As reported by TPM, it appears that Obama's one-day old ban on lobbyists has already hit a snag. Bill Lynn, Obama's choice for deputy secretary of defense, recently served as a lobbyist for Raytheon, the fourth largest defense contractor in the United States. This directly comes into conflict with Section (c) of the new order, as it clearly states:
If I was a registered lobbyist within the 2 years before the date of my appointment, in addition to abiding by the limitations of paragraph 2, I will not for a period of 2 years after the date of my appointment...
(c) seek or accept employment with any executive agency that I lobbied within the 2 years before the date of my appointment.
Carl Levin has put the confirmation hearing on hold for now, but the possibility of Lynn receiving a special waiver remains a possibility. In a statement issued yesterday, Robert Gibbs said:
"Even the toughest rules require reasonable exceptions. Our waiver provisions are designed to allow uniquely qualified individuals like Bill Corr and Bill Lynn to serve the public interest in these critical times."
Regardless of the qualifications of Mr. Lynn, establishing exceptions to the rule within twenty four hours of the rule's creation sets a terrible precedent for future appointments. The "unique qualifications" argument is especially weak. While Lynn may very well be an upstanding and perfectly ethical individual (and to be fair, his statements on budget reform speak well of him), the fact remains that virtually all lobbyists are, by necessity, experts in their field. Consequently, codifying this argument as the norm basically cancels out the entire executive order, as it simply becomes a matter of prohibiting incompetent former lobbyists from serving in the executive branch. Obviously, this would still be a marked improvement over the nonexistent standards of the Bush Era, but given the spirit in which the executive order was made, it's not enough.
After all, comprehensive ethics reform was, prior to the financial meltdown, the centerpiece of Obama's campaign, and it was also one of the key differences that led many of us to support him in the primaries. Obama should not go half-way on this, and he most certainly should not be validating loopholes that render the entire executive order meaningless. If he wants to preserve his credibility on the matter, he should withdraw the nomination. If Lynn's services are truly indispensable, then we should have to wait the full two year limit to receive them.
With that said, this is not a matter of ideology vs. pragmatism. When it comes to ethics reform, strict enforcement of the rules is pragmatic, even if it costs you a great appointment. No one [should have] ever assumed that cleaning up government wouldn't involve some minor "collateral damage." That's just the price you pay for the more comprehensive benefits of institutional reform, as ethics reform simply will not work if it's marred by loopholes and exceptions.