Big media notices computergate

Well, I had hoped to spend this Monday away from the blog -- much work to catch up on -- but how can we let today's expose of the White House parallel email system pass without comment? Astonishingly, the story comes to us by way of what has become a very conservative newspaper, the Los Angeles Times.

Democrats say evidence suggests the RNC e-mail system was used for political and government policy matters in violation of federal record preservation and disclosure rules.

In addition, Democrats point to a handful of e-mails obtained through ongoing inquiries suggesting the system may have been used to conceal such activities as contacts with lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was convicted on bribery charges and is now in prison for fraud.

Isn't it nice to see a major news organ catch up with the blogosphere? Took 'em only...well. How many weeks has it been...?

White House officials said the system had been used appropriately and was modeled after one used by the Clinton White House political office in the late 1990s.

"The regular staffers who interface with political organizations have a separate e-mail account, and that's entirely appropriate," said White House spokesman Scott M. Stanzel. "The practice is followed to avoid inadvertent violations of the law."

When in doubt, blame Bill. You can bet the rent money that we are going to hear this talking point pushed ad infinitum when the story grows to a size that the radio rightists cannot ignore.

The difference -- which will be heeded only by those listeners with the patience to hear it -- is simple: The Clintonites used private emails only for partisan political work. Congress was able to subpoena every piece of email they wanted when they went out to the old fishin' hole during Whitewatergate and travelgate and all those other pseudogates they invented.

We know that the Rove-era emails were used for non-RNC purposes -- such as feeding info to Jack Abramoff and deep-sixing prosecutors who weren't loyal Bushies.

So now the problem becomes one of phrasing, and of anticipating the opposition. When Limbaugh and O'Reilly start bleating "Clinton did it!" -- and they will do just that -- how do we respond? How can we pare the truth down to five-to-ten one-syllable words, which is the only kind of message that might penetrate the noggins of the people who listen to Limbaugh and O'Reilly?

I hope this piece by Alexis Simendinger of the National Journal doesn't get entirely subsumed by the Times piece, because we learn some juicy new facts. Seems that the Bushies were warned about compliance with the Presidential Records Act when they took office:

On his second day as White House counsel in January, Fred Fielding said little when representatives of the National Archives and Records Administration suggested during a courtesy meeting that he might want to reissue guidance to President Bush's aides about how they should preserve e-mail messages as presidential records.

And what is the likelihood that we can recover the emails sent on the private RNC system?

The RNC's policy, Stanzel said, is to delete e-mails every 30 days, except for the e-mails of White House aides "who use the political e-mail accounts the RNC has provided them." David Almacy, White House Internet and e-communications director, told Computerworld in March that the RNC's archive exception for White House e-mails began in 2004.

I expect we'll hear a lot about that 30-day limit. (As in: "Oops, we accidentally placed that email in the to-be-deleted category. Silly us!") 'Tis BS, as those who have followed the reader commentary in this blog, and elsewhere, will know. Records of those emails are somewhere.

One former White House political aide said he vaguely recalled receiving guidance about sending e-mail on an RNC-provided BlackBerry and using a gwb43.com e-mail account, but he had clearer memories of getting "a billion and one" White House ethics briefings.

The e-mail instructions, from Sara Taylor, director of White House political affairs, were meant to help aides juggle dual sets of communications devices to comply with the Hatch Act and the Presidential Records Act, and to use the RNC equipment and accounts "only for political activity."

Hmm. Looks like this is one of those situations where "If the man don't listen, you got to yell a little louder":

JACK ABRAMOFF! PROSECUTORGATE!

What about those emails? You've broken either the Hatch Act or the PRA. You may be able to escape one charge or the other but not both.

Oh -- and remember that doctored photo, which one of the RNC IT firms used in a classic distraction maneuver? I like what corrente has to say:

The guys who planted this disinformation keep changing their stories. It’s an April Fool’s joke that ran from March 30 to April 4. It’s a practical joke. They’re mad because the RNC got revealed as their client for gwb43com.s nameserving. It’s a viral marketing ploy. With Republicans, changing stories mean just one thing: They’re lying.