Thursday, April 21, 2005
Speaking Truth to Power
Our wonderful Babs has done it again. Read the letter for yourself and send her a note of thanks!
(A PDF version of this letter is available here)
A special shout-out to The Daily Sandwich for this delicious bit-o-news! Thanks, Matt!
The Honorable Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C StreetNW
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Secretary Rice:
According to reports in today's Washington Post, you have told senior members
of your staff that you do not want "any information coming out of the department that
could adversely affect the nomination" of John Bolton to be U.S. Ambassador to the
United Nations. I hope this report is untrue.
The purpose of this letter is to ask you to issue an instruction to your department
stating that they will cooperate with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's bipartisan
investigation of John Bolton.
I am sure you are aware that Article 2, Section 2 of the Constitution states that the
President is to appoint Ambassadors "by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate."
As such, the Senate is fully vested with the authority to investigate executive nominations
to ensure that they are qualified in terms of experience, temperament, and conduct. In
addition, paragraph 1 of Rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate authorizes
Committees "to require by subpoena or otherwise the attendance of such witnesses and
the production of such correspondence, books, papers, and documents." The Supreme
Court has upheld this authority, calling it, "an essential and appropriate auxiliary to the
legislative function."
If you have, in fact, instructed your staff or any other employee of the federal
government not to cooperate with this important investigation, I urge you to act
immediately to reverse such course.
I look forward to your immediate favorable response.
Sincerely,
(signed) Barbara Boxer
Barbara Boxer
United States Senator
(A PDF version of this letter is available here)
A special shout-out to The Daily Sandwich for this delicious bit-o-news! Thanks, Matt!
The Honorable Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C StreetNW
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Secretary Rice:
According to reports in today's Washington Post, you have told senior members
of your staff that you do not want "any information coming out of the department that
could adversely affect the nomination" of John Bolton to be U.S. Ambassador to the
United Nations. I hope this report is untrue.
The purpose of this letter is to ask you to issue an instruction to your department
stating that they will cooperate with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's bipartisan
investigation of John Bolton.
I am sure you are aware that Article 2, Section 2 of the Constitution states that the
President is to appoint Ambassadors "by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate."
As such, the Senate is fully vested with the authority to investigate executive nominations
to ensure that they are qualified in terms of experience, temperament, and conduct. In
addition, paragraph 1 of Rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate authorizes
Committees "to require by subpoena or otherwise the attendance of such witnesses and
the production of such correspondence, books, papers, and documents." The Supreme
Court has upheld this authority, calling it, "an essential and appropriate auxiliary to the
legislative function."
If you have, in fact, instructed your staff or any other employee of the federal
government not to cooperate with this important investigation, I urge you to act
immediately to reverse such course.
I look forward to your immediate favorable response.
Sincerely,
(signed) Barbara Boxer
Barbara Boxer
United States Senator
# posted by Jean Dudley @ 7:38 AM 
Comments:
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I'm very disillusioned with babs and her vote for Negroponte.
I feel like I did when I found out there was no Santa!
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I feel like I did when I found out there was no Santa!
# posted by 
: 11:58 PM
: 11:58 PM 
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