Judge orders Cheney visitor logs opened - Yahoo! News
Judge orders Cheney visitor logs opened - Yahoo! News: "If Cheney's visitor logs show meetings with lobbyists, releasing them just weeks before Election Day could provide ammunition to Democrats.
'The political price is very high,' said L. Sandy Maisel, director of the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs at Colby College. 'Even more than that, Cheney has a vested interest in keeping them out of public eye at a time when people will pay attention to them. After the election, they will pay much less attention.'
The newspaper sought logs for anyone visiting Cheney, his legal counsel, chief spokesman and other top aides and advisers.
The Secret Service had no comment on the ruling Thursday. In court documents, government attorneys said releasing the documents would infringe on Cheney's ability to seek advice.
'This case is about protecting the effective functioning of the vice presidency under the Constitution,' attorneys wrote.
A lawsuit over similar records revealed last month that Republican activists Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed — key figures in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal — landed more than 100 meetings inside the Bush White House."
