Bush Task Force on Energy Worked in Mysterious Ways

"It's an incredible insult to the consumers of this country that, to the best of my knowledge, none of the consumer organizations were invited to the meetings or otherwise participated."

Among those who said they felt shut out was the Consumer Federation of America, the nation's largest consumer-advocacy group. Howard Metzenbaum, a Democrat and former senator from Ohio who is now chairman of the group, said, "The energy crisis is first and foremost a price crisis affecting consumers." Juleanna Glover Weiss, Mr. Cheney's spokeswoman, said no invitations were issued and groups had to request meetings. "We didn't invite anybody to meet with us," she said. The leaders of about two dozen environmental groups had asked to see Mr. Cheney, whose office turned down their requests. Instead, midlevel staff members from the groups met with Mr. Lundquist and Ms. Knutson. Alys Campaigne, legislative director of the National Resources Defense Council, said that that meeting lasted about 40 minutes but that the size of the group inhibited substantive policy discussion. "We asked who the deputies were on different issues so we could have more in-depth conversations, and they wouldn't tell us," she said. "They said, `Just send us paper, we'll take a look at it.' The meeting felt like window dressing for us, but they got to check off the box that they consulted with stake-holders." http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/16/politics/16LOBB.html?pagewanted=all