GAO to sue White House

WASHINGTON -- The General Accounting Office will sue the White House for access to documents from President Bush's energy task force, the agency said in a letter Wednesday to congressional leaders. \nThe GAO's statement that it will take the White House to court sets up a political battle over executive privilege. Monday, Bush flatly refused to hand over the documents, saying to do so would encroach on his ability to freely seek outside views. \nThe GAO and congressional Democrats want to force Vice President Dick Cheney, who ran the task force, to turn over documents on meetings last year with business executives in crafting a national energy policy. \nSome of the participants in the meetings were officials from the now- collapsed Enron Corp., a Houston-based energy trader with deep ties to Bush. \nComptroller General David Walker, head of Congress' investigative arm, said if GAO backs down it would "significantly undercut" its investigative ability in the future. \n"We would have strongly preferred to avoid litigation in connection with this matter," Walker wrote. "But given the request by the four Senate committee chairmen and subcommittee chairmen, our rights to this information and the important principle and precedents involved, GAO will take the steps necessary to file suit in United States District Court." \nThe letter was provided to The Associated Press by congressional sources. \nWalker did not say in the letter when the lawsuit will be filed. \nIt would be the first time in the GAO's 80 - year existence that it sued the executive branch. The lawsuit would be filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington. \nThe White House said it had not received notification of the GAO lawsuit. "The president will stand on principle and for the right of presidents and this president to receive candid advice without it being turned into a news release," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer. \nWhite House officials, fearing political fallout from the legal action, scrambled to raise questions about the GAO's actions. \nGAO officials also were calling congressional leaders Wednesday to tell them of the decision. \nThe White House said Kenneth Lay, then chairman of Enron, gave Cheney a three-page document in April arguing for federal authorities to refrain from imposing price caps or other measures sought by California officials to stabilize electricity prices. Lay was one of Bush's biggest political supporters. \n"Events in California and in other parts of the country demonstrated that the benefits of competition have yet to be realized and have not reached consumers," the memo said. \nCheney spokeswoman Mary Matalin dismissed the significance of the memo, first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. Nine of Lay's 11 suggestions were not included in the White House energy plan -- and the two that made the report were noncontroversial, she said. \nTuesday, an energy consultant suggested to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that Enron may have been using largely secret trades to manipulate energy markets. \nRobert McCullough, a consultant whose clients include several Northwest utilities, testified that in the week after Enron announced its bankruptcy, the "forward price" of electricity in the West fell sharply. Enron had been a key trader in this market, which is used as a hedge against future power price changes and is unregulated. \n"That certainly raises the question about whether Enron was manipulating the West Coast market" by keeping prices artificially high, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in response to the consultant's testimony. \nMcCullough said "the clear implication is that Enron may have been using its market dominance to set forward prices"