Presidental Spam

• All I can say is... I wanted to get some unsolicited mail from the white house !




By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer Philip Elliott, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 22 mins ago

WASHINGTON – After insisting no one was receiving unsolicited e-mails from the White House, officials reversed their story Monday night and blamed outside political groups for the unwanted messages from the tech-savvy operation.

White House online director Macon Phillips said in a blog posting that independent groups — he didn't name them — had signed up their members to receive regular White House updates about Obama's projects, priorities and speeches.

The White House had consistently denied that anyone who hadn't sought the e-mails had received them.

"It has come to our attention that some people may have been subscribed to our e-mail lists without their knowledge — likely as a result of efforts by outside groups of all political stripes — and we regret any inconvenience caused by receiving an unexpected message," Phillips wrote.

"We're certainly not interested in anyone receiving e-mails from the White House who don't want them. That's one reason why we have never — and will never — add names from a commercial or political list to the White House list," he wrote.

The quasi-apology came hours after the top Republican on the House's oversight committee, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., asked the White House about its ambitious e-mail plan, which included a message from top political adviser David Axelrod urging support for a health care overhaul.

Issa also asked White House counsel Greg Craig whether officials were collecting names of the president's critics.

"I am concerned about the possibility that political e-mail address lists are being used for official purposes," Issa wrote. "This, again, raises questions about this administration blurring the lines between political and official business."

Issa also wanted to know how, exactly, the White House was using a separate e-mail account designed to track what it called "fishy" claims about its proposed overhaul — an account that was disabled Monday afternoon.

The White House turned to its blog to respond broadly to its critics — without mentioning Issa by name.

"An ironic development is that the launch of an online program meant to provide facts about health insurance reform has itself become the target of fear-mongering and online rumors that are the tactics of choice for the defenders of the status quo," Phillips wrote.

Issa said he wants an answer on how the administration is archiving those e-mails and what protections would be put in place to prevent it from become an enemies list.

In what seemed to be a reply, Phillips indicated there was little chance for cooperation with Issa, a member of a minority political party without significant power.

"The White House takes online privacy very seriously. As our published privacy policy makes clear, we will not share personal information submitted through the site with anyone," he wrote.

Administration officials had been dismissive of complaints that people had received unsolicited e-mail messages or that the administration was compiling an enemies list as conservative Web sites and talk radio programs have alleged.

"The fear has been expressed that the White House was asking neighbors to inform on neighbors in a government-led data collection effort," said Issa, the ranking member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Weeks ago, White House officials asked the public to share critics' e-mails so they could fight back and correct the misconceptions. Because those e-mails are official correspondence with the White House, they must be preserved — unaltered — for decades and eventually released to the public through the National Archives.