It seems as though the so-called, “most powerful” Vice President Dick Cheney is not all powerful as he would like. He flip-flopped on his assertion that he is “not an ‘entity within the executive branch’ and hence is not subject to presidential executive orders.”
Dick Cheney’s office is abandoning a justification for keeping the Vice-President’s secret papers out of the hands of the National Archives.
Officials working for Cheney had tried to claim he is separate from the executive branch, but they will no longer pursue that defense, senior administration officials tell The Politico.
The decision follows a threat by Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), the No. 3 House Democrat, to try to cut off the office’s $4.8 million in executive-branch funding.
(read more…)
The dispute came about after House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) posted an eight-page letter he had written to Cheney taking issue with Cheney statement that he is not part of the Executive Branch.
I found this very amusing that Cheney and his people would try to use a constitutional loophole (if you were to read the document, the only powers it give the VP is to be the President of the Senate and assume the Office of President in the event it is vacant.) However, it is clear that Mr. Cheney has something to hide, after all, why else would you not want National Archives handling your files and records. In positions that I have personally held, a group has collected and archived my files, but I never objected, that is also because I do not need to hide anything. But then again, I have never held the Office of Vice President and my name is not Dick Cheney, so maybe those two things together offer special privileges that are only eligible to His Royal Highness.
A Politico 