Lobbyists | Center for Effective Government

White House to Voluntarily Release Visitor Logs

Sep 4, 2009 by Roger Strother*

Today, the Obama administration made an important advance in executive branch transparency by agreeing to publish the White House visitor logs. Norm Eisen wrote on the White House blog that, “Each month, records of visitors from the previous 90-120 days will be made available online.” The White House agreed to this measure as part of a settlement in a lawsuit brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). As part of this settlement, the Obama administration will also turn over some visitor logs belonging to the Bush administration.

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Quid Pro Quo at the Department of Energy?

May 18, 2009 by Adam Hughes*

The Washington Post ran an article this morning about Recovery Act funding for environmental clean-up being given to contractors with less than stellar performance records. On the surface, this is yet another example of the desperate need for a fully public contractor misconduct database to help prevent awarding contracts to bad actors. But something else jumped out at me from the article that points to a larger problem that I don't think a misconduct database would solve: contractors and executive branch staff are far too cozy.

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Lobbyists Creeping into Obama Administration

Jan 28, 2009 by Matthew Madia

cash stacks President Obama's new ethics platform has already sprung some serious leaks. In spite of an executive order aimed to stem the influence of lobbyists in the Obama administration, former lobbyists are finding their way into top posts, according to the National Journal.

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Scrappy Idealists Take on Congress

Jan 29, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Although this is mostly an article about earmarks and "pork", it is an interesting article into the world of the watchdogs.

From the Washington Post: These are dark days for earmarks.

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Friends in High Places

Jan 24, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

With lobbying and ethics reform proposals starting to abound in Washington, additional details are continuing to emerge about the real difference it makes to have powerful lobbyists with access to unscrupulous lawmakers, particularly at the last minute.

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GOP Considers Ban on Privately Funded Travel

Jan 12, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Check out this New York Times article on the possible banning of privately funded travel. This could have impacts for nonprofits, which we discuss more extensively in our Watcher article on the new lobby reform bills before Congress.

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House Democrats Put Forth Reform Package

Jan 6, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

House Democrats David Obey (D-WI), Barney Frank (D-MA), David Price (D-NC), and Tom Allen (D-ME) have produced a 14-point package to reform House rules. The package is cosponsored by 120 House Democrats, including Minority Leader Pelosi (D-CA) and Minority Whip Hoyer (D-MD).

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The Estate Tax: By the Numbers

The Tax Policy Center has recently posted tables displaying the impact of the estate tax. The analysis shows just how few people would benefit from a repeal of the estate tax:

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