Now we know the reason for Cheney's intransigence

Vice President Dick Cheney still won't make public the names of the individuals he met with as head of the task force charged with developing the Bush administration's energy policy. We don't blame him -- given the fact that such a revelation would only serve to confirm what 11,000 pages of Energy Department documents establish: that the Bush administration relied almost exclusively on the advice of executives from utilities and producers of oil, gas, coal and nuclear energy.
In other words, the task force did not receive any input from conservation or consumer groups.
Cheney continues to argue that the administration's ability to govern would be damaged if it were unable to protect the confidentiality of its advisers, but that argument rings hollow in light of what the documents from the Energy Department show.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham met with 36 representatives of business interests, but did not have any meetings with conservation or consumer groups, the documents reveal.
Enron: Overall, the task force met privately with about 200 individuals as it was formulating the energy policy. The vice president himself heard from half a dozen interest groups, including officials of the financially embattled Enron corporation and the Edison Electric Institute, an energy trade group. Cheney even met last April with then Enron Chairman Ken Lay, White House logs show.
Adding a layer of secrecy, as the vice president is doing, to this tale only serves to keep the issue alive and to add to the suspicion that the administration has something to hide.
Indeed, Republican Sen. Trent Lott's dismissive question, "What's the news?" seems to suggest that demanding full disclosure about what went on behind closed doors when the energy task force, made up of cabinet members and White House aides, was developing the policy is nothing more than media inquisitiveness. Lott, the minority leader of the Senate, contends that it is only natural for the Energy Department to talk to people "who can produce more energy."
But keeping out consumer and environmental groups simply plays into the hands of those Bush critics who argue that the president's strong ties to the oil and gas industry has blinded him to the reality of America's energy crisis.
Vice President Cheney, also a former oilman, is adding fuel to the fire of criticism that has been raging for several months by refusing to make public the names of the representatives from the interest groups that had access to his office.
In calling for openness, we aren't ignoring the reality that there are times when the president and vice president need to seek confidential counsel. But when they are formulating public policy that affects the daily lives of all Americans, those times should be the exception, not the rule.