Cheney sued over records.

• Author: Swartz, Nikki
• Position: UP FRONT - Dick Cheney - National Archives and Records Administration

A coalition of a watchdog group, historians, and archivists has filed a lawsuit in federal court to ensure that records created by Office of the Vice President will be handed over to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) at the end of the Bush administration.

The organizations say they fear Vice President Dick Cheney will not hand over official records to NARA as he leaves office, leaving the public without a record of policy decisions and official communications made during the Bush administration, resulting in "a gaping hole in our national history," according to documents filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The groups want the court to rule that guidelines excluding vice presidential records from the Presidential Records Act (PICA) violate the law. In addition to filing suit, the groups have also sought a preservation order that would require the vice president to preserve all records while the court considers the case.

The plaintiffs say statements by administration officials, language in a 2001 executive order ("the executive records of the Vice President"), and refusal to cooperate with NARA oversight is evidence that Cheney is not complying with his responsibility to maintain records under the PRA.

The PRA says vice presidential records should be treated the same as presidential records. The law requires that presidential records are kept to make sure that official work is "adequately documented."

Jamie Hennigan, a spokesman for Cheney, told FCW.com the Office of the Vice President "currently follows the Presidential Records...