Leahy to White House: Stop stonewalling

Patrick Leahy has had it.

The Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary -- seen here on the right with Republican colleagues Arlen Specter (center) and Orrin Hatch -- wrote at least a dozen letters to the White House in the last year, asking for folks like political guru Karl Rove and chief of staff Josh Bolten to testify. No dice.

Then he reluctantly issued subpoenas. Again, no top White House witnesses.

Not content with letter-writing, the House Judiciary Committee and its firey chairman, John Conyers, took the White House to court, winning a ruling that Rove and former counsel Harriet Miers had no claim to executive privilege.

Still no response.

So today the normally mild-mannered Vermont Democrat wrote a letter to White House Counsel Fred Fielding. He accused the White House of stonewalling and of trying to "run out the clock" on its term in office. He said:

You rejected our efforts and insisted on your initial take-it-or-leaving-it proposal for off-the-record, backroom interviews with no transcript, no oath and no ability to follow up, which would have denied Congress the ability to fulfill its legislative and oversight responsibilities.

Having obstructed our proceedings for more than a year, and having unsuccessly resisted the House's action in court, it certainly seems that your intention is simply to run out the clock. It is clear to me that this administration  has no interest in complying with its lawful duty or showing respect to the rulings of Congress or the courts.

Mocking Fielding's offer to "remain available" to explore "ways to reach accommodation," Leahy says those "hollow words are no substitute for action, especially given this administration's unwillingness to engage in good faith accommodations in the past, the interposed months of delay and your legal position having been repudiated by the court."

No word yet from the White House.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Dennis Cook / Associated Press