DNC bars Washington lobbyist money

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Good move...

The national Democratic Party fell in behind Barack Obama today on not taking money from Washington lobbyists -- a pledge crucial to the presumptive presidential nominee's promise of changing the way Washington works and bringing a new politics.

"Our presumptive nominee has pledged not to take donations from Washington lobbyists and from today going forward the DNC makes that pledge as well," Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said in a statement. "The American people's priorities will set the agenda in an Obama Administration, not the special interests."

Obama is also using his pledge to draw distinctions with Republican rival John McCain, who has had problems with lobbyists in the upper reaches of his campaign and instituted a conflict of interest policy.

UPDATE: “I’ve sent a strong signal in this campaign by refusing the contributions of registered federal lobbyists and PACs,” Obama said in a statement. “And today, I’m announcing that going forward, the Democratic National Committee will uphold the same standard and won’t take another dime from Washington lobbyists or special interest PACs. They do not fund my campaign. They will not fund our party. And they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I’m President of the United States.”

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politi...ars_washin.html

NEW YORK — Acting swiftly as his party’s presumed presidential nominee, Barack Obama is keeping Howard Dean at the helm of the Democratic National Committee, while bringing in one of his top strategists to oversee the party’s operations.

The campaign also announced that the DNC will no longer accept donations from lobbyists and political action committees, to comply with Obama’s campaign policy. Party officials say they expect the DNC’s staff to quickly expand to run an aggressive general election campaign.

Campaign adviser Paul Tewes was dispatched to help lead the changes Thursday.

“Senator Obama appreciates the hard work that Chairman Dean has done to grow our party at the grass-roots level and looks forward to working with him as the chairman of the Democratic Party as we go forward,” Obama spokesman Bill Burton said.

By keeping Dean as party chairman, Obama ended up taking sides in a long-running dispute between Washington-based Democratic Party leaders and state party officials. Although Obama campaign officials have expressed concern in the past that the party did not have enough money, Obama shares Dean’s goal of building the party from the ground up, even in states where Republicans dominate.

The fundraising changes will make the party and the candidate have a consistent position. Obama often says banning the donations is one way to help keep him free of the influence of Washington insiders.

An Obama spokesman announced the change Thursday as the candidate prepared to fly from New York, where he had been raising money, to campaign in Virginia.

Obama himself planned to discuss the change at a town hall meeting in Bristol, Virginia.

The move indicates Obama will press his case that Republican rival John McCain is under the influence of special interests because of his advisers’ lobbying ties.

McCain’s senior advisers are former lobbyists, including campaign manager Rick Davis. McCain was stung last month by the disclosure that two advisers worked for a firm that had represented Myanmar’s military junta, which has restricted foreign assistance for cyclone victims.

The Arizona senator instituted a new lobbying policy that says no campaign staffer can be a registered lobbyist, resulting in three more departures from his campaign, including a top fundraiser, former Texas Rep. Tom Loeffler.

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/06/05/dn...-pac-donations/

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It's a good move, but will they return what's already in the bank? I don't expect them too, and they shouldn't if it's within the boundaries of the law.

Both candidate will be better served by doing this. McCain has a pretty good track record on this, and Obama is creating one. Good move.

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Note to Lobbyists:

Don't worry, Barack is still open for business. Just deposit the money with a spouse or business associate and have them cut the check.

Lobby $ ban not for all Dems

Posted June 5, 2008 1:13 PM

by Jim Tankersley

BRISTOL, Va. -- To rousing applause, Barack Obama formally announced this afternoon that the Democratic National Committee will follow his lead and begin refusing donations from registered lobbyists and special-interest political action committees.

"They do not fund my campaign," the presumptive Democratic nominee told a small-town southwest Virginia crowd, after delivering a standard refrain that blames drug and insurance interests for blocking universal health care. "They will not fund our party. And they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I'm President of the United States."

Well, at least not on the presidential level.

The Obama campaign confirms that two other arms of the national party - the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee - will continue to accept lobby and PAC money this election. That's the same position as presumptive Republican nominee John McCain and every affiliate of the Republican National Committee, who all accept lobby and PAC dollars.

The DCCC and DSCC help support Democratic House and Senate candidates in targeted seats. Unlike the DNC - which trails its Republican counterpart 2 to 1 - they're thumping the GOP's congressional candidates in fund raising. They've combined to raise nearly $170 million for this election cycle through May, versus about $120 million for Republicans.

That money will go for ads, field workers and other campaign resources to boost congressional candidates; because of disclosure rules, the candidates can see exactly who their committee's biggest backers are.

During a question-and-answer session here in Bristol, Obama warned that lobbyists could have an undue influence on members of Congress - again in the context of blocking health care reform. The voice of the people, he told the crowd, could counter it.

Democratic leaders seem content to apply different standards to their presidential and congressional campaigns.

A DCCC spokesman said the committee will not ban lobbyist and special-interest PAC donations. "Campaign contributions to committees are transparent," said the spokesman, Doug Thornell. "House Democrats passed a historic ethics bill and Chairman (Chris) Van Hollen (D-Md.) fought for full disclosure of bundled contributions."

Update, 2:30 p.m.: The National Republican Congressional Committee accepts PAC and lobbyist money, but it still accuses its Democratic counterparts of hypocracy: "Being that they are housed in the very same building as the Democratic National Committee," NRCC spokesman Ken Spain said, "it would be nothing short of hypocritical if congressional Democrats and their candidates were at odds with Barack Obama and Howard Dean."

Update, 3:10 p.m.: From DSCC spokesman Matthew Miller: "All of our contributions are transparent and publicly disclosed. Senate Democrats passed strong ethics legislation to clean up the influence of lobbyists in Washington."

Update, 6 p.m.: Asked on his campaign plane if he would prefer Democratic congressional candidates follow his lead, Obama said this afternoon: "I don't have control, obviously, over members of congress, or cannot exert the control over Congress that I can over the DNC at this point. I think it is important for us to send a message that the Democratic Party is serious about reducing the influence of special interests on the legislative process."

link

While acting holier-than-thou, the Obama campaign has had no problems having big-ticket lobbyists among their bundler's. Two of the top bundler's for his campaign lobby for the oil industry. Obama wants to pretend that that he remains free of influence from lobbyists, but by his own definition of influence, he’s in their pockets already.

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/ob..._oil_spill.html

When Obama kicks all of the lobbyists out of his bundler's, rejects all contributions from people employed at firms that do lobbying, and then extends that policy to all of the official Democratic Party committees, then he will have told the truth in today’s announcement. Until then, he’s still the man who took $125,000 from Jack Abramoff’s firm by holding a fund raiser in their offices and essentially lying about his stance on lobbyists.