An estimated 10,000 pages of daily schedules from Senator Clinton's tenure as first lady could be made public as soon as December, though Presidents Clinton and Bush could postpone the records' release, a National Archives official said yesterday.
"Our hope is to get it done by the end of the year," the acting director of the Clinton Presidential Library, Emily Robison, told The New York Sun. She stressed that she was only referring to the review and redaction of the records by archivists. Under the Presidential Records Act and an executive order issued by Mr. Bush, Mr. Clinton's representatives then have 90 days to review the records for materials that could be covered by executive privilege. After that review is complete, Mr. Bush has an unlimited amount of time to make his own privilege assertions.
It is unclear whether the disclosure of redacted versions of Mrs. Clinton's schedules will ultimately have significance for her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. However, it seems likely that Mr. Clinton's former aides will have control over the timing of the process just as the nominating contest reaches its peak early next year. The political atmosphere is sure to increase pressure on the former president not to be responsible for any delay.
Ms. Robison said Mrs. Clinton's schedules were given priority in processing because they have been the subject of several Freedom of Information Act requests. A conservative watchdog group, Judicial Watch, has filed suit against the National Archives to demand release of the White House schedules and phone records pertaining to Mrs. Clinton. A judge denied the group's request for an immediate injunction but ordered the archives to propose by October 1 a schedule for release of the records.
Since the Clinton Library's records became available for public request last year, only four requests have been completed and released to the public. Three of those consist only of photographs. Ms. Robison said archivists have finished some other requests but they are still in the presidential review process.
In legal papers filed in the Judicial Watch case, Ms. Robison said more than 10 million pages of records are awaiting processing in response to 266 pending requests. It appears that it will take years or perhaps even decades to clear the 10 million-page backlog.
"The Clinton Presidential Library has no more than six archivists available to process all of its pending FOIA requests for textual and electronic records," Ms. Robison wrote.
"As soon as we get any records ready, trust me, we'll put them out on our Web site," she said yesterday. "We're going to be as happy as anyone to get this information available."
