Jump to full article: Washington DC Examiner, 2010-01-27
Author: Timothy P. Carney Examiner Columnist
Intro: "To close that credibility gap we must take action on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue to end the outsized influence of lobbyists; to do our work openly"
Obama's call to "do our work openly" would represent a change of procedure in many ways. We didn't know about a July deal on health-care reform between White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and top drug lobbyist Billy Tauzin until the LA Times reported on it, thanks to Tauzin's talking outside of school.
Also, "work[ing] openly" wouldn't be how I would describe Obama's claim that "today, despite decades of lobbying and advertising by the tobacco industry, we passed a law" that had the full support of Philip Morris--by far the number one tobacco lobbying power and number one tobacco company.
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