Schumer: Gonzales not fit to rule on Cheney’s role

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/schumer-gonzales-not-fit-to-rule-on-cheneys-role-2007-06-25.html

Schumer: Gonzales not fit to rule on Cheney’s role
By Elana Schor
June 25, 2007

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should step aside from the Justice Department’s internal debates over whether Vice President Cheney is violating an executive order on protecting classified information, Senate Democratic Vice Chairman Charles Schumer (N.Y.) said on Monday.

The classification controversy opens another front for Democrats in their clash with the embattled Gonzales, who survived a recent Senate vote of no confidence but continues to weather multiple congressional investigations of his office. Schumer contended that Gonzales is too close to the White House to evaluate whether Cheney must follow other executive agencies and report on his office’s use of classified national-security data.

“It’s clear to just about everyone in America that the attorney general has lost the faith and trust of the American people in making impartial decisions when it affects the president and vice president,” Schumer said.

The senior Judiciary Committee member also blasted Gonzales for taking nearly six months to respond to a request from the little-known Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) that his department clarify Cheney’s role in the government. The vice president’s office claims that as the president of the Senate, Cheney is exempt from ISOO’s check on the executive branch.

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) plans a push to cut executive-branch appropriations for Cheney’s office, effectively heeding the vice president’s interpretation of his role. Schumer expressed interest in a similar move in the Senate but said he would need to examine Emanuel’s effort further.