“Change” On Obama’s First Day
Barack Obama banned lobbyists from his administration. But don't let the smile or the phony title fool you. Tom Daschle was a lobbyist.
This is something we can get behind. From Politico:
… in a nod toward the difficult economic times many in the country are facing, Obama said his senior White House staff would be subject to a pay freeze. Aides said the freeze would kick in for senior staff making $100,000 or more.
Of course, if someone’s already making six figures, we can’t feel terribly sorry for them. But nonetheless, an encouraging, if symbolic sign. Now if we could only get another bunch of government lifers making well over $100,000 to take a pay freeze, or even a cut. You know, those 535 people up the street from the White House?
Oh, that’s right. It’s too late for that. Members of Congress already got their raises for the year.
Our new president also appeared to take on lobbying reform in his first full day in office:
Obama announced that no lobbyist will be allowed to take a job in an area where they lobbied. Nor would former lobbyists who come to work for him be allowed to lobby the administration after leaving government service.
Again, very hopeful signs. But hold on. There’s a bit of a catch:
[The new rules] don’t seem to bar former consultants, who often function in ways similar to lobbyists, from working on their pre-White House portfolios, nor do they limit officials from working on issues on which their spouses lobby.
A lot of ex-politicians and government officials simply call themselves “consultants” or “advisers.” Take former Senator Tom Daschle, the new secretary of health and human services. We posted on his lobbying career a few weeks ago. He was a “special policy adviser” for a major lobbying firm that specialized in, you guessed it, healthcare issues. And don’t kid yourself. Just because he didn’t call himself a lobbyist or register as one doesn’t mean he didn’t do what lobbyists do.
If anything, these rules discriminate against people who are at least honest enough to admit to being lobbyists instead of hiding behind semantics and euphemisms.
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Obama Pay Freeze