One step closer to shining the light on Cheney

By Lee Russ

Thursday, October 19, 2006 at 08:57 PM

Thanks to Federal Judge Ricardo M. Urbina, the world is one large step closer to learning exacty who the incredibly secretive Dick Cheney has been meeting with.

A federal judge has ordered the Bush administration to release information about who visited Vice President Dick Cheney's office and personal residence, an order that could spark a late election season debate over lobbyists' White House access.

The Washington Post asked for two years of White House visitor logs in June but the Secret Service refused to process the request. Government attorneys called it "a fishing expedition into the most sensitive details of the vice presidency."

U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina ruled Wednesday that, by the end of next week, the Secret Service must produce the records or at least identity them and justify why they are being withheld.

The newspaper sought logs for anyone visiting Cheney, his legal counsel, chief spokesman and other top aides and advisers.

Oh yes.  You can expect that the government lawyers will fight like hell to keep these records private.  They'll take the option of "identity them and justify why they are being withheld," without a doubt.

While the legal battle will likely drag on through the election, there's a decent chance of a good substantive leak once the VP's lawyers get to arguing about why records should be secret.

And there's always the glorious chance that the judge will serve us all well by ordering that all or most of the records be made public.

How much would you pay to find out exactly who has been "visiting Cheney, his legal counsel, chief spokesman and other top aides and advisers?"

That should be one fascinating list.  And best of all, it offers up the possibility of matching visits from specific folks on specific dates to actions taken by the government shortly after those dates.

If Dick is sleeping well tonight I'd be shocked.  If he drinks as much as has been rumored, it may be time to buy some liquor stocks.