Obama Team Plans for Hiring Lobbyists

WSJ ^ | November 1, 2008 | BRODY MULLINS, ELIZABETH WILLIAMSON and CHRISTOPHER COOPER

[Kaslin]

WASHINGTON -- Democratic Sen. Barack Obama has said lobbyists won't run his White House. But senior campaign officials are crafting a policy that would clear the way for lobbyists to nonetheless hold important government roles.

People familiar with Sen. Obama's still-evolving hiring policy say registered lobbyists would be banned from senior-level White House jobs. But the policy would allow some lobbyists to take important jobs elsewhere in the administration, should the Illinois senator win election Tuesday.

"Our goal is to make sure that people don't leave an industry to come into our administration and then work on issues related to their industry and then go back to that industry. That revolving door has been swinging for years in Washington," said David Axelrod, chief strategist for Sen. Obama. "That's not to say that anyone who has lobbied in their life will be excluded."

Mr. Axelrod would not confirm details of the campaign's internal discussions.

The Obama campaign's effort reflects a challenge that would confront either Sen. Obama or his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain: trying to run an administration without Washington lobbyists, who serve an integral role in advising on legislation and regulations, as well as policy.

[Kaslin]

I hope it is okay that I posted the article in Front Page

[flattorney]

Presidential Appointment Rumors

McCain-Palin:
Chief of staff: Mark Salter, Mark Buse
Attorney General: A.B. Culvahouse, George Terwilliger III, Larry Thompson (ABA Journal)
White House Counsel: Ted Olson, Trevor Potter (ABA Journal)
Defense: Lindsay Graham, Joe Lieberman, John Lehman
Treasury: Robert Portman, Mitt Romney, Jack Kemp,
Homeland Security: Rudy Giuliani
Energy: Heather Wilson
(What, no Fred Thompson)

Obama-Biden:
Chief of staff: Rahm Emanuel, Tom Daschle, Jim Messina, Peter Rouse, David Plouffe
Attorney General: Eric Holder, Caroline Kennedy, Cass Sunstein, Kathleen Sullivan, Janet Napolitano, Patrick Fitzgerald
Homeland Security: Jane Harman, Artur Davis
State: Richard Holbrooke, John Kerry, Bill Richardson, Chuck Hagel, Thomas Pickering, Chris Dodd
Defense: Robert Gates (temporary extension), Richard Danzig, Joe Lieberman, Tim Roemer, Thomas Pickering, Anthony Zinni, Sam Nunn
Energy: Steve Westly, Frederico Pena, Dan Reicher, James Grummet
Treasury: Lawrence Summers, John Geithner, Indira Nooyi
National Security Adviser: Greg Craig, James Steinberg, Susan Rice, Rand Beers
UN Amb: Susan Rice, Tony Lake
Education: Kathleen Sebelius, Janet Napolitano, Michael Bennet., George Miller
HUD: Valerie Jarrett
HHS: Tom Daschle, Howard Dean
AG/Interior: John Kitzhaber, Tom Vilsack, Jay Inslee, Jamie Rappoport Clark, Brian Schweitzer
Transportation: Earl Blumenauer
DNIntel: Tim Roemer, John Brennan, Rand Beers, Jane Harman, John Abizaid, Evan Bayh
Commerce: Ron Kirk, Eric Schmidt, Kathleen Sebelius
EPA: Robert Sussman, Kathleen McGinty, Mary Nichols

TAB

[lowbridge]

bump

[Cheerio]

How many Obamaniacs have we heard being interviewed by Hannity that claim Øbama is the one because unlike McCain Øbama has no connections to lobbyists and will owe nothing to them once he storms into the WH??????