Exceptions to Rules Against Corruption

The “new era of responsibility” presented by Barack Obama is already weighed down with “exceptions” to his own rules, which he was forced to accept in the cases of some of his close collaborators. He accepts Cabinet members with unpaid taxes – inexcusable for American politicians – but he also tolerates exceptions to his own directive that former lobbyists may not be a part of the Obama administration while working in the same area in which they’ve been lobbying in during the last two years.

On Monday the new president said he is “absolutely” standing behind Democratic senator Tom Daschle, who is still the man he wants as secretary of health and human services, despite the fact that Daschle’s Senate hearing uncovered unpaid federal taxes in the amount of 128,000 dollars. Consequently, Obama was compelled to abandon his hard line stance and allow a compromise in favor of his collaborator, who confessed to be “deeply sorry” about his unpaid debts.

The president’s forbearance continued with Treasury Secretary Tom Geithner, in whose case Senate hearings revealed not only unpaid taxes of 35,000 dollars, but also a housekeeper working at his home who, for three months, did not have a work visa.

“The most sweeping ethics reform in history” that the Democratic president promised in his campaign was compromised during the first days of his presidency when his spokesman, Robert Gibbs, explained that former lobbyists will be accepted in the Cabinet, due to their exceptional professional qualities.

On his first day, Obama issued an order that no one could work for his administration in the same area in which they had been a lobbyist. Since the rule was even applicable to employees of federal agencies, the press shockingly discovered that three nominees for high positions in the executive branch had been lobbyists: William J. Lynn, former under secretary of defense, represented the interests of the Raytheon Corporation that delivers defense systems; William G. Corr, deputy secretary of health, lobbied against tobacco producers (who were at war with federal authorities); and Mark Patterson, Treasury chief of staff, was a registered lobbyist for Goldman Sachs.

According to the New York Times, Obama’s advisers justified these nominations by saying that they bring the executive branch “exceptional qualifications and experience” and that the exceptions made in their cases were minimal compared to the hundreds of jobs in the adminstration to which lobbyists will no longer have access.

Even though during the campaign he boasted about not taking money from actual lobbyist organizations, Obama did accept donations from rich people who hire…well, lobbyists. Apart from thousands of donations made by workers and school teachers who put in sums under 100 dollars, the record amount of money the president raised came from 79 very wealthy people (at least 5 billionares), reported The Washington Post.

Those wealthy donors weren’t allowed to donate more than 2,500 dollars, but they used their influence to create “donor networks.” Among the 79 names, there are also 18 law offices in Washington, Wall Street investors, real estate owners in Chicago, and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, who consistently have lobbyists on their payroll. For this reason, some members of the Democratic Party believe that Obama will have a hard time building his executive team with no “exceptions” to the harsh rules against corruption, because many qualified people in various areas have some sort of connection with lobbyist organizations.

“Our leaders have thrown open the doors of Congress and the White House to an army of Washington lobbyists who have turned our government into a game only they can afford to play.” – Barack Obama, during his campaign in 2008.