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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J_F_Shepard who wrote (153704)	2/2/2009 11:03:13 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

flpfloppedObama’s Ethics Reform Promise Faces Early Test By PETER BAKER WASHINGTON — During almost two years on the campaign trail, Barack Obama vowed to slay the demons of Washington, bar lobbyists from his administration and usher in what he would later call in his Inaugural Address a “new era of responsibility.” What he did not talk much about were the asterisks. The exceptions that went unmentioned now include a pair of cabinet nominees who did not pay all of their taxes. Then there is the lobbyist for a military contractor who is now slated to become the No. 2 official in the Pentagon. And there are the others brought into government from the influence industry even if not formally registered as lobbyists. President Obama said Monday that he was “absolutely” standing behind former Senator Tom Daschle, his nominee for health and human services secretary, and Mr. Daschle, who met late in the day with leading senators in an effort to keep his confirmation on track, said he had “no excuse” and wanted to “deeply apologize” for his failure to pay $128,000 in federal taxes. But the episode has already shown how, when faced with the perennial clash between campaign rhetoric and Washington reality, Mr. Obama has proved willing to compromise. Every four or eight years a new president arrives in town, declares his determination to cleanse a dirty process and invariably winds up trying to reconcile the clear ideals of electioneering with the muddy business of governing. Mr. Obama on his first day in office imposed perhaps the toughest ethics rules of any president in modern times, and since then he and his advisers have been trying to explain why they do not cover this case or that case. “This is a big problem for Obama, especially because it was such a major, major promise,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “He harped on it, time after time, and he created a sense of expectation around the country. This is exactly why people are skeptical of politicians, because change we can believe in is not the same thing as business as usual.”

To: J_F_Shepard who wrote (153704)	2/4/2009 11:43:05 AM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 173976

According to a 2003 legal brief filed by the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics, soft-money contributions by Hindery and Global Crossing, where he was chief executive officer, were illustrative of the "nexus between large political donations and significant government decisions." The firm sought regulatory approval in 1999 to build undersea cables to Japan but ran into opposition from three rival firms. "Out of nowhere, Global Crossing emerged as a political powerhouse in Washington, thanks to a multi-million dollar lobbying effort and $2 million" in contributions by the company, Hindery, and two other top executives, the brief said. Hindery was dismissed by Global Crossing before accounting irregularities came to light, and he quickly became a vocal critic of its management. But it is his payments for Daschle's car -- valued at $255,000 over the past two years -- and his monthly checks to the former senator for $83,333 that put Daschle and his "brother" in the headlights. The two men met at a San Francisco fundraiser in 1997, when Hindery was chief executive of Tele-Communications Inc. They then met repeatedly for dinner in Washington, according to a former senior Daschle aide. Daschle also has visited Hindery's multimillion-dollar ranch in Colorado.