Federal Judge Declares White House Visitor Records Subject to the FOIA in CREW Lawsuit On December 17th, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, in CREW's lawsuit seeking White House visitor records from the Secret Service, ruled that records of visitors to the White House and the Vice President's residence are subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and therefore must be made public.

Judge Royce C. Lamberth rejected the Bush administration's arguments that the records were under the exclusive control of the White House and therefore not subject to the FOIA. In particular, Judge Lamberth rejected an agreement made between the Secret Service, which creates the visitor logs, and the White House, which was presented as evidence that the White House maintains control of the visitor logs. The judge called the agreement "self-serving" because it was executed after the Secret Service had been sued by CREW for the records.

The administration has filed an appeal and requested that the visitor logs be kept secret pending the decision from the appellate court. Judge Lamberth granted the administration's request, ruling that the visitor logs do not need to be released pending the appeal, on the condition that the administration agree to an expedited schedule for its appeal.

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Read the Associated Press story

On December 4th, CREW sent letters to two national organizations, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and the National Association of State Medicaid Directors, warning them about Stephen Moses and the Center for Long-Term Care Reform and his planned "National Long-Term Care Consciousness Tour." Moses has spent the past decade posing as an independent expert from a respected think tank that analyzes the need for long-term care insurance, but is in fact serving as a front for the long-term care insurance industry. According to his website, Mr. Moses has testified as an independent expert on long-term care before two-thirds of the nation's state legislatures and has been quoted in stories around the country.

Mr. Moses is not, however, actually independent. He actively solicits the insurance industry for contributions, stating "The long-term care insurance industry -- and LTC providers whose financial survival depends on the growth of private financing -- must take steps to encourage private sector solutions. The Center for Long-Term Financing is uniquely positioned to promote this effort." He also boasted, "the Center increases long-term care insurance sales remarkably."

By "improving long-term care public policy," Mr. Moses really means working to increase the number of people purchasing of long-term care insurance. Mr. Moses has blamed government funding of Medicaid for the fact that the long-term care insurance market is not expanding as rapidly as insurers would like.

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Read the response from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners