Critics get whiff of hypocrisy as Obama chooses ex-lobbyists

BARACK OBAMA promised to end the “revolving door” between the US government and the lobbying industry but, three weeks into his presidency, the back entrance appears to have been left ajar.

Several former lobbyists have been chosen for senior positions within the administration, in spite of Mr Obama’s insistence during the election campaign that “lobbyists will not run my White House”.

The most contentious choices have been William Lynn, a former lobbyist for Raytheon, the arms contractor, who has been nominated for deputy defence secretary; and Mark Patterson, a former lobbyist for Goldman Sachs, who has been appointed chief of staff for the Treasury secretary.

Both men require waivers from new rules barring administration officials from working on matters they lobbied on in the previous two years. Mr Obama imposed the restrictions on his first full day in office, calling them the toughest ethics rules of any administration and a “clean break from business as usual”.

The White House says it will grant “a limited number of waivers” in cases where a former lobbyist is “uniquely qualified” for a job, and argues that such exceptions should not overshadow the unprecedented steps taken by Mr Obama to limit lobbyists’ influence.

But critics smell the whiff of hypocrisy, and say the president risks undermining his reform credentials if he appears to be backtracking. “The thing that makes Americans sceptical about politics is when politicians say one thing and do another,” says Melanie Sloan, of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Ms Sloan says the cases of Mr Lynn and Mr Patterson raise serious concerns because they both lobbied until last year for companies heavily exposed to decisions by the departments they will each be working for. Raytheon is one of the Pentagon's biggest contractors and attracted more than €14 billion of business in 2007. – ( Financial Timesservice)