Which lobbyist are in obamas administration

Lobbying Background: A registered lobbyist from through , his sole client was Fannie Mae. White House justification: Politico speculated that Donilon was given a job in the NSA because the position did not require Senate confirmation. Donilon worked in Clinton's state department before his lobbyist career. White House justification: Corr has pledged to recuse himself from discussions on tobacco policy, according to who runs GOV.

Lobbying Background: Munoz was an executive at a top Hispanic-American lobby from to During this time she led a major campaign against a welfare reform bill that cut benefits for immigrants, according to who runs GOV. White House justification: The White House granted her an ethical waiver : "because of the importance of [her] respective positions and because of [her] unequalled qualifications for her job.

Lobbying Background: Leibowitz was chief lobbyist of the Hollywood organization from to White House justification: He was already approved under the Bush administration in He was also paid richly in speaking and consulting fees by Merrill Lynch, the Carlyle Group, and others -- activity that pretty closely approximated lobbying, according to the WSJ.

Lobbying background: Vilsack was a registered lobbyist for the National Education Association. Justification: "Governor Vilsack was not a lobbyist on agriculture or nutrition issues and of course he will represent the interests of the president-elect and the American people, not his former employer," said Nick Shapiro, a spokesman for the Obama transition team, according to the Kalamazoo Gazette.

Lobbying background: From to , Turton worked at major D. Justification: Turton's position does not fall under Obama's anti-lobbyist executive order, according to the Sunlight Foundation. Lobbying background: Trasvina worked for the Latino legal lobby as legislative counsel from to and as president from , according to Open Secrets.

Lobbying background: On a seven year stint in the private sector, ending in , Holder lobbied for Large Scale Biology Corp. He also represented corporate clients, including Merck. For you. World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options.

Get the Insider App. Click here to learn more. A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation. Before bemoaning the swamp, however, it is worth keeping in mind that despite its reputation, lobbying is not necessarily nefarious. Political scientists often point to the benefit that lobbying offers in terms of improving the quality of policymaking.

It can subsidize the activity of policymakers , providing information that they would not otherwise have the time or ability to gather. With respect to regulatory lobbying in particular, meetings may bring issues to the attention of the White House that the agency overlooked in drafting its regulation, whether intentionally or not. Finally, what we have observed here is an incomplete snapshot of regulatory lobbying. Savvy interests may not just lobby OIRA via meetings, but may also take their concerns about regulations under development higher up the food chain, meeting with political appointees at the OMB or in the EOP.

These meetings are harder for outsiders to systematically observe for two reasons. First, the Lobbying Disclosure Act has numerous loopholes that allow lobbyists to avoid disclosing their meetings with White House officials. Second, the Trump administration has made it more difficult to observe who has access to the White House more generally. To get a more complete understanding of how lobbying influences the regulations produced by this administration, we would need to know more about this higher-level lobbying.

The author did not receive financial support from any firm or person for this article or from any firm or person with a financial or political interest in this article. She is currently not an officer, director, or board member of any organization with an interest in this article. Report Produced by Center on Regulation and Markets. However, this does not necessarily mean that the administration is accomplishing its broader deregulatory goals, since stemming the tide of new regulations is just one aspect of deregulating.

Rolling back existing regulations that are on the books typically requires agencies to go through the notice-and-comment process, which suggests the generation of more proposed rules and eventually more final rules rather than fewer. Regulatory Policy More than spam? These differences are statistically significant at the 0. Related Topics th U.

Congress Executive Branch Regulatory Policy. Congress Where are the Congressional Review Act disapprovals? Both Bernhardt and Wheeler, backed by the U. They also both worked at the agency they now lead during prior administrations. Westlands has federal contracts to provide irrigation water to family-owned farms in the fertile San Joaquin Valley.

Wheeler worked as a lobbyist for eight years and his more than 20 different clients included coal magnate Bob Murray, who pushed hard on the Trump administration to grant a series of breaks for the sagging domestic coal industry. Among the allegations, CREW said Wheeler had participated in the easing of standards for storing coal ash in even though he had lobbied on those regulations the year before for Murray Energy.

Esper, who was secretary of the Army when Trump chose him to be defense secretary, faced opposition from only a handful of Democrats and he was confirmed in July by a margin. After that, Esper told Pentagon ethics officials that he will continue to avoid Raytheon issues unless his participation as defense secretary is determined to be essential.

Robert Lighthizer, the U. Trade Representative, lobbied primarily for steel companies between and