Obama and lobbyists

Seems there’s a hint of an Obama lobbyist problem making the rounds today, with the revealing Boston Globe article on Barack’s past ties with political panhandlers coming this morning and now reports that a new member of his campaign’s LGBT team has been registered as an Illinois lobbyist since March,despite the Obama camp insisting that Mike Bauer is only a “community organizer” in the Land of Lincoln. But Bauer sees no real problem even though he is a lobbyist:

First Read reached Bauer, who said he’s been a registered state lobbyist since March, working on clean coal technology in Southern Illinois. Bauer maintains that it’s not inconsistent for Obama to refuse money from federal lobbyists — but then receive help (financial or otherwise) from state lobbyists. “He has nothing to do with the issue I’m doing within the Illinois legislature,” Bauer said of Obama, who serves in the US Senate. “The fact is, I’m not a federal lobbyist.”

Fact is, he’s right. He really is just a small-fry state lobbyist that probably has nothing to do with the cash game in D.C. But can “lobbyist free” Obama afford to present even the smallest speck of association with a guy like this? After all, it was Obama that offered this press release full of outrage after Pres. Bush promised to veto Dem legislation targeting “Washington lobbyists”:

“For too long, the American people have been stranded on the sidelines while Wasington lobbyists have bought every seat at the table to stop us from reforming our health care system or our energy policy.  I fought resistance from members of both parties to pass tough ethics provisions that would shine a bright light on the way lobbyists do business.”

 

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