Thread: MOST Lobbying calls to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/31/white- ... lobby.html

Business In The Beltway
Look Who's Been Lobbying The White House
Brian Wingfield, 10.31.09, 01:25 PM EDT
From labor leaders to titans of industry, President Obama has been a very busy host since taking office.

WASHINGTON -- It's always easier to lobby Congress than the executive branch, but somebody's got to make the in-person calls to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Late Friday, the White House released a partial list (close to 500 names) of its guest roster this year, many lobbyists and heads of industry groups included.

Who's on the list?

Andy Stern, head of the Service Employees International Union, has the most visits (22).

Richard Trumka, the AFL-CIO's new president, has also made numerous visits (seven).

So has Kim Gandy, head of the National Organization for Women (15), and Ed Yingling, president of the American Bankers Association (five).

Lesser-known lobbyists (though famous inside the Beltway) also appear. Among them: Tony Podesta, whose clients have included heavyweights like Google ( GOOG - news - people ), Duke Energy ( DUK - news - people ) and Boeing ( BA - news - people ), and his wife Heather, who runs a separate lobbying shop and has represented groups like U.S. Steel ( X - news - people ), Marathon Oil ( MRO - news - people ), the American Beverage Association and health insurance company Cigna ( CI - news - people ).

Not all visits are for lobbying purposes. In addition to meetings with the president and administration officials, the list highlights a variety of events: bill signings, a luau for members of Congress, cocktail parties, a Super Bowl party, etc. This administration has also had numerous meetings with industry leaders on subjects like health care, banking reform, energy, labor and technology.

Therefore, it's not surprising to see many captains of industry represented as well, including General Electric ( GE - news - people ) boss Jeffrey Immelt, Microsoft ( MSFT - news - people ) Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and ExxonMobil ( XOM - news - people ) boss Rex Tillerson. Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase ( JPM - news - people ), Citigroup ( C - news - people )'s Vikram Pandit and Lloyd Blankfein, head of Goldman Sachs ( GS - news - people ), are also on the list. But the names that immediately jump out are those of the entertainers and athletes known in every American household: Denzel Washington, Brad Pitt, Serena Williams, Oprah Winfrey and George Clooney for starters.

The release of the information is all part of an effort by the administration to offer greater disclosure about who comes and goes at the West Wing and the executive mansion. "We expect that each monthly release will include tens of thousands of electronic records," the administration said when it announced the policy in September.

Because the White House will publicize only visitor records at least 90 days old, a flood of names is expected closer to the end of the year.

Wasn't this administration promising it would be clean of lobbyists? Wrong.
And with SEIU making 22 visits, they and their pro-illegal platform are apparently a favorite.
Globalism, here we come, whether we American peons like it or not.

This fight ain't over yet.