Obama In, Lobbyists Out! B**h Out, Transparency In!

(from The Washington Independent)

John Podesta, co-chair of President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team, announced today that Obama would extend the restrictions on lobbyists during his presidential campaign to his transition to the White House. The transition team outlined the changes in a press release:

· Federal Lobbyists cannot contribute financially to the transition.

· Federal lobbyists are prohibited from any lobbying during their work with the transition.

· If someone has lobbied in the last 12 months, they are prohibited from working in the fields of policy on which they lobbied.

· If someone becomes a lobbyist after working on the Transition, they are prohibited from lobbying the Administration for 12 months on matters on which they worked.

· A gift ban that is aggressive in reducing the influence of special interests.

During a 45-minute briefing with reporters in Washington, Podesta also suggested that those who go to work for the Obama administration would be prohibited from lobbying the administration for two years after leaving.

Will there be more restrictions? Let's hope so. If Congress wants to maintain its integrity (as if it ever had any), it will put regulations and restrictions across the board for all lobbyists. Yes, I know that associations like the ACLU pay lobbyists big money to represent them, but that money shouldn't be used for gifts or extravagant "meetings." At Thanksgiving, congressmen and senators should be carving their own turkeys and not ones stuffed with Rolexes.

What do you think?

Just a thought.