Legal Commentary

Zero Tolerance For Lobbyists? Um . . .

By Big Tent Democrat

I never cared for Obama's (and Edwards') phony attacks on lobbyists. But the Cult was quite enthused about it. I wonder what they think about this:

President-elect Barack Obama, who vowed during his campaign that lobbyists "won't find a job in my White House," said through a spokesman yesterday that he would allow lobbyists on his transition team as long as they work on issues unrelated to their earlier jobs. Obama's transition chief laid out ethics rules - which also bar transition staff from lobbying the administration for one year if they become lobbyists later - and portrayed them as the strictest ever for a transfer of presidential power.

[More...]

But independent analysts said yesterday that the move is less than the wholesale removal of lobbyists that he suggested during the campaign - and shows how difficult it will be to lessen the pervasive influence of more than 40,000 registered lobbyists. "That is a step back and there is no other way of seeing it," said Craig Holman, who lobbies on governmental affairs for the watchdog group Public Citizen. Nonetheless, he said, Obama is still making "a very concrete effort to avoid what I consider a potentially corrupting situation."

I know, I know - Leave Barack Alone!! On this one, I will. I always knew it was BS.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on November 12, 2008 (boomark / email).