I can’t believe it is election time again! The mood seems much more somber this time around. Perhaps because voters are not excited about either candidate. Obama really did a number on Americans by breaking some really big promises after running on a campaign of “Hope and Change”. There are obviously numerous examples of how Obama betrayed voters but I’d like to focus on the lobbyist issue because it is an area where Obama had complete control over who to hire and he broke that promise immediately in some very big ways. I started keeping a list of lobbyists he hired because I could not find a comprehensive list anywhere. Clearly these are just some of those lobbyists.
1: Tom Vilsack, secretary of agriculture nominee, was registered to lobby as recently as last year on behalf of the National Education Association (lobbied for Monsanto).
2: William Lynn, deputy defense secretary nominee, was registered to lobby as recently as last year for defense contractor Raytheon, where he was a top executive.
3: David Hayes, deputy interior secretary nominee, was registered to lobby until 2006 for clients, including the regional utility San Diego Gas & Electric.
4: Mark Patterson, chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, was registered to lobby as recently as last year for financial giant Goldman Sachs.
5: Eric Holder, attorney general nominee, was registered to lobby until 2004 on behalf of clients including Global Crossing, a bankrupt telecommunications firm .
6: Ron Klain, chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden, was registered to lobby until 2005 for clients, including the Coalition for Asbestos Resolution, U.S. Airways, Airborne Express and drug-maker ImClone.
7: Mona Sutphen, deputy White House chief of staff, was registered to lobby for clients, including Angliss International