GAO drops Cheney lawsuit

The General Accounting Office has decided not to challenge a judge's decision to dismiss the watchdog agency's lawsuit against Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force.

The decision by GAO ends a nearly two-year battle with the White House over documents detailing meetings Cheney held with the National Energy Policy Development Group in 2001. The meetings resulted in the president's national energy policy and many of the officials there came from Enron Corp., the Houston-based energy company that filed for bankruptcy in December 2001 amid accusations of hidden debt, inflated profits and improper accounting methods.

Bush administration officials refused to hand over the meeting records, arguing that GAO had overstepped its authority by asking the vice president for information on the task force. In February 2002, GAO filed a lawsuit against Cheney.

"In this case, GAO had made exhaustive efforts to reach an accommodation with the administration, and only after all such attempts had failed did GAO file suit as its only remaining option," Comptroller General David Walker said in a Friday press release. "This is precisely the process that Congress directed GAO to follow when it enacted GAO's access statute in 1980."

A judge dismissed the lawsuit in December, ruling that GAO's legal action raised separation-of-powers issues between the executive and legislative branches. On Friday, officials from the watchdog agency announced they would not appeal the judge's decision.

According to GAO officials, while they contend that the district court's decision was wrong, continuing to pursue the lawsuit would require a great deal of time and resources. Also, similar lawsuits are pending and GAO would have access to any information gained by those other parties.

"Based on my extensive congressional outreach efforts, there is a broad-based and bipartisan consensus that GAO should have received the limited and nondeliberative [National Energy Policy Development Group]-related information that we were seeking without having to resort to litigation," Walker said. "While we have decided not to pursue this matter further in the courts, we hope that the administration will do the right thing and fulfill its obligations when it comes to disclosures to GAO, the Congress, and the public, not only in connection with this matter but all matters in the future.