alt.politics.gw-bush

Archived Clinton Records May Go Public Soon
By JOSH GERSTEIN
Staff Reporter of the Sun
September 13, 2007

An estimated 10,000 pages of daily schedules from Senator Clinton's tenure
as first lady could be made public as soon as December, though Presidents
Clinton and Bush could postpone the records' release, a National Archives
official said yesterday.

"Our hope is to get it done by the end of the year," the acting director of
the Clinton Presidential Library, Emily Robison, told The New York Sun. She
stressed that she was only referring to the review and redaction of the
records by archivists. Under the Presidential Records Act and an executive
order issued by Mr. Bush, Mr. Clinton's representatives then have 90 days to
review the records for materials that could be covered by executive
privilege. After that review is complete, Mr. Bush has an unlimited amount
of time to make his own privilege assertions.

It is unclear whether the disclosure of redacted versions of Mrs. Clinton's
schedules will ultimately have significance for her bid for the Democratic
presidential nomination. However, it seems likely that Mr. Clinton's former
aides will have control over the timing of the process just as the
nominating contest reaches its peak early next year. The political
atmosphere is sure to increase pressure on the former president not to be
responsible for any delay.

Ms. Robison said Mrs. Clinton's schedules were given priority in processing
because they have been the subject of several Freedom of Information Act
requests. A conservative watchdog group, Judicial Watch, has filed suit
against the National Archives to demand release of the White House schedules
and phone records pertaining to Mrs. Clinton. A judge denied the group's
request for an immediate injunction but ordered the archives to propose by
October 1 a schedule for release of the records.

Since the Clinton Library's records became available for public request last
year, only four requests have been completed and released to the public.
Three of those consist only of photographs. Ms. Robison said archivists have
finished some other requests but they are still in the presidential review
process.

In legal papers filed in the Judicial Watch case, Ms. Robison said more than
10 million pages of records are awaiting processing in response to 266
pending requests. It appears that it will take years or perhaps even decades
to clear the 10 million-page backlog.

"The Clinton Presidential Library has no more than six archivists available
to process all of its pending FOIA requests for textual and electronic
records," Ms. Robison wrote.

"As soon as we get any records ready, trust me, we'll put them out on our
Web site," she said yesterday. "We're going to be as happy as anyone to get
this information available."