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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MJ who wrote (2323)	6/23/2007 11:32:30 AM
From: ChinuSFO	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 149317

My comment: We need such bold statements up front. If Obama's Administration succeeds in breaking the back of the Washington lobbyists, then we can expect to see progress in areas like health care due to reduction in drug prices etc. We can also expect to see a lowering of oil prices at the pump. ====================================== Obama calls for tougher restrictions on lobbyists By Brian Early Reuters MANCHESTER, New Hampshire Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama on Friday proposed ethics reforms to reduce corporate and special-interest influence in Washington, including tight restrictions on lobbying a future Obama administration. Obama said under President George W. Bush, lobbyists have turned the federal government into a private playground where games were "played on a field that's no longer level but rigged to always favor their own narrow agendas." The Illinois senator said political appointees in his administration would be barred from working on regulations or contracts related to their former employers for two years. Former appointees would not be able to lobby the administration for the remainder of his time in office. "I will make it absolutely clear that working in an Obama administration is not about serving your former employer, your future employer or your bank account, it's about serving your country and that's what comes first," he said in a speech at a Manchester technical community college. His speech followed similar ethics reform proposals made in April in New Hampshire, site of the first 2008 presidential primary in January, by Obama's prime Democratic rival, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton. Clinton leads Obama in national polls of the Democratic race 17 months before the November 2008 election to pick a successor to Bush. Obama backed changes in the Senate earlier this year to toughen rules on lobbying and ethics, including a ban on gifts from lobbyists, tougher restrictions on travel and a ban on former senators lobbying Congress for two years. In his speech, Obama called for an end to abuse of no-bid contracts and more public access to government information. He said he would issue an executive order banning registered lobbyists or firms from giving gifts to executive branch employees. Obama mentioned recent scandals in Washington, including the conviction of Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff in a wide-ranging bribery and fraud scandal, but said the fault was with the entire political culture and the laws it produced. He cited lobbying by the pharmaceutical industry against bills allowing the government to bargain for cheaper drug prices as one example. "What's most outrageous is not the morally offensive conduct on behalf of these lobbyists and legislators but the morally offensive laws and decisions that get made as a result," he said. abcnews.go.com