Involvement of people in hearings, working groups, meetings, and the like was also looked for in the policy documents and interviews.
Other types of evidence considered were readings, media including the Internet and news, interactions with peers or stakeholders, and the involvement of participants in hearings, working groups, meetings, and the like.
Details of how the hearings will work were still being ironed out late Wednesday, but the rhetoric on both sides is already honed.
Two Republican senators, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, said they would not rule out a commission but thought a Congressional investigation or a series of hearings might work.
But Mr. Idoni, who has not stated publicly whether he will vote to approve the store when the proposal comes before the City Council, said the series of public hearings "does work in bringing a lot of questions to the forefront, and there are still dozens of questions to be answered".
Republicans accused Democrats eight years ago of drafting the health-care law in secret, despite dozens of public hearings and work sessions.
Off it went to the Senate, which scheduled 12 more hearings to work up its own bill.
With the addition of Bash, Panetta would seem to be putting muscle behind his oft-stated vow during his nomination hearings to work more closely with Congress, where he himself spent eight terms as a California representative.
He has worked for The Hill newspaper, where he reported on congressional hearings and worked with editors on stories ranging from the White House turkey pardoning to the implications of arming public school teachers.
Born in New York and educated at Princeton, he served as the lawyer for Dick Cheney, then a congressman, during the Iran-Contra hearings and worked three years for the Justice Department.
