Democrats in high dudgeon over Bush administration "secrets" and Gov. Rick Scott's missing e-mails got a dose of their own medicine when a federal judge ruled that visitor records at the Obama White House are subject to public disclosure.
The Secret Service, which maintains the visitor logs, argued that the records are exempt from Freedom of Information Act requests. But U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell sided with the watchdog group Judicial Watch, which had sued for records from the first eight months of Obama's presidency.
The regime's resistance is curious, given that the White House has been making logs "proactively" available since September 2009, when Obama reversed a longstanding bipartisan policy of nondisclosure.
A report by the Center for Public Integrity found that thousands of known visitors to the Obama White House are missing from the logs and the event description for more than 20 percent of the visits was left blank.
U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Ocala, assailed the administration for what he called "an ongoing pattern of obstruction."
Howell's order, which pertains to records compiled before the policy change, makes exemptions for national-security concerns.
That exemption could give government officials broad discretion to keep records under seal, since the Secret Service said it would be "virtually impossible" to review all logs "without potentially compromising national-security interests," according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
The agency had asserted to the court that the visitor logs were not "agency records" as defined by FOIA, but records of the White House, subject to the more restrictive Presidential Records Act.
Lawyers for the Secret Service also contended that the agency did not have control over the records because it typically transfers them to the White House after 30 to 60 days. The only reason it said it still had the records in its possession was because of the ongoing litigation.
In Tallahassee, visitor logs for Gov. Rick Scott's office and the governor's mansion "are considered open record," said spokesman Lane Wright.
While acknowledging the possibility that none of the requested White House logs will be disclosed because of applicable FOIA exemptions, the court held that the Secret Service must process the request and examine all records.
"[The Secret Service] has not met its burden to establish that the search requested by [Judicial Watch] is so unreasonable as to require a blanket rejection," Judge Howell ruled.
The Reporters Committee said Howell's decision was in line with two previous district court rulings that determined White House visitor logs are agency records. The court earlier held the same in the 2006 case Wash. Post v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland Security, which was later vacated on other grounds, and the 2007 case Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Wash. v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland Security.
Stearns, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee's subcommittee on oversight and investigations, convened a hearing last May to examine the administration's policies on records, visitor logs and lobbyists. The administration did not send a witness to testify.
"While candidate for president, Obama repeatedly promised that his administration would be the most open and transparent in history. Obviously, this court decision holds the president to his promise," Stearns said in a statement.
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Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
