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White House Discloses 10 More Ethics Waivers for Administration Officials
September 05, 2009 2:52 PM
Calling President Obama's Executive Order on Ethics for Executive Branch personnel "the strongest ethics standards in U.S. government history," White House counsel Norm Eisen on Friday announced 10 more waivers for Obama administration officials.
The waivers will allow the officials to participate with persons with whom and entities with which "the appointees formerly had a professional relationship," Eisen wrote, "because there was a compelling public interest in allowing it."
The waivers are for:
* NASA administrator Charles Bolden; Bolden served as a consultant to the science, engineering, and technology corporation SAIC, which has billions in government contracts, and on the board of directors of aerospace and defense giant GenCorp.
The President's ethics rules would otherwise prohibit Bolden from participaring in any matter in which SAIC or GenCorp was a party in any way. That was waived because Bolden's "knowledge of and expertise in current NASA programs are essential to making informed and timely decision-making." He is still not allowed to engage in one-on-one meetings or communications with either organization or to participate in contracting matters involving either company.
* Associate Deputy Secretary of Labor Naomi Walker; Walker was Director of State Government Affairs for the AFL-CIO but has been permitted to communicate with that organization because, the Obama administration decided, prohibiting her from doing so would be detrimental to the Department of Labor and the AFL-CIO's 11 million members. She is still prohibited for the next two years to participate in any matter having to do with regulations or contracts involving the AFL-CIO.
* Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Ash Carter; Carter was a consultant for defense giant Textron, Inc. focusing on strategy and mergers and acquisitions, trends in military technology and strategy, and how and where military platforms and weapon systems could be deployed effectively. Carter also provided advice on the Sensor Fuzed Weapon, a cluster bomb used by the U.S. Air Force.
Carter is permitted to have dealings with Textron and any of its divisions and subsidiaries because, in the view of the Obama administration, "national security challenges require your expertise and judgment in making sound acquisition decisions on major defense programs, several of which involve Textron or one of its subsidiaries."
* Attorney General Eric Holder and Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer previously worked for the law firm Covington & Burling; Deputy Attorney General David Ogden worked for Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP.
All three are permitted to cooperate and participate in the investigation into possible prosecutorial misconduct in the case of U.S. v Theodore Stevens even though government lawyers whose conduct is in question are represented by both law firms. The three otherwise remain recused from participation in particular matters with parties in which their previous employers represents a party.
* Deputy Under Secretary for National Protection and Programs Directorate and Director of the National Cybersecurity Center in the Department of Homeland Security Philip Reitinger; Reirliner worked for Microsoft Corportation as Chief Trustworthy Infrastructure Strategy from 2003 until March 2009. Because of his "unique expertise, industry perspective and responsibilities for cyber programs," he is permitted to deal with Microsoft;
* Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Education Margot Rogers and Department of Education Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement James Shelton both worked for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which works on education issues. Both are allowed to have communications with that charitable foundation;
* Peace Corps director Aaron Williams; Williams served on the board of directors of the National Peace Corps Association, and is now prohibited from participating in any matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to NPCA.
Eisen said that waivers have gone to only 16 out of approximately 1,890 appointments.
Previous waivers went to:
* Former Raytheon lobbyist, now Deputy Secretary of Defense, William Lynn;
* Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett, the former Vice Chair of the non-profit entity "Chicago 2016," who is leading the White House's efforts to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago;
* Director of Policy and Projects in the Office of the First Lady Jocelyn Frye, who is former general counsel at the National Partnership for Women & Families;
* Director of Intergovernmental Affairs in the Executive Office of the President Cecilia Muñoz, former senior vice president for the National Council of La Raza; and
* Associate White House Counsels Jonathan Kravis and Chris Weideman, former employees of Williams & Connolly LLP, which represented the office of former President George W. Bush.
-jpt
September 5, 2009 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (125)
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How can allowing 14 million illegals to be counted in the 2010 census, and having them represented in the US govt.
with up to 9+ seats. Non citizens represented? How does this make sense?
On top of this Mexico is experiencing a shooting conflict on our boarder, which has claimed over 10,000 deaths. More casualities what we have taken in Afganistan during the same time span.
Posted by: XC | Sep 8, 2009 12:32:50 PM
The American people waived their ethics when they voted this president into office.
What is the point of having ethics if you waive them? Obama continues to lower his standards and you wonder why his poll numbers are dropping. This president has reneged on more campaign promises than any I have witnessed in 60 years. If you thought the town hall meetings were filled with angry people, wait another year.
Posted by: indymind | Sep 8, 2009 11:35:18 AM
If you have to issue ethics waivers, you don't have good people in the government.
