By MARY GILBERT
Keeping with Barack Obama's campaign pledge to curb the influence of lobbyists and special interests in Washington, transition team co-chair John Podesta today began to lay out ethics rules that will guide the changeover -- and perhaps shed light on the how the new administration will operate.
Federally registered lobbyists will not be allowed to contribute or raise money for the transition. Lobbyists who are hired by the transition team will be prohibited from doing any lobbying work while they are working for Obama, and they will not be allowed to work within an issue area in which they have done any lobbying within the past 12 months. Conversely, anyone who joins the transition team and then returns to lobbying will not be allowed to lobby the White House on any matter on which they worked for the next 12 months.
Podesta called the restrictions "the strictest and most far-reaching ethics rules of any transition team in history." He said the team will have more to say later about the ethics rules that will govern hiring in a new Obama administration. He mentioned that Obama suggested a two-year look-back period during the campaign, rather than the one-year that is being put in place during the transition. Podesta said the shorter time frame for the changeover was appropriate given the short-term nature of the task, but hinted that a longer look-back period is being considered for lobbyists who would be entering government service under an Obama administration.
Asked if such strict rules would prohibit people with subject-matter expertise from being able to make meaningful contributions to the transition process, Podesta replied, if that's the case, "so be it." He said that the American people expect President-elect Obama to crack down on the abuse of power by lobbyists and special interests and stop the revolving door between K Street and the White House.
Despite the concerns of some on K Street, this policy does leave the door open for lobbyists to find jobs in an Obama White House.
Podesta hit on many other topics in the session, but he was careful to emphasize that Obama will avoid any actions that could be portrayed as stepping on the toes of President Bush. For example, the president-elect will not be in Washington this weekend when leaders of the G-20 nations will gather to discuss the international economic crisis, although Obama and vice president-elect Joe Biden might send lower-level representatives to meet with some of those delegations.
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