White House Denying Access to Visitor Records

By: Joe Strupp The Obama administration is blocking access to the names of visitors to the White House, according to MSNBC.com -- which recently requested the information. The Web site contends the reasoning is similar to Bush administration arguments that a president doesn't have to reveal his visitors.

"Despite President Barack Obama's pledge to introduce a new era of transparency to Washington, and despite two rulings by a federal judge that the records are public, the Secret Service has denied MSNBC.com's request for the names of all White House visitors from Jan. 20 to the present," a MSNBC.com story Tuesday stated. "It also denied a narrower request by the nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington [CREW], which sought logs of visits by executives of coal companies."

CREW told MSNBC it would file a lawsuit Tuesday against the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service.

"We are deeply disappointed," CREW attorney Anne L. Weismann told the Web site, "that the Obama administration is following the same anti-transparency policy as the Bush administration when it comes to White House visitor records. Refusing to let the public know who visits the White House is not the action of a pro-transparency, pro-accountability administration."

MSNBC noted that groups that advocate open government have argued it's vital to know the names of White House visitors, who may have an influence on policy: "The visitor logs have been released in only a few isolated cases, most notably records of visits by lobbyist Jack Abramoff to the Bush White House, and in the 'filegate' investigation of the Clinton White House."

The Obama administration reportedly argues that the White House visitor logs are presidential records - not Secret Service agency records, so not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

The administration should be able to hold secret meetings in the White House, "such as an elected official interviewing for an administration position or an ambassador coming for a discussion on issues that would affect international negotiations," Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt told MSNBC.com.

But the story states that the same arguments, made by the Bush administration, were rejected twice by a federal judge. U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ruled in 2007 and again this past January that the visitor logs are created by the Secret Service and maintained by the Secret Service, MSNBC.com added.

White House Correspondents Association officials could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday morning on this issue.