Dean says DNC will file an appeal tomorrow for more records...

WASHINGTON, June 20 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Howard Dean today issued the following statement in response to the guilty verdict of former White House official David Safavian.

Chairman Dean also announced that the DNC will file an appeal tomorrow with the deputy director of the White House Office of Administration to receive information on which units of the "White House Office" have the Worker and Visitor Entrance (WAVE) records documenting how many times Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon, Grover Norquist, Patrick Pizzella, and Ralph Reed and Safavian himself visited the White House. In May, the DNC filed its second Freedom Of Information Act request to receive this information from the White House Office of Administration but was told that under the Bush Administration the records are "maintained by the White House Office," not the Office of Administration. The "White House Office" consists of a number of offices.

"The guilty verdict of former Bush White House Chief Procurement Officer David Safavian is another sign that the grip of the Republican culture of corruption and abuses of power in Washington is loosening, but it's just the tip of the iceberg," said Chairman Dean. "From the indictment of Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff to investigations involving Republican Senate Majority Leader Frist, Republican Congressman Ney and Tom DeLay, to tax breaks for big oil and pharmaceutical companies slipped into legislation in the middle of the night, while the Republican Congress watered down real ethics reform, the list of Republican abuses goes on and on.