Trouble In Utopia

Let's go back for a moment, shall we, to November of 2007, when President Obama, in his presidential campaign said: "I don't take a dime of their (lobbyists') money and when I am president, they won't find a job in my White House."

Flash a bit forward to when Mr Obama said:

On Jan. 21, the day after his inauguration, Obama issued an executive order barring any former lobbyists who join his administration from dealing with matters or agencies related to their lobbying work. Nor could they join agencies they had lobbied in the previous two years.

Contrast that, now, with:

However, William J. Lynn III, his choice to become the No. 2 official at the Defense Department, recently lobbied for military contractor Raytheon. And William Corr, tapped as deputy secretary at Health and Human Services, lobbied through most of last year as an anti-tobacco advocate. Corr says he will take no part in tobacco matters in the new administration.

And you'll enjoy this tag line:

Even the toughest rules require reasonable exceptions," said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

Imagine: Mr Gibbs actually had something to say.

Now let's move to Tom Daschle who, following his retirment, was by law disallowed from lobbying activity for one year. However, consider the following two paragraphs. First:

Daschle, a former senator tapped to head Health and Human Services, is not technically a lobbyist. But he was paid more than $5.2 million over the past two years as he advised health insurers and hospitals and worked in other industries such as energy and telecommunications.

Second, from iht.com:

Daschle, for instance, is not a registered lobbyist, but he made a handsome living advising clients seeking influence with the government, including some in the health industry. Obama also gave himself the right to grant waivers in cases he deemed exceptional, most prominently to William Lynn III, an ex-Raytheon lobbyist he nominated as deputy defense secretary. Others were lobbyists more than two years ago, and therefore not covered by the Obama rules.

How did Mr Daschle avoid the lobbyist conflict? First, he wasn't officially registered as a lobbyist. Second, he was called a "consultant." Not a lobbyist. That, of course, makes all the difference. Yes?

And let's not forget that small but niggling (can I write that?) "tax thing" with Mr Daschle as well. You know. That $128,000 tax issue -- as in failure to pay -- because, after all, "nobody's perfect." In the earlier words of the illustrious Mr Daschle:

Make no mistake, tax cheaters cheat us all, and the IRS should enforce our laws to the letter. ” Sen. Tom Daschle, Congressional Record, May 7, 1998, p. S4507.

UPDATE: Tom Daschle has withdrawn his nomination for Health & Human Services.

You like that? How about this:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Nancy Killefer, who failed for a year and a half to pay employment taxes on household help, has withdrawn her candidacy to be the first chief performance officer for the federal government, the White House said Tuesday.

Killefer was the second major Obama administration nominee to withdraw and the third to have tax problems complicate their nomination after President Barack Obama announced their selection.

Wow. That Obama Administration. Impressive.

BZ