Obama Taking on K Street Lobbyist Over Stimulus

I realize that the Obama memo "Ensuring Responsible Spending of Recovery Act Funds" only deals with the stimulus that was recently passed, but I feel it is a step in the right direction. Americans should be able to see or read what projects lobbyist are fighting for.

Obama's ongoing battle with K Street continued today. In a speech to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Obama said any lobbyist who wants to talk to a member of his administration must put their viewpoints in writing, to be posted on the Internet. He said these restrictions on lobbyists will help ensure that "lobbyists don't stand in the way of our recovery."

undertheinfluence.nationaljournal.com...

Here is the memo itself

Obama Memo

I think this kind of transparency is good for America. My only fear is that Americans will largely ignore these kind of transparencies and the lobbyist will still get their way.

What do you all think about this memo?

If you can think or discover any loopholes around this memo, please post.

reply to post by jam321


I like it, but whats to keep them from posting one thing and actually talk to them about another?

A+ for effort. Lets see what he gets for execution.

reply to post by jd140


I too have my mistrust but am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

I also have questions about lobbyist who are not registered.

Here is an example

According to the White House, the important thing is that Tom Daschle is not technically a lobbyist. "If you're not registered to lobby, you can't be a lobbyist," explains White House spokesman Robert Gibbs. And Daschle, the former Senate Democratic leader who is up for the top health post in the Obama Cabinet, never filled out the paperwork to register.

www.time.com...

yeah sounds like a good idea. but i'm sure that throwing large sums of money at congress will win every time

i can imagine that they'd just make longer statements and hide things within them. if there's no "line item veto" on these things then they'll just eat the whole request or not.

also, why bother having the lobbyists say what they're asking for? isn't that kind of like demanding that drug cartels start using television to push their product? shouldn't he just remove them altogether.

He also promised to post legislation on the internet 5 days before he signed it. But he failed that test with the first 2 bills that he signed.

Seeing as how this thread deals with lobbyists, he also promised not to hire lobbyists in his administration. He's broken that promise at least a dozen times so far.

www.judicialwatch.org...

reply to post by jsobecky

He's broken that promise

I see where you are coming from, but like jd140 pointed out...."Lets see what he gets for execution"

Like I said before I am sure there are some loopholes in there somewhere. It is a very long memo.

It seems like a very good idea. But I think people are going to find out that reading fifty pages of double talk, legalise and politicking to try and find out whats really happening is some tiresome stuff.