Welcome to the Unofficial WH West Wing………….DC’s Caribou Coffee Shop

“I will have the most-transparent White House ever!!”

WELCOME to the CARIBOU……………..

Aides to President Barack Obama used personal email accounts to contact   pharmaceutical companies and deliberately scheduled meetings in coffee shops   away from the White House in order to skirt disclosure rules, according to a   Congressional report on Wednesday.

Among the most damaging findings are emails from Jim Messina – the former   White House deputy chief of staff who now manages the president’s   re-election campaign – to a drugs lobbyist in the days before Mr Obama’s   health care reforms passed Congress in 2010.

In an email from his personal account, Mr Messina promised “I will roll   [Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi] for the 4 billion” needed to fund   expansion of health care coverage. Mr Messina also promised the lobbyist he   would deal with a reporter who had been questioning the White House’s links   with the pharmaceutical industry.

The report by the Republican-controlled oversight and investigations   sub-committee also contained details of a proposed meeting between Jeffrey   Smith, one of the president’s science advisers, and an executive from a   technology company.

Mr Smith suggested meeting at a Caribou Coffee near the White House,   explaining that meeting in his office would mean “you’d appear on an   official WH Visitor List which maybe not [what] you want at this stage”.

for full article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/democrats/9445120/White-House-officials-caught-out-with-lobbyists.html

Dem. Congresswoman Voicemail to Lobbyist for $$$$: After Bashing Boehner

In August, Pelosi and other top leaders wrote members, saying, “We need to know your commitment is to maintaining a strong Democratic majority now” and pleading with them to call “to let us know what you are able to do and when.”

The pressure is especially strong on members from “safe” districts, who need little campaign money of their own to win reelection. The catch, though, is that many of these members haven’t amassed vast campaign war-chests, for the simple reason that they haven’t needed them. So, they are scrambling to meet their Pelosi-imposed obligations. Holmes Norton is from one such “safe” district–the District of Columbia.

In the following voicemail recording, Holmes Norton seeks a campaign contribution from the lobbyist and even mentions that she hadn’t previously asked  for a donation. Such is the pressure Speaker Pelosi has placed on the members. But, it is the content of Holmes Norton’s message that is interesting. (Note: the first few seconds of the recording, where the name of the lobbyist is said by Holmes Norton, have been redacted by the source.)

for audio and the rest of the story: http://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2010/09/15/shock-audio-facing-obligations-from-leadership-democrat-house-member-puts-the-squeeze-on-lobbyist/

Liberal WatchDog Group Calls for Investigation of White House Use of Personal Email Accounts to Communicate with Lobbyists; Staffers often Meet Up with Lobbyists at Nearby Cafe

A liberal watchdog has called for an investigation into whether White House employees are using personal e-mail accounts to contact lobbyists in violation of federal law.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sent a letter to House Oversight Committee chairman Ed Towns (D-N.Y.) and ranking member Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) Monday asking them to initiate an investigation into whether White House employees used personal e-mail accounts to contact lobbyists in violation of the Presidential Records Act (PRA). 

The letter also takes White House staff to task for meeting with lobbyists in nearby coffee shops instead of in the White House, where the meetings would be recorded in the White House visitor logs.

“By having off-the-record meetings and e-mail exchanges with lobbyists, the White House is attempting [to] reap the benefits of conversations and interactions with knowledgeable lobbyists while publicly promoting the belief that the White House maintains a discreet distance from those very same lobbyists,” CREW executive director Melanie Sloan writes.

The letter came in response to allegations first reported by the New York Times last week. According to the report, lobbyists routinely get e-mails from White House staff members’ personal accounts rather than official accounts that can eventually become public record. As part of a settlement with CREW over missing Bush administration e-mails, the White House assured the watchdog that its system prevents employees from accessing personal e-mail accounts.

for full article: http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/106261-watchdog-wants-investigation-of-white-house-emails

Howard Dean Leads HCAN in DC to Protest HealthCare Insurance Lobbyists

     Dr. Howard Dean is leading a throng of a thousand protestors at a Washington DC hotel where insurance lobbyists are meeting:

Hundreds of pro-health care reform advocates gathered at Dupont Circle in Washington, DC Tuesday morning to protest deadlock on the current state of the bill on Capitol Hill.

Howard Dean, the former Governor of Vermont and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, told the crowd, “We deserve a vote! Are you for the insurance companies or are you for the American people?”

The protesters are now marching to the Dupont Ritz-Carlton where they plan to “surround and blockade the hotel, go inside and arrest lobbyists for their crimes against healthcare.”

