Obama's paid campaign staffers are career lobbyists. Will they work for free?

[REDFISHBLUEFISH]

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/lobbyists-on-obamas-08-payroll-2007-12-20.html

Lobbyists on Obama’s ’08 payroll
By Alexander Bolton and Brittney Moraski
Posted: 12/20/07 07:59 PM
Three political aides on Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) payroll were registered lobbyists for dozens of corporations, including Wal-Mart, British Petroleum and Lockheed Martin, while they received payments from his campaign, according to public documents.


The presence of political operatives with long client lists on Obama’s campaign contrasts with his long-held stand of campaigning against the influence of special interests. Obama has even refused to accept contributions from lobbyists or political action committees (PACs).



Kind of Ironic huh Obama? Bet they get key appointmernts and further their influence!

Same old Washington!

[Kittycat]

1. Working hard today?

I wonder who's not getting paid at the end of the week, besides sr. staffers?

[leftofthedial]

2. The more things CHANGE . . .

[REDFISHBLUEFISH]

4. Truth hurt?

[leftofthedial]

18. the truth that hurts me

is that the corporations chose a limited slate of corporatist candidates for us.

I find it ironic (if not painful) that candidates who so strongly represent the status quo are making a campaign meal out of preaching "change."

[REDFISHBLUEFISH]

27. Yep!

[SoFlaJet]

3. Link?

BTW...Obama can AFFORD to pay HIS staffers unlike how YOU are now working for beans and corn bread

[REDFISHBLUEFISH]

7. Link is first.

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/lobbyists-on-obamas-08-payroll-2007-12-20.html

Here it is again.

See it yet?

[SoFlaJet]

13. must suck to do all this work for free

huh?

[xultar]

19. Wow. You're brilliant.

[REDFISHBLUEFISH]

20. I'm in construction I am not a paid campaigner or lobbyist, If I were Id go to Obama and get rewards

LOL

He is literally a cash cow for lobbyists huh!

[rinsd]

5. Points on the backend.

[REDFISHBLUEFISH]

10. Obama washes alot of hands, yet claims he is not dirty? This reeks of soap scum here!

[cgrindley]

6. That's a moot point considering Obama's fundraising abilities (nt)

[OzarkDem]

8. Lobbyists for Walmart, BP and Lockheed?

Wonder what they expect in return?

[REDFISHBLUEFISH]

11. Yeah I wonder, Obama do you support Wal Mart? Your followers reject it! Fess up now!

[CONN]

30. any relationship to his incresed coverage in MSM?

[REDFISHBLUEFISH]

31. Probably, gotta keep the advertiser happy! OBAMEDIA in action!

[sidwill]

9. You are aware that Hillary has taken more money from Lobbyists than any Republican right?

While Obama has taken none.

[islandmkl]

12. well, hell....let's just give it to Hillary.....

she's gotta be closer to more of those folks that Obama can possibly be in such a short time. Remember: he's JUST a FIRST-TERM SENATOR..he can't possibly have developed deep and lasting relationships with as many Washington insiders as someone as experienced as HRC (don't even calculate Bill's connections). Or does that first-term Senator crap only apply to him and his experience-ability to become President?

[Donnachaidh]

14. well, another of his claims blown out of the water

Of course, the SPIN machines will be whirring mightily here before too long. :puke:

The only CHANGE here is jingling in somebody's pocket....

[MzShellG]

15. They shouldn't have to....

Running a campaign is a tough job. They are doing a great job and DESERVE to be paid. Shame on Hillary.

[madmunchie]

16. Does Obama need workers working for him for free? NO!

And why is that? Why is Hillary running out of money????? Not too good of a sign for her handling our economy, or will that be Bill's job?

[candice]

17. Obama's national co-chair is a registered federal lobbyist

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/01/02/54460...

South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges is a *registered federal lobbyist" who will join Obama's campaign as a national co-chair.

Hodges Consulting describes itself on its Web site as “well positioned to offer highly effective lobbying services and unparalleled state budget expertise. Hodges Consulting Group can also provide federal representation to clients."

