Executive Order Contains Toughest and Most Far Reaching “Revolving Door” Provisions Ever Adopted
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
President Barack Obama issued a ground breaking Executive Order today that establishes unprecedented new rules to govern the role of lobbyists in
the Obama Administration.
The ethics Executive Order issued by the Obama Administration goes further than any previous action taken by a President to restrict the ability of
presidential appointees who serve in the Executive Branch from coming back to lobby the Administration, and also to limit the role of lobbyists
coming in to serve in the Administration.
It also bans presidential appointees from accepting gifts from lobbyists and lays the groundwork for extending this gift ban to all Executive Branch
employees.
The new Executive Order contains the toughest and most far reaching revolving door provisions ever adopted.
President Obama’s Executive Order on ethics constitutes a major step in setting a new tone and attitude for Washington that challenges the lobbyist,
special interest culture that pervades the nation’s Capitol.
We strongly praise President Obama for issuing this landmark Executive Order on his first day in office and demonstrating by his actions that he
takes very seriously the importance of protecting the integrity of the government he leads, and, in so doing, the interests of the American people.
The new Executive Order, for the first time, prohibits presidential appointees who leave the government from coming back to lobby high level
executive branch officials throughout the entire government, not just in their own department or agency, and from doing so for the entire period that
President Obama serves as president. This includes a second term if the President is reelected.
It requires presidential appointees entering the Obama Administration to make a clear choice: if they want to serve in important policy positions in
the Administration they must be willing to give up their ability to capitalize on their government jobs after leaving by lobbying the Obama
Administration.
Previous Executive Branch revolving door provisions have restricted covered executive branch officials from going back to lobby their departments
and agencies, but never the whole Executive Branch, and never for the length of time involved here.
The new Executive Order is based on the assumption that there are more than enough talented and qualified citizens in the country to fill senior
government positions, without having to continue Washington’s ingrained “revolving door” tradition of turning public service into a vehicle for
personal gain.
The Executive Order also contains reverse “revolving door” provisions that will for the first time restrict the ability of lobbyists entering the Obama
Administration from helping their former clients or influencing decisions on issues on which they have lobbied.
It prohibits any presidential appointee who served as a lobbyist during the two-year period prior to joining the Administration from working in any
agency or department that they had lobbied, for a two-year period after they join the Administration.
It also provides that a person who served as a lobbyist during the two-year period prior to joining the Obama Administration cannot for the first two
years after being appointed to the Obama Administration participate in any particular matter on which the person lobbied or in the specific issue area
in which the particular matter falls.
These are unprecedented restrictions on what lobbyists can do when they join an Administration.
The Executive Order requires all presidential appointees to sign a binding agreement that they will comply with the Executive Order and sets up an
important oversight and enforcement process, giving responsibilities to the Office of Government Ethics and the Justice Department to ensure
compliance with the new Order.
President Obama’s Executive Order follows on the important leadership he provided on lobbying reform in the last Congress when, along with
Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI) and Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), then-Senator Obama led a hard fought, successful battle to enact
key lobbying transparency provisions. The provisions require members of Congress and federal candidates, for the first time, to disclose the lobbyists
who bundled contributions for them and the total amounts each raised.
The most important government integrity issue that still lies ahead is reform of the nation’s campaign finance laws – reform that is needed as part of
achieving President Obama’s oft stated goal during the campaign to fix Washington.
Successful campaign finance reform can fundamentally alter Washington’s influence-money culture.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, President Obama stated that he was “firmly committed to reforming the [presidential public financing]
system as president so that it’s viable in today’s campaign climate.”
We look forward to working with President Obama and his Administration to accomplish this essential reform goal and also on efforts to establish a
similar system for congressional races.
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