Subject:  Cheney ducks public after shooting attorney |
Author:
Associated Press
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 07:49:18 02/15/06 Wed
In reply to:
David Duke
's message, "TEXE MARRS IS A HOMOSEXUAL" on 06:23:05 02/14/06 Tue
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
February 15, 2006
It's 'Cheney's Law' in Albany, but He Wouldn't Claim It
By MICHAEL COOPER
ALBANY, Feb. 14 — They are calling it "Cheney's Law."
Named laws are nothing new in Albany. From Megan's Law to Kendra's Law to VaSean's Law, state lawmakers often use names to try to put a human face on the occasionally arcane issues that they address with their legislation.
Usually the laws are named for the victims of violence. But now a bill on hunting safety that has been introduced in several legislative sessions but never became law has been christened "Cheney's Law" by several Republican senators.
The bill, which would make it a felony to leave the scene of a hunting accident, passed out of the Senate Codes Committee yesterday, just as much of the nation continued to discuss Vice President Dick Cheney's accident on Saturday, in which he shot and wounded a 78-year-old lawyer while on a hunting trip in Texas.
Officials have said that Mr. Cheney did not leave the scene after he shot the lawyer, but stayed with him while he received medical treatment.
The curious timing of the committee vote was not lost on the bill's sponsor, Senator George H. Winner Jr., an upstate Republican who is one of the senators calling it Cheney's Law. "It's some circumstances," he said.
The bill would make it a felony to leave the scene of an accident involving a serious physical injury. Senator Winner said that the bill was inspired by a 2001 hunting accident in Steuben County, in which the victim was left to die.
Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, a Westchester Democrat, said that he would introduce the bill in the State Assembly.
State Senator Thomas K. Duane, a Manhattan Democrat, marveled that the vice president's hunting accident could serve as a catalyst to change the law in New York. "We must have him come for the bill signing," he said.
Gov. George E. Pataki, meanwhile, was asked at a news conference if he would accept an invitation to go hunting with Mr. Cheney.
The governor merely smiled and said he would not comment.
Copyright 2006 The New York Times
Back to Story - Help
Cheney ducks public after shooting 1 hour, 37 minutes ago
US Vice President Dick Cheney continued to keep a low profile as his shooting of a hunting partner over the weekend and the White House's handling of the incident mushroomed into a political controversy.
Cheney -- who has yet to express regret publicly for wounding 78-year-old Texas lawyer Harry Whittington in the neck, chest and face -- called him in his hospital room Tuesday to offer help and best wishes, the vice president's office said.
Doctors blamed birdshot that shifted to Whittington's heart for a mild heart attack he suffered Tuesday, and said that while his life was not in immediate danger, and no surgery was needed to remove the lodged metal, he would have to stay in hospital another week.
Whittington has developed an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation, which can lead to the formation of blood clots that can cause a stroke if they move to the brain, doctors said.
Cheney managed to duck a battalion of reporters staking out a meeting he had with lawmakers Tuesday, and White House aides said he had no plans to come forward with his account of the incident.
The vice president's office said that his first public event would be on Friday, in Cheyenne, Wyoming -- but that he was not likely to explain how a quail hunt on the Texas ranch of Katharine Armstrong on Saturday nearly turned tragic.
Cheney's office has refused to provide an official account of the hunting incident, pointing reporters to Armstrong -- a private citizen with no formal ties to the White House.
President Bush's current chief spokesman, Scott McClellan, served notice that there would be no official, formal White House account of how the incident occurred, even as he signalled impatience with questions about it.
"You all can spend your time on it. We're going to keep focusing on the pressing priorities of the American people, like talking about how to make health care more affordable and accessible," said the spokesman.
McClellan, who learned of Whittington's heart attack just before his main daily briefing, declined to be drawn by questions about the nearly 21-hour gap between the incident and when it was made public, or why the news came from the ranch owner rather than official channels.
Amid criticism of the White House for waiting to announce the shooting accident for nearly 21 hours, two former Republican presidential press secretaries said Cheney should have reported the incident to the public without delay.
"It could have and should have been handled differently," Ari Fleischer, President George W. Bush's first spokesman from 2001 to 2003, told the magazine Editor and Publisher.
Marlin Fitzwater, who served as press secretary to Bush's father and to late former president Ronald Reagan, told the same publication he was "appalled" at how the administration had handled the incident.
Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas said she did not know what the White House thinking was in not saying anything about the accident for almost 24 hours.
"I'm sure that they wish that they had handled it differently," she pointed out. "I'm sure they maybe thought that it wasn't so serious, but it has turned out to be."
Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton called Cheney's handling of the situation "troubling" and said "a tendency of this administration, from the top all the way to the bottom, is to withhold information."
While Cheney's Republican allies accused the US media of overreacting, the mood grew somber after doctors at Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial in Corpus Christi, Texas, reported the heart attack.
Hospital spokesman Peter Banko said Whittington would have to stay in their care for seven more days "to make sure no more birdshot moves into vital organs, as well as that piece of birdshot doesn't move anywhere else in the heart."
Dozens of pieces of birdshot -- tiny pellets about 5 millimeters in diameter -- remain lodged in Whittington's body.
Cheney, who visited Whittington in the hospital on Sunday, telephoned him Tuesday afternoon to offer his help and tell him that "his thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Whittington and his family," the vice president's office said in a statement.
Back to Story - Help
Texan shot by Cheney on hunt has heart attack By Jeff Franks
Tue Feb 14, 10:20 PM ET
A companion accidentally shot by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney during a weekend quail hunt suffered a minor heart attack on Tuesday when some of the birdshot still in his body lodged near his heart, a hospital spokesman said.
Harry Whittington, 78, was whisked back into intensive care and a cardiac catheterization performed after doctors at Christus Spohn Hospital discovered an irregular heartbeat during a Tuesday morning checkup.
Whittington, a Republican stalwart and lawyer in Texas, was struck by an estimated 200 pellets when Cheney, hunting on Saturday on a south Texas ranch, reportedly whirled around to fire at a covey of quail and hit Whittington instead.
"Some of the birdshot appeared to have moved and lodged into a part of his heart and caused the atrial (fibrillation) and what we would say is a minor heart attack," hospital administrator Peter Banko said in a press conference.
The news of Whittington's setback gave a serious edge to the incident that the White House had begun making light of on Tuesday after tense exchanges with the media the day before over failure to disclose the shooting for almost a full day.
Banko said Whittington, who before Tuesday had been described as suffering only superficial wounds and well on his way to recovery, would have to stay in the hospital another a week to make sure the remaining pellets do not cause more damage.
Dr. David Blanchard, the hospital's emergency room chief, said on Tuesday, "We knew he had some birdshot very near to the heart from the get-go."
INSTENSIVE CARE
On Tuesday evening, hospital spokeswoman Yvonne Wheeler said Whittington was in "stable" condition and still in intensive care.
Before news of the setback, White House spokesman Scott McClellan opened a Tuesday briefing with a one-liner about the Cheney mishap when he previewed a White House appearance by the orange-jerseyed University of Texas football team.
Hunters often wear orange vests so they will be visible to other hunters.
"The orange that they're wearing is not because they're concerned that the vice president may be there -- although that's why I'm wearing it," joked McClellan, who was wearing an orange necktie.
But after the hospital press conference, the Bush administration's mood was more subdued. McClellan did not repeat his joke at a later briefing, and Cheney issued a statement expressing his concern and saying he had spoken to his wounded hunting companion.
"The vice president wished Mr. Whittington well and asked if there was anything he needed," Cheney's office said in a statement.
The vice president has not spoken publicly since the incident, which drew criticism even from supporters.
Ari Fleischer, who was Bush's first press secretary, from 2001 to 2003, told Editor & Publisher the accident should have been promptly reported to the public.
"It would have been better if the vice president and/or his staff had come out last Saturday night or first thing Sunday morning and announced it," he said. "It could have and should have been handled differently."
Marlin Fitzwater, who served as press secretary to President George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, also criticized Cheney, telling E&P he was "appalled" at the response to the incident.
The story blew up into a major controversy because news of the shooting only came out on Sunday, when ranch owner Katharine Armstrong, also a Republican stalwart and lobbyist, called the Corpus Christi Caller-Times to report it.
Neither the White House nor Cheney's staff disclosed the accident, saying the primary concern had been making sure Whittington received proper care.
The sheriff's department in Kennedy County, where the 50,000 acre Armstrong ranch is located, said on Monday it had found no misconduct in the incident.
Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Questions or Comments
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
Feedback: 