In E-Mails (released by Senator Kennedy), Political Pressure on Ex-Surgeon General

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: In E-Mails, Political Pressure on Ex-Surgeon General
By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 31, 2007; Page A04

White House officials viewed former surgeon general Richard H. Carmona as a public relations tool, pushing him to make political appearances and promote the Bush administration's agenda while he was in office, according to a series of executive branch e-mails released yesterday by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.).

The 18 pages of e-mails back up Carmona's testimony before a House committee in July that he routinely battled Bush appointees who sought to rewrite his speeches, send him on political trips, and suppress his reports on global health, prison health and other politically sensitive topics. President Bush and other administration officials rejected the accusation.

An e-mail on Feb. 6, 2006, includes a memo to Carmona from then-White House political director Sara Taylor requesting that he deliver the keynote speech to the Alabama Republican Council's annual fundraiser in Birmingham on March 4 of that year. "WH would be grateful if you could do this event," Jamie Burke, the White House liaison at the Department of Health and Human Services, wrote in her cover note. Carmona replied that "this one may present a conflict since it appears to be a fundraiser and OGC (Office of General Counsel) has previously told me to stay away from those type of events." He did not attend....

***

Carmona served as the nation's top public health official from 2002 to 2006, when he was abruptly told he would not be reappointed. The e-mails show that, early in his tenure, political appointees considered him uncooperative. In an April 14, 2003, message, for instance, William Turenne, a former Eli Lilly executive who was serving as a high-level consultant at HHS, told then-White House liaison Regina Schofield that she had "a mess" on her hands in Carmona. "He needs to be the SG (Surgeon General) with specific speeches, on specific topics addressing the Secretary's and the president's agenda -- which will become more political as the re-elect gets underway," Turenne wrote. In a Sept. 25, 2002, e-mail to Schofield, Turenne described Carmona as "wandering" and "not focused on the president's/secretary's agenda."

"These documents confirm that White House and HHS officials improperly sought to influence the activities of the Surgeon General to achieve political goals," Kennedy wrote yesterday in a letter to HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt.

Kennedy, chairman of the Senate health committee, obtained the e-mails as part of a probe into political interference in public health matters. In his letter, Kennedy noted that many of the White House e-mails were sent from Republican National Committee accounts held by White House officials, and he requested more documents....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/30/AR2007083001846.html?hpid=sec-nation

[annabanana]

1. There is no surprise here... except in that Carmona acted like a

representative of the American People instead of a repug toadie. And for this he was fired. From everything I've read and heard, the pressure on Exec Branch employees was unrelenting and blanketed every department...

[WinkyDink]

2. As Ms. Taylor said, "I took an oath to support the President."

[rodeodance]

3. yes, he tried to do what was right.