Dueling information requests could focus further attention on connections between lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the White House just as the midterm elections enter their final leg this fall.
Earlier this year, Judicial Watch requested, through the Freedom of Information Act, that the Secret Service provide White House visitor logs showing when Abramoff, who pleaded guilty in January to fraud and conspiracy, entered and exited the WhiteHouse. That request wound up in court at the end of February. A judge ordered the logs released by today.
The Democratic National Committee made a far more complicated FOIA request on Jan. 30. They asked for logs detailing visits by Abramoff and any visits by five other people — some directly connected to Abramoff — including Grover Norquist, Patrick Pizzella, Ralph Reed, Michael Scanlon and David Safavian.
The DNC filed suit Monday to get those records. If the suit takes the same amount of time to work though the courts, about two and a half months, a ruling would come out around the end of July. Assuming there are actually entries to be released, summer delays and the compilation of the additional data could push release off into August — just months before the elections.
The White House has attempted to distance itself from Abramoff and the larger issue of corruption that has stained Congress. If there is nothing in the logs to raise eyebrows then the timing will not matter. But if there is something there, it will be doubly hard for Republican candidates, already being hurt by public disapproval of the president, to deflect any further bad news.