Though Obama has also said that he won't take federal PAC and lobbyist money on his campaign, he does take money from state based lobbyists as previously reported by First Read.

Obama's co-chair in New Hampshire, Jim Demers, is a state based lobbyist for the pharmaceutical and financial services industries amongst others. Michael Bauer, a member of Obama's LGBT steering committee, is a state based lobbyist in Chicago. And in Nevada, Obama's campaign also has three state based lobbyists who play senior advising roles in August last year.

When asked by reporters on the call why Hodges could work with the campaign even though he is a lobbyist, campaign manager, David Plouffe, said the campaign's policy for limiting lobbyists' influence applied to taking money only from federal registered lobbyists and PACs.

Obama also has said that no lobbyists can regulate industries they were working for in his White House for two years and that they cannot work for lobbyists after leaving his White House for the remainder of his tenure.

Obama, however, has justified taking money from state based lobbyists and working with them.

"Because I have no power in this state, so I'm not influenced in any way by somebody who's lobbying at the state level,” he told NBC's Sacramento affiliate in August. “The main thing that we're trying to avoid is any perception that somehow those who are doing business in Washington have an influence on my agenda."

[REDFISHBLUEFISH]

21. But Obama is not tainted, So he claims! What a LIAR!

LOL

[realFedUp]

22. "Obama team can play rough

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/chi-obama_0622jun22,1,3650688.story?ctrack=3&cset=true

By John McCormick
Tribune staff reporter
June 22, 2007

Despite often lofty rhetoric that he plans to bring the nation a "new kind of politics," Sen. Barack Obama has surrounded himself with operatives skilled in the old-school art of the political backstab.
When Obama was criticized this past week for opposition research memos critical of Sen. Hillary Clinton's ties to India and Indian-Americans, he was quick to blame his staff.

When Obama assembled his crew early this year, he brought together a team with a long track record of the sort of caustic rhetoric he has pledged to avoid, just as other presidential candidates have done by hiring people similarly talented in the art of opposition research and attack. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) even hired some of the very people who trashed his 2000 presidential bid.

From his campaign headquarters in a high-rise on Michigan Avenue, Obama's political warriors range from a research director with extensive experience in throwing darts from Democratic National Committee's offices to a communications director who once worked for a group that ran a controversial ad that used an image of Osama bin Laden to attack Howard Dean.

continued

[xultar]

23. I love this. Instead of countering the information about Lobbyist. Brillant posters are coming

back with

sucks to work for free?

Funny as fuck. The no lobbyist candidate has a registered lobbyist working and being paid to work in his campaign and the best they can come up with is...
sucks to work for free.

Id at least come back with no he doesn't or spin it that since Clinton does He can. But, Sucks to work for free?

:rofl:

We've gone past kindergarden back to daycare.

[REDFISHBLUEFISH]

25. The no lobbyist candidate has a registered lobbyist working and being paid to work in his campaign

EXACTLY MY POINT, They are following a Fairy Tale! Bill Clinton was right!

[tabasco]

26. You must have missed post #9.

Looks like a case of selective reading.

[DrFunkenstein]

24. Damn You, Mark Penn!!

He is helping Obama win...and Hillary Clinton is paying for it!

[FrenchieCat]

28. I think that the article is a good read.....and spreads the love around.....

One member of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-Ill.) campaign staff was a registered lobbyist during the first half of 2007. Rachel Kelly represented the Great American Insurance Company from January to June. The contract paid less than $10,000.


Jonathan Mantz, Clinton’s finance director, was a registered lobbyist for the Podesta Group in 2005.


Two members of former Sen. John Edwards’s (D-N.C.) staff were registered as lobbyists for the first six months of this year. Adam Jentleson lobbied on behalf of the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank headed by John Podesta, the White House chief of staff during the Clinton administration. Matthew Morrison registered as a lobbyist for the American Federation of Teachers in 2007.

[REDFISHBLUEFISH]

29. Its a fair article but debunks Obama's campaign s inferences pretty well!