Streets have been closed and police presence is heavy.

 The protesters are now surrounding the Ritz Carlton.

 Police are blocking the crowd, which is now over a thousand strong, from entering the Ritz-Carlton premises.

 There is a lot of chanting and drums, however so far there have been no arrests or physical confrontations with the police. 

 The protesters are now surrounding the Ritz Carlton.

 Police are blocking the crowd, which is now over a thousand strong, from entering the Ritz-Carlton premises.

 So far there have been no arrests or physical confrontations with the police, but the crowd has been chanting and playing drums.

http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/03/09/dean-fired-up-at-dc-anti-insurance-protest/?test=latestnews

HealthCare Lobbysist Resigns; Pharmaceuticals Not Fully “OnBoard” with ObamaCare

Health Reform in Limbo, Top Drug Lobbyist Quits

By DUFF WILSON AND DAVID KIRKPATRICK

Billy Tauzin, one of Washington’s highest-paid lobbyists, is resigning as president of the drug industry trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America amid internal disputes over its pact with the White House to trade political support for favorable terms in the proposed health care overhaul.

As the industry’s top lobbyist, Mr. Tauzin brokered the deal with the White House and Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate finance committee, last summer to limit the drug industry’s total costs under the proposed health care overhaul to $80 billion over 10 years.

Mr. Tauzin’s departure is the latest unexpected fallout of the Republican upset in the Massachusetts Senate race, which abruptly transformed the health care overhaul from a near-inevitability to a daunting cause.

for full article: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/health-reform-in-limbo-top-drug-lobbyist-quits/

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) Challenges Obama at GOP Congressional Retreat

White House Restricts Speech Further to Minimize Stimulus Act Questioning

Freedom Of Speech: DEAD! .. Public Now Restricted From Orally Redressing Government On Stimulus

In a May, 29, 2009 posting on the WhiteHouse.gov website by Norm Eisen, Special Counsel to [Alleged] President Obama for Ethics and Government Reform, it is disclosed that the public will be included in a restriction barring lobbyists from having oral communications with government officials about specific Recovery Act Projects. Instead, the public is limited to redressing their government through the written word.

“I am writing with an update on the President’s March 20, 2009 Memorandum on Ensuring Responsible Spending of Recovery Act Funds. Section 3 of the Memorandum…barred registered lobbyists from having oral communications with government officials about specific Recovery Act projects or applications and instead required those communications to be in writing…First, we will expand the restriction on oral communications to cover all persons, not just federally registered lobbyists…We concluded this was necessary under the unique circumstances of the stimulus program.”

FULL Story: http://patdollard.com/2009/06/freedom-of-speech-dead-public-now-restricted-from-orally-redressing-government-on-stimulus/

Lobbyists Angered at Obama Lobbying Ban; American Bar Association looking at Legal Aspects of Ban

THE INFLUENCE GAME: Obama limits stimulus lobbying

By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama says lobbyists pushing for projects in the stimulus package can’t utter a word about them to administration officials. Lobbyists are hardly staying mum about this latest affront and are looking for ways to cope with the extraordinary speaking ban.

The restrictions, which began taking effect unevenly this week, have angered lobbyists already upset with Obama’s repeated shots at them for wielding too much influence. Critics charge it may be unconstitutional to bar certain people — registered lobbyists — from speaking to government officials.

“What disqualifies lobbyists from exercising their First Amendment rights?” said J. Keith Kennedy, a top lobbyist for the Washington firm Baker Donelson.

For Full Article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/stimulus_muzzling_lobbyists

Obama’s Problems with Daschle are more than Tax Issues

      Sen. Tom Daschle was on the short list of Cabinet appointees before President Barack Obama had officially secured the Democratic nomination in early June 2008. And, like the Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, prior tax issues “came to their attention” in the vetting process.

     But the problems with the Daschle appointment to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services reach to tax issues and more. Sen. Daschle has apoolgized for his $146,000 tax error, for failure to claim a car service and driver provided by a donor as income for several years. More concerning is the fact that he waited to bring the matter to the attention of the Obama transition team who handled the vetting for more than a month, and that he paid the taxes as late as TODAY.

     Additionally, Sen. Daschle earned over $200,000 in speaking engagement fees from the very industry that the President expects Daschle to reform- the health care and health insurance industry.

     Given the President’s directive regarding lobbyist involvement in the Obama administration, Daschle should be asked to step aside before he post haste!