When there is no transparency, the first thing we ask is, "What are the politicians hiding?"
A lack of transparency is why when faced with questions regarding the IRS Scandal, Lois Lerner's emails suddenly disappeared.
A lack of transparency is why Hillary Clinton used a personal email server.
A lack of transparency has shrouded the Obama administration, and now the administration is making it official.
The White House is unilaterally removing a federal regulation that subjects its Office of Administration to the Freedom of Information Act.
Obama's minions state that The White House office is not subject to the transparency law. Interestingly enough, the office abandoning the Freedom of Information Act is tasked with record-keeping duties like the archiving of e-mails.
The timing, when one considers all of the email questions bouncing around, is definitely an obvious attempt to cover up wrong doing, and protect people like Lerner, Holder, and Hillary Clinton.
Once again, the Obama administration has proclaimed it is above the law, and that they are not answerable to anyone, including We the People.
The Office of Administration has historically responded to Freedom of Information Act requests for 30 years. Leftists used it continuously to shed light on how the White House works under Republican leadership. But now, such transparency is politically inconvenient. The Obama administration has way too much to hide to allow the citizens to have any access to their records that may, if the digging is done right, reveal the lies and corruption.
This decision follows a ruling by the complicit federal court system in 2009 that declared the Office of Administration was not subject to the FOIA.
The appeals court ruled that the White House was required to archive the e-mails, but not release them under the FOIA. Instead, White House e-mails must be released under the Presidential Records Act — but not until at least five years after the end of the administration.
In a notice to be published in Tuesday's Federal Register, the White House says it's removing regulations on how the Office of Administration complies with Freedom of Information Act Requests based on "well-settled legal interpretations."
The rule change means that there will no longer be a formal process for the public to request that the White House voluntarily disclose records as part of what's known as a "discretionary disclosure." Records released by the Office of Administration voluntarily include White House visitor logs and the recipe for beer brewed at the White House.
President Obama has always claimed government should be transparent, and accused the Bush administration of lacking transparency, arguing that when he became President he would be committed to transparency and agencies should make discretionary disclosures whenever possible. But, now that he has a public questioning his unilateral and unconstitutional activities, and a Congress that opposes him, along with email scandals piling up, Obama is centralizing more power in the executive branch, and is erasing any chance for anyone to snoop into the White House's business.
This decision follows a ruling by the complicit federal court system in 2009 that declared the Office of Administration was not subject to the FOIA.
The appeals court ruled that the White House was required to archive the e-mails, but not release them under the FOIA. Instead, White House e-mails must be released under the Presidential Records Act — but not until at least five years after the end of the administration.
In a notice to be published in Tuesday's Federal Register, the White House says it's removing regulations on how the Office of Administration complies with Freedom of Information Act Requests based on "well-settled legal interpretations."
The rule change means that there will no longer be a formal process for the public to request that the White House voluntarily disclose records as part of what's known as a "discretionary disclosure." Records released by the Office of Administration voluntarily include White House visitor logs and the recipe for beer brewed at the White House.
President Obama has always claimed government should be transparent, and accused the Bush administration of lacking transparency, arguing that when he became President he would be committed to transparency and agencies should make discretionary disclosures whenever possible. But, now that he has a public questioning his unilateral and unconstitutional activities, and a Congress that opposes him, along with email scandals piling up, Obama is centralizing more power in the executive branch, and is erasing any chance for anyone to snoop into the White House's business.
The White House did not explain why it waited nearly six years to formally acknowledge the court ruling in its regulations, but the recent expansion of executive power that went into high speed since the Democrats lost the Senate in the mid-term elections probably has a lot to do with it.
While the White House claims it supports openness in government, its actions say the opposite.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
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