Obama’s lack of promised transparency of lobbyists in the White House was exposed last year when we learned that SEIU President Andy Stern simply did not register as a lobbyist, but was the most frequent lobbyist visitor to the White House. The federal law requiring lobbyists to register as a lobbyist is seldom enforced.
See other examples of Obama donor lobbyists at The Washington Examiner
President Obama doesn’t take campaign contributions from lobbyists — unless you count the owners and CEOs of lobbying firms, corporate vice presidents for government relations, or managing directors for public policy.
1) Obama Denies Lobbyists access to White House, and refuses donations from Lobbyists (campaign promise)
2) Obama hires Peter Orzag as his Director of the Office of Budget and Management. Orzag is a former Clinton Special Assistant for Economic Policy, former Senior member of the Council of Economic Adivsers for Clinton
3) Orzag resigns his position as Obama’s Budget Director in July 2010.
4) Orzag is hired by Citigroup as Vice Chairman of Global Banking
5) Orzag monetizes his public service, sells it to Citi, which, like all big banks, counts on favorable government policy for its profits.
6) Orzag donates $35,800 to the Obama Victory Fund: “Orszag gained inside knowledge and connections on the taxpayer dime, put them to work for a big bank, then used his salary from this bailed-out bank to give the maximum contribution to the man who hired him in the White House.”
There are dozens more. It has become common practice to not register as a lobbyist, even though you are one. With unenforced federal law, SEIU president Andy Stern was the most frequent visitor to the White House in 2010. He did not register as a lobbyist. If you are a registered lobbyist, you can donate the max through your spouse. This is an enormous advantage, as Obama can now ban lobbyists that might conflict with his favored interests.
The Obama White administration also hides their meetings with Lobbyists, by meeting outside the White House or other government facilities. This keeps a meeting off of Secret Service logs.
It’s called dirty, corrupt politics.
Posted by Maggie @ Maggie’s Notebook