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | Sep 8, 2009 10:29:18 AM
Obama is to be commended for being upfrount with his hypocrisy!
Posted by: LongT | Sep 8, 2009 8:47:20 AM
so PotatoeGater22 what you are saying is.
Communists = conservatives.
That would mean that Obamas green Czar was a conservative?
OK? That makes perfect sense.
Oh sure conservative communist. That is interesting?
Posted by: David from WI | Sep 7, 2009 4:02:59 PM
Not surprised here. If anyone followed his campaign during the primaries, you saw this wasn't a person with integrity.
Posted by: Jenny | Sep 7, 2009 10:45:54 AM
Obama is all lip service----a complete fraud, con, and is actively trying to kill the constitution. He needs to be impeached and then jailed for his crimes.
Posted by: PotatoeGater22 | Sep 7, 2009 1:24:22 AM
China censors their television, radio, and media sources before they air. Conservatives censor their material before they allow "their" members to view. Hmmm! Act like a communist, talk like a communist, walk like a communist, hmmm -- Conservatives are communists, pure and simple. They like to control others so they can pull the wool over everyone's eyes like they did for 8 years under Bush.Cheney. Get a life! Don't become a conservative for they are COMMUNISTS! They don't want you to Catch Onto Their Tricks of their Trade! Conservatives Censor!
Posted by: Gg51 | Sep 6, 2009 11:30:40 PM
I love Cuban musica and looking forward to be able to go to Cuba for a vacation, truly. It is a beautiful country with great food, music, and vacation spots. Guess what? I'm not a communist. I don't believe in censorship like Milwalkie and other cities around the country who are censoring the President's speech to students in our "public" schools who receive "public" funds and grants from who? The Federal Government that's who. Let's just take those federal funds away from those "cult" like school districts who don't allow President Obama's speech to be aired in their schools. You school districts will take the monies fast and are "socialistic" in nature but oh my gosh, a black president speak to your "white" children and the conservative have a hissy fit. Again, take away all of their funding for this 2009-10 school year, and let's see where there will be without federal funds!!! Good luck you cult socialistic school districts throughout America. OMG! Get a life!
Posted by: Gg51 | Sep 6, 2009 11:26:49 PM
A standard that is on paper only, and which is not enforced, isn't worth the paper it's written on.
Posted by: bullmoosegal | Sep 6, 2009 10:30:11 PM
2010 : American hope is for Pelosi to take her grandchildren.
2012 : Back to American value from kingdom of Obama.
Posted by: Janet | Sep 6, 2009 10:26:26 PM
Are we turning into a third world country? Our leaders are acting like it!
Posted by: waggdogg | Sep 6, 2009 9:49:54 PM
Does this president even understand the meaning of ethics?
Disgusting.
Posted by: Mineko | Sep 6, 2009 5:56:41 PM
Bottom rule with Obama: Never believe a promise or word he says.
Where is the outrage from the left regarding all of Obama`s broken promises?
Posted by: Robert L. | Sep 6, 2009 3:58:52 PM
Breaking news..........
This just in:
There has been a czar explosion in Washington.
Van Jones was unavailable for comment.
Posted by: N. O'Brain | Sep 6, 2009 3:18:22 PM
The Democrat culture of corruption rolls on unimpeded.
Posted by: N. O'Brain | Sep 6, 2009 3:15:06 PM
I thought Obama was going to rid Washington of special interests. Didn't he say that in his campaign?
Posted by: grannysunni | Sep 6, 2009 3:01:02 PM
And so it goes;
exchanging one set of special-interest lobbyists for another set of special-interest lobbyists ...
Change to believe in?
Really?
Posted by: CW | Sep 6, 2009 12:52:56 PM
Oh,I'm sorry,I forgot.George Bush made him pick his cabinet and made him stiff the tickets. And yes,Van Jones was vetted by George Bush.And George Bush has been secretly running the Kabul Embassy for the first 20% of the Obama Presidency.
Posted by: Nephron | Sep 6, 2009 12:38:19 PM
Obviously ,standards mean nothing to this president.How many cabinet and sub-cabinet appointees have had tax problens?How could a tax cheat be nominated and confirmed for Treasury Secretary?How could he even consider the former senator from So.Dak. for a cabinet post when he owed more than 100 grand in back taxes?Despite his lax standards,he still has not filled many,many mid-level positions essential to running the government.I speak with federal employees every day and the disarray at mid-level departments is astonishing-under the radar screen information that the media refuses to cover,a la Van Jones.Well, what could we expect from a gentleman who tried to get off from paying 11 parking tickets from Cambridge,MA. and lied about it on his Illinois Bar application.
Posted by: Nephron | Sep 6, 2009 12:27:14 PM
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