By Peter Andrew
ConservativeAmerican.org
Leading the way Right with unique & fun
Conservative American News & Views.

EXCLUSIVE!

A White House lawyer recently told a law group that the Obama administration is off to a “scandal-free” start. Really? He also claimed incorrectly (lied?) that only three waivers had been granted to lobbyists! Counselor, we draw your attention to exhibit one: The Official Obama Administration Scandals List!

With more than 760 Obama Administration Scandals, Lies, Broken Promises and Flip-Flops we have to question this lawyer’s sincerity.

The Blog of Legal Times, in an excellent article by Daniel Newhauser, reported on the 23rd that White House Lawyer for “ethics and government regulation,” Norman Eisen, had this to say…

“(The President has) a deeply held personal view that political systems are susceptible to special interests” (and he) “speaks of it often. The president will hold every government servant to the highest standard of fidelity to the public interest…We think it is no accident that we have had one of the most scandal-free starts of any administration in modern history.”

That’s just about the funnniest and most outrageous comment to come from this Administration yet!

Read about the lobbyists Eisen “forgot,” then add your comments and feedback! Thank you!

Eisen was speaking at an American Bar Association Administrative Law Conference luncheon. The BLT reports Eisen spoke of Obama’s “no-lobbyist” rule: “an executive order scribed by Eisen and signed on Jan. 21 by the president, served to (said Eisen) “send a message to everybody that we were serious about the change.” The order restricted registered lobbyists from government employment in areas they lobbied, among other things.

Eisen said there have been only three waivers in some 2000 posts filled.” What an absolute crock! There have been more than three waivers and the only message the executive order sent was that this administration has no intention of living up to its word.

Even a “senior white house adviser” told Fox News in April that, “”It’s been tough,” the adviser said, describing raging internal debates on the anti-lobbyist policy that he said the White House has struggled to conform with campaign rhetoric. It was a tough issue for Obama as a candidate, too. Before the crucial Iowa caucuses, Obama frequently vowed that “they (lobbyists) won’t work in my White House.

“But when he was pressed by reporters a couple of weeks before the caucuses, Obama dialed his exclusion back, saying: “They are not going to run my White House. And they won’t drown out the voices of the American people.”

Mr. Eisen, check your math, sir. Lobbyists working for the Obama Administration include…

1. Deputy Defense Secretary Bill Lynn,
2. Deputy Health & Abortion Services Secretary William Corr,
3. Goldman Sachs Lobbyist Mark Patterson is number two at the Treasury,
4. Jocelyn Frye got a waiver to be a “senior official” to first lady Michelle Obama,
5. Cecilia Munoz also got a waiver in March to be director of governmental affairs,
6. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Verma was a lobbyist (team Obama decided he didn’t need a waiver because…well, because they decided he didn’t need one),
7. Associate Deputy Secretary of Labor Naomi Walker got a lobbyist waiver,
8. Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Ash Carter; Carter was a consultant for defense giant Textron, Inc.,
9. Obama’s latest scandal is the naming of an SEIU Lobbyist who used to work for ACORN to work in the White House!! The American Spectator: “…longtime ACORN operative Patrick Gaspard…holds the title of White House political affairs director…Evidence shows that years before he joined the Obama administration, Gaspard was ACORN boss Bertha Lewis’s political director in New York…Gaspard registered as a federal lobbyist for SEIU on Oct. 22, 2007…,
10. and the list may also include Leon Panetta, who took $700,000 in “consulting” fees with firm doing business with the government which could be construed as a form of lobbying, and…
11. Tom Daschle who the New York Times reported “speaks frequently to the president, who met with him as recently as Friday in the Oval Office. He also remains a highly paid policy adviser to hospital, drug, pharmaceutical and other health-care-industry clients of Alston & Bird, the law and lobbying firm.”

No matter how you look at it, and no matter who you decide not to count, there are more than three who got waivers. Eisen was either mistaken, uninformed or dishonest when he spoke to the American Bar Association. We wonder what the “Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington” group would think of these statements? Eisen was co-founder of that group! Give me a break!

There’s more!

According to BLT, “the administration mandated disclosure of lobbying or competitive grants for stimulus dollars to keep the process transparent and opened up the White House visitor logs to the public. “We did full transparency,” he said. “We’ll let the public decide who among them is a lobbyist or not.” Oh Really?

From the Official Obama Administration Scandals List # 617, The Beachwood Reporter and the Washington Post:

“President Obama ordered federal officials to disclose their contacts with lobbyists trying to influence how the government doles out money to jump-start the economy. Yet few such communications have been reported even though lobbyists say they are busier than ever with the multibillion-dollar stimulus…In August, the entire government reported only eight such lobbying contacts. The Pentagon, which controls about $7.4 billion in stimulus spending, reported just one lobbying contact so far this year. The Homeland Security Department, with at least $3 billion to spend, reported none.” UPDATE 9/5/9: The Beachwood reporter also notes: “We decided to track this promise with a clock - so far it’s at 94 days and counting - and there is no sign it will be stopping any time soon. As we noted in May, though more than 800 lobbyists had registered to lobby on stimulus issues, only a handful actually appeared in lobbying disclosures on agency Web sites. Instead, lobbying firms were sending junior employees who were not registered lobbyists, or arranging direct meetings between government officials and clients.”

Nice try just glossing over that big fib, Mr. Eisen! What good is a rule if no one follows it?!

And what’s with the zany claim it has been a “scandal-free” start? Telling a lie often enough still does not make it true. This has been THE MOST SCANDAL-PLAGUED administration ever!

Some at the ABA meeting also questioned Eisen on several items. Nick Allard from the law firm of Patton Boggs “quipped that he was “shocked” to hear Obama’s “fig-leaf counsel” complain about lobbyists…“Right now it’s popular to make a show of turning lobbyists away from the front door while sending them around the back,” he said. “The dirty little secret is the wink-wink policy toward lobbying encourages people to do things the wrong way.” Read more at the BLT.

Be sure to Bookmark us and visit ConservativeAmerican.org often!

We need your help today!
Please consider a small contribution to help fund ConservativeAmerican.org
Even $1 will help ($50 is okay too!!). Thank you!

Peter Andrew

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at 12:31 am and is filed under Barack Hugo Obama, Courts & Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. View Comments & Add Yours, or trackback from your own site.