From: Bruce E. Cobern (bec@PIPELINE.COM)
Date: Sat Sep 02 2000 - 10:15:27 CDT
> From: Scouts-L Youth Group List [mailto:Scouts-L@listserv.tcu.edu]On
> Behalf Of Kim Elmore
> Sent: Saturday, September 02, 2000 10:12 AM
>
> Well, according to my morning paper, it looks like the Attorney General
> agrees--the Executive Order 13160 doesn't apply to BSA.
>
But all of this is fine. And there was NOTHING improper about the whole
thing, no matter how much either side in the presidential campaign wished
to make of it.
The President issued an EO. (Ultimately, if some group affected by it
chose to challenge its validity, that would be another matter.)
EVERY Executive Branch department is subject to that Order. It makes
perfect sense, considering the recent high profile of the BSA and their
membership policies, for those departments to try to determine WHICH, IF
ANY, of the things they do with or provide to the BSA MIGHT fall under that
Order.
In order for any department to make that determination, the first thing
they need to know is what types of support and interaction they have with
the BSA. That was the purpose of Interior's memo. They also requested
guidance from Justice about whether these types of support fell under the
EO. Apparently, Justice has now said that the Jamboree, at least, does
not, and other Justice officials have indicated that other types of use
also would not fall under the EO.
This was all just a very reasonable fact finding mission in an attempt to
properly apply the EO to the Interior Department, to whatever extent it
applies. Frankly, I see it as government working the way it is supposed to
work, based on first finding the facts and then applying the policy to
those facts.
Frankly, it is the reaction to this incident that I find excessive and
disturbing.
--
Bruce E. Cobern
mailto:bec@pipeline.com
