Obama Transition Team Rejects Lobbyists: Why It Matters

Posted by Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet at 3:38 PM on November 11, 2008.

The Obama Transition Team has issued rules for lobbyists who want to advise the incoming administration. The rules seek to stop Washington's revolving-door culture where insiders gain access and information inside government, and then use that knowledge to help paying clients accomplish their goals.

According to a press release saying these are "the strictest, and most far reaching ethics rules of any transition team in history," the guidelines are:

• Federal Lobbyists cannot contribute financially to the transition.
• Federal lobbyists are prohibited from any lobbying during their work with the transition.
• If someone has lobbied in the last 12 months, they are prohibited from working in the fields of policy on which they lobbied.
• If someone becomes a lobbyist after working on the Transition, they are prohibited from lobbying the Administration for 12 months on matters on which they worked.
• A gift ban that is aggressive in reducing the influence of special interests.

It remains to be seen who will grumble about the new lobbyist rules issued Tuesday. Curiously, the Obama transition's press release quoted two well-known Washington centrists who reluctantly praised the policy.

"The ethical guidelines released today for the Obama transition are tough and unequivocal," said Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution. "They will prevent some honorable people with rich experience from serving in the transition. That is a real cost but it is more than balanced by the strong signal sent by the President-elect. He aspires to attract to government able individuals whose highest priority is to serve the public interest. This is a very constructive step in that direction."

"Restoring trust in government is a prerequisite to enacting good policy and the tough choices the country needs," said Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute. "This ethics policy for the transition is a far-reaching, bold and constructive step to do just that. The policy may exclude some good people with deep experience in their fields, but it will also exclude those who see government service as a springboard to financial success, or who are more intent on pleasing future potential employers or clients than making tough choices in the public interest. As much as anything, this ethics policy is a statement about the tone and tenor of the Obama administration. It is a good sign."

John Podesta, Co-Chair of Obama's Transition Team, said in a statement that Obama was fulfilling his pledge to change how Washington operates -- although that claim might be a stretch, as it does not affect all of Washington but just the presidential Transition Team.

There is another institution in that city known as the Congress, which has its own rules concerning lobbyists, lobbying and campaign finance.