Hot Air » Blog Archive » The list of lobbyists in the Obama administration
The Times of India claimed that Barack Obama had appointed seventeen lobbyists to high government positions in the first 14 days of his administration. Politico provided a list of twelve of these last week, a handy reference with which we can start building our lists of “exceptions” to the Obama Administration Ethics Policy:
Here are former lobbyists Obama has tapped for top jobs:
* Eric Holder, attorney general nominee, was registered to lobby until 2004 on behalf of clients including Global Crossing, a bankrupt telecommunications firm [now confirmed].
* Tom Vilsack, secretary of agriculture nominee, was registered to lobby as recently as last year on behalf of the National Education Association.
* William Lynn, deputy defense secretary nominee, was registered to lobby as recently as last year for defense contractor Raytheon, where he was a top executive.
* William Corr, deputy health and human services secretary nominee, was registered to lobby until last year for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a non-profit that pushes to limit tobacco use.
* David Hayes, deputy interior secretary nominee, was registered to lobby until 2006 for clients, including the regional utility San Diego Gas & Electric.
* Mark Patterson, chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, was registered to lobby as recently as last year for financial giant Goldman Sachs.
* Ron Klain, chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden, was registered to lobby until 2005 for clients, including the Coalition for Asbestos Resolution, U.S. Airways, Airborne Express and drug-maker ImClone.
* Mona Sutphen, deputy White House chief of staff, was registered to lobby for clients, including Angliss International in 2003.
* Melody Barnes, domestic policy council director, lobbied in 2003 and 2004 for liberal advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the American Constitution Society and the Center for Reproductive Rights.
* Cecilia Munoz, White House director of intergovernmental affairs, was a lobbyist as recently as last year for the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group.
* Patrick Gaspard, White House political affairs director, was a lobbyist for the Service Employees International Union.
* Michael Strautmanis, chief of staff to the president’s assistant for intergovernmental relations, lobbied for the American Association of Justice from 2001 until 2005.This doesn’t count Tom Daschle, who never registered as a lobbyist but got paid millions for his political connections in pursuit of preferential treatment for his clients in the health-care industry.
Can you feel the hope? Can you smell the change?
I thought the awakening would take six months. It took two and a half weeks.
Krauthammer was discussing the Porkulus, of course, but the scales are falling from eyes for a number of reasons. I can’t wait to see what next week’s polling says about Obama and the Porkulus. It’s not just our money that Obama is piling up and setting on fire - it’s his own political capital, as well.
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The RIAA’s and BSA’s pet monkeys are getting top DOJ posts, too.
Excellent, SteveF, excellent. Nothing will piss off Obama’s youth vote like the kinds of overzealous copyright/DRM enforcement that those tools will enable.
martinra. Why should that bother them? After all MTV and many musicians endorsed AlGore and his wife lead the charge for music censorship.
It’s a wedge, not a guarantee, genes. We don’t have to strip away all of the youth vote to hurt Obama and the Democrats. Just educate the educable ones and dampen the enthusiasm of the rest. Obama’s own actions will be both the best education and the best dampeners imaginable.