While news of the re-location of the Vice President's office outside of the executive branch surprised many political observers Thursday, earlier news reports reveal that Dick Cheney and his staff have long maintained that for the purposes of certain laws, the Office of the Vice President is a unique part of the government that is not part of the executive or legislative branches.
In 2005, the Center for Public Integrity reported that Cheney's office has considered itself outside the executive branch since 2002 when it argued that it was exempt from disclosing trips taken by its employees paid for by non-federal sources.
"Instead of making disclosures like most of the White House, Cheney's office since March 2002 has periodically responded to [Office of Government Ethics] inquiries by stating that it is not obligated to file such disclosure forms for travel funded by non-federal sources," wrote Kate Sheppard and Bob Williams. "The letters were signed by then-Counsel to the Vice President David Addington...In the letters to the Office of Government Ethics, Addington writes that the Office of the Vice President is not classified as an agency of the executive branch and is therefore not required to issue reports on travel, lodging and related expenses funded by non-federal sources."
Tom Fitton of the group Judicial Watch went on to tell the CPI that for Cheney and his staff, "Their view is that the vice president is a constitutional office that is not subject to the laws that others in the executive branch are. They have been consistent in that."
Earlier this year, the blog Talking Points Memo also highlighted the Office of the Vice President's unwillingness to disclose the names of its staff-members in a resource known as the "Plum Book" that is published by the executive branch. In place of the Vice President's staff, the Office published an entry outlining Addington's constitutional argument.
"The Vice Presidency is a unique office that is neither a part of the executive branch nor a part of the legislative branch, but is attached by the Constitution to the latter. The Vice Presidency performs functions in both the legislative branch (see article I, section 3 of the Constitution) and in the executive branch (see article II, and amendments XII and XXV, of the Constitution, and section 106 of title 3 of the United States Code)," the section noted.
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