<nettime> yo... this is truly weird... Bush Shadow government...

["Paul D. Miller" <anansi1@earthlink.net>]

well... if the top people in the country haven't heard of Bush's "Shadow
Government" what does that mean? Check out the middle section of this
article where Senate Majority leader Daschle says he never heard any plans
of about the "shadow government." Can anyone say "right wing putsch?"
Given the Enron situation and the fact that there has been the creation of
a "MInistry of Dis-Information" what next? Room 101 straight out of 1984
Paul



Ridge Refuses to Testify to Senate

March 4, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 4:48 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Homeland security chief Tom Ridge is turning down a
bipartisan request from a Senate committee that he testify, his
spokeswoman said Monday, the latest White House-Congress difference over
the war on terror.

The two top members of the Senate Appropriations Committee -- Chairman
Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., and senior Republican Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska --
wrote to Ridge on Monday asking that he appear before their panel.

Ridge coordinates the government's anti-terrorism effort at home, though
the programs themselves are carried out by dozens of other agencies.
Appropriations controls much federal spending, including the $38 billion
-- double this year's total -- that President Bush has proposed for next
year's domestic security programs.

``Your views and insights on the policies necessary to meet these
objectives are critical to the committee and the nation,'' the senators
wrote.

Ridge spokeswoman Susan Neely said he would not testify because he is an
adviser to the president, not a Senate-confirmed head of an agency that
implements policy.

``Assistants to the president work for the president,'' Neely said. ``And
the president has spoken his recommendations to the Senate and House'' in
the budget he sent Congress last month, she said.

Byrd spokesman Tom Gavin had no comment on Ridge's refusal until the
committee receives the homeland security director's formal response. Asked
if Byrd would compel Ridge's appearance through a subpoena, Gavin said
Byrd has not discussed that possibility.

Republican Stevens' signature on the Appropriations Committee letter makes
this appear to be a dispute between the executive and legislative branches
over the release of information, not a partisan conflict.

Last week, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and other Democrats
asked questions about Bush administration plans for continuing the
conflict in Afghanistan. That prompted some Republicans to accuse
Democrats of politicizing the war, while Democrats said they merely wanted
details.

Daschle and other lawmakers also have complained they knew nothing about
federal officials who have been working secretly outside Washington since
Sept. 11 as a contingency government to guarantee continuity in case of a
devastating attack on Washington. The ``shadow government'' was revealed
last week by The Washington Post, and a GOP lawmaker criticized the
secrecy surrounding it on Monday.

``We have to have some awareness of this because, as I recall, we are
number three in succession here and that might be of interest to them,''
said Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., referring to succession to the presidency.

In another dispute, Congress' General Accounting Office has sued Vice
President Dick Cheney to learn the names of business leaders who met with
the White House energy task force.

Neely said Ridge has repeatedly met privately with lawmakers to discuss
domestic security, including recent separate sessions with GOP and
Democratic senators.

Presidents often decline to let White House staff testify to Congress,
citing past precedent, but there have been numerous recent exceptions to
that practice.

Byrd and Stevens gave Ridge the choice of testifying on April 9, 10 or 11.

^------

On the Net: Homeland Security:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/homeland/

Senate Appropriations Committee:
http://appropriations.senate.gov/

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Attacks-Ridge.html?ex=1016 
306912&ei=1&en=3a1d4a1f8f20c83a

Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company


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