Group, Boehner trade shots over classified info flap

6 Aug 2007 // A Washington-based ethics advocacy group wants the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate whether House Minority Leader John A. Boehner disclosed classified information for partisan purposes.

Boehner, a West Chester Republican, says through a spokesman that Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is the one with a partisan agenda.

CREW issued a press release today announcing it has asked the justice department to investigate whether Boehner violated the law by talking on Fox News about an intelligence court decision that the Bush administration’s wiretapping efforts are illegal.

In its press release, CREW says that Boehner was trying to blame Democrats for not passing legislation overturning the court decision.

“By revealing classified information, the minority leader of the House of Representatives appears to have compromised national security for partisan political gain,” said Melanie Sloan, CREW executive director. “We urge the justice department to immediately commence an investigation.”

The Washington Post last week raised the issue of Boehner’s TV remarks and whether they constituted a discussion of classified material. Boehner’s office said then that the lawmaker was referring to publicly available information found in a letter earlier this year from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to Congress and stuck to that position today.

A Boehner spokesman also charged that the organization is going after Boehner because he is a Republican.

“This is even more laughable than Sloan’s claim that CREW is a ‘non-partisan watchdog’ organization,” said Brian Kennedy, a Boehner spokesman. “It’s ironic, but the only real threat to sensitive information here would come from hysterical, partisan witch-hunts like the one Sloan is trying to start today.”

For her part, Sloan shot back that CREW recently has gone after several Democrats, including Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana, who is facing corruption charges. Jefferson maintains his innocence.
Sloan said more Republicans have been convicted of corruption charges or faced probes in recent years -- noting it has been a GOP administration’s justice department at work – but only because the GOP had controlled Congress and the executive branch.

CREW will go after “whoever’s corrupt,” Sloan said, adding that Democrats just regained a congressional majority this year. “I’m sure Democrats will get there. They haven’t had time. Give them a little while.”