Thanks for maintaining your website that keeps track of President Obama's record in fulfulling promises made during his campaign. And thanks for providing an e-mail address soliciting comments.
I'm writing about Promise Number
238. You
provide the language from the President's still-working
campaign website (although the current
URL is http://www.barackobama.com/issues/ethics/index_campaign.php
,
slightly different than the link you provide):
You currently have this promise ranked as "No Action". I'd like to suggest it be changed to "Promise Broken", based on:
-
A May 9 story in the New York Times (
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/05/20/20greenwire-vow-of-silence-key-to-white-house-calif-fuel-e-12208.html
) which begins:There was a simple rule for negotiations between the White House and California on vehicle fuel economy: Put nothing in writing.Not only does this behavior contradict Obama's promise, it also may have run afoul of existing Federal law, as noted in a recent Washington Examiner blog post (
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Put-nothing-in-writing-Browner-told-auto-execs-on-secret-White-House-CAFE-talks-50260677.html
):Federal law requires officials to preserve documents concerning significant policy decisions, so instructing participants in a policy negotation concerning a major federal policy change could be viewed as a criminal act. -
A story in the June 29 issue of Newsweek (
http://www.newsweek.com/id/202875
) headlined "Obama Closes Doors on Openness", which begins:As a senator, Barack Obama denounced the Bush administration for holding "secret energy meetings" with oil executives at the White House. But last week public-interest groups were dismayed when his own administration rejected a Freedom of Information Act request for Secret Service logs showing the identities of coal executives who had visited the White House to discuss Obama's "clean coal" policies.
Enough? In any case, thanks for your consideration.
Sincerely,
pas@punsalad.com