Controversy still surrounds the rules covering executive branch hiring and former lobbyists who now work in the Obama administration. Three new U.S. Attorney nominations have been made including former Business Software Alliance lobbyist and aide to Vice President Joe Biden, Neil MacBride, for the Eastern District of Virignia. Reportedly, a waiver is not needed in this case. "According to a White House spokesman, MacBride will not need a waiver to be appointed because his lobbying work ended in 2007, outside the two year window created by Obama’s executive order barring lobbyists from administration jobs."

The executive order included a waiver process, allowing exemptions if the "application of the restriction is inconsistent with the purposes of the restriction" or if it is in the "public interest." Even if MacBride required a waiver, only the most well attentive citizen might know about it. The government should disclose all granted waivers, along with information about the individuals receiving the waivers. Unfortunately, the public remains largely in the dark about the administration's intermittent use of waivers.