This afternoon, our friends at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) got a major victory for all who care for openness and transparency. 

A federal judge ruled that the logs kept by the Secret Service of visitors to the White House and the Vice President’s residence are public records and subject to Freedom of Information Act requests. The Bush White House had been fighting the release of the documents in an effort to hide evidence and details of visits from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and prominent religious conservative leaders. The White House insists that the logs are presidential records and should not be public, and wants the Secret Service to destroy its copies of the logs once they are turned over to the White House. They were wrong.

In sum, according to CREW: "As a result of today’s ruling, records of visits to both the White House complex and the residency of the vice president are now publicly available through the FOIA."