. I stand corrected. I just assumed that the White House counsel, though a public employee just like the president (though this one doesn’t see it that way), could protect private discussion about the legality of matters just as your own lawyer can protect your private conversations about the legality of your matters (unless he has knowledge of a crime about to be committed.) Apparently I was wrong. Thanks for the link. I will save it for my reference material on the unconstitutionality of “Executive Privilege” where matters unrelated to national security are concerned.
July 11th, 2007 at 7:02 pmI think this all just a part of building a case as to the enormity of the high crimes and misdomeaners being committed by this administration. Perhaps then, the 26% will be to busy trying to CYA to obstruct the impeachment, conviction and then indictment and conviction of their beloved Neo-Khans.
July 11th, 2007 at 9:08 pmThank you Tolstoy’s Ghost for setting me straight. I did some research and it appears that you are, unfortunately, correct about Mr. Waxman.
I must have lost my head there for a minute and forgot that EVERYTHING should be viewed with “skepticism”.
“Congressman Waxman is regarded as close to Israel’s principal lobby, AIPAC, and even promised Jewish voters back in November 2006 that there would be no Democratic congressional committee chairmen involved with Middle Eastern policy who were not completely supportive of Israel.”
http://wotisitgood4.blogspot.com/2007/04/new-phil-giraldi-article-about-sibel.html
Apparently, these days, being “completely supportive of Israel” is a pre-requisite for holding any kind of political office in the US.
July 12th, 2007 at 12:06 pmYou people love to make fun of people’s deformities. Why do you never make fun of this a$$holes nose? You say he is a pit bull? No, he just looks like one. Or at least a pit bull’s a$$.
ROTFL
July 12th, 2007 at 1:44 pm