Tough Ethics Code Comes Into Force
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday November 13, 2008
HOW exactly does Barack Obama plan to keep the jackals of the lobbying industry at bay in a town like Washington where every second person is a lobbyist?
The first answers emerged on Monday when his transition team announced a tough ethics code that will govern who can work on the transition to government of the new Democratic administration. The transition co-chairman, John Podesta, said the campaign proposed to put principle into practice with a strict lobbying code that would apply to all people who accepted jobs on the team. It also planned to use the internet to tell the world exactly who was working and where. Lobbyists were banned from Senator Obama's election team, but they can assist with his transition as long as they deregister as lobbyists and their activities do not cross into policy areas they have tried to influence. Mr Podesta promised they would be "the strictest, the most far-reaching ethics rules of any transition team in history". There is no blanket ban on lobbyists, but they will not be able to do transition work in their area of expertise if they lobbied in that area in the past 12 months. If they help the new administration, they will face a ban for 12 months afterwards on lobbying on matters where they assisted the transition. Under the rules talented Democrats have stepped up to help but found themselves either rejected or assigned to projects where they have little expertise. "I've heard the complaint, which is we're leaving all this expertise on the side because we're leaving all the people who know everything out in the cold. And so be it," Mr Podesta said."That's a commitment the American public expects . . . and it's one that we intend to enforce during the transition . . . so the undue influence of lobbyists and the revolving door of Washington ceases to exist."Mr Podesta said cabinet-level appointments were likely to be announced later this month.
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald
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