By Cliff Montgomery – Nov. 4th, 2009
The Obama Administration has granted some form of waiver to the president’s famed Ethics Pledge forseventeen appointees.
The waivers exempt the appointees from Obama’s ‘revolving door’ and conflict of interest restrictions, whichwere made law by Executive Order on January 21st, 2009.
Eleven waivers have been granted by Executive agencies. They went to:
Herbert Allison, who now is responsible for oversight of the U.S. government’s $700 billion bank bailout. Allisonformerly was president and CEO of Fannie Mae.
“Mr. Allison is not in a position to personally benefit from his Fannie Mae relationship,” states Allison’s ethicswaiver, dated Sept. 16th, 2009.
“Mr. Allison has no pecuniary interest in Fannie Mae other than a life insurance policy under which Fannie Maewill pay premiums for four more years pursuant to a standard Fannie Mae agreement,” states the waiver.
“Mr. Allison was not otherwise compensated by Fannie Mae, and declined to accept a salary,” adds the waiver.
Charles Bolden, current NASA administrator, who previously served as a director of GenCorp and as aconsultant to SAIC. GenCorp provides the government with aerospace and defense technology – SAICprovides scientific and engineering systems.
Lanny Breuer, Assistant Attorney General in the Justice Department, has been granted a waiver regarding thefederal government’s case against former U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK).
Ash Carter, current Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, had been aconsultant to Textron, Inc.
Carter’s advice to Textron “focused on merger and acquisition matters for Textron’s corporate headquarters,trends in military technology and strategy, and how and where military platforms and weapon systems could bedeployed effectively in Department of Defense theaters of operation,” states the waiver.
Eric Holder, now the U.S. Attorney General, has been granted a waiver regarding the federal government’scase against former U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK).
David Ogden, Deputy Attorney General of the Justice Dept., also has been granted a waiver regarding thefederal government’s case against former U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK).
Philip Reitinger is the Deputy Under Secretary for National Protection and Programs Directorate and Directorof the National Cybersecurity Center, which are within the land Security Department.
“Philip R. Reitinger shall not be restricted from participating in any particular matter involving specific partiesthat is directly and substantially related to his former employer Microsoft Corporation,” declares the May 19thwaiver.
Margot Rogers, now Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Education, “shall not be restricted from participatingin any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to her former employer,the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,” states Rogers’ March 23rd waiver.
James Shelton now is the Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement in the EducationDepartment. Shelton received the same essential waiver as Margot Rogers, as he too once worked for the Billand Melinda Gates Foundation.
Shelton’s April waiver, in fact, originally was made out for Rogers – her name is crossed out of the officialdocument’s title, and Shelton’s name was quickly written above hers as a quick fix.
Naomi Walker now is Associate Deputy Secretary of the Labor Department. Her waiver allows her to deal with”any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to her former employer,the AFL-CIO.”
Aaron Williams perhaps has been granted the least worrisome waiver. Williams currently is the Director of theNational Peace Corps Association. He previously had served on the Peace Corps board of directors.
On Aug. 24th, Williams was granted “a limited waiver” allowing him “to participate in or speak at meetings andconferences or other events involving or hosted by the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) or itsleadership, including fundraising events,” albeit with certain conditions.
To be fair, all administration waivers involve paragraph 2 of Obama’s ethics pledge–not his lobbying provision.
“That is, they permit certain Executive Branch appointees to work on particular matters that may involvepersons with which the appointees formerly had a professional relationship because there was a compellingpublic interest in allowing it,” claims a Sept. 4th White House Blog post.
Though it’s not talked about as much, the White House itself has allowed six additional ethics pledge waivers.They went to:
- Jocelyn Frye, Director of Policy and Projects in the Office of the First Lady
- Cecilia Muñoz, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs in the Executive Office of the President
- William Lynn, Deputy Secretary of Defense
- Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President
- Jonathan Kravis, Associate Counsel, White House Counsel’s Office
- Chris Weideman, Associate Counsel, White House Counsel’s Office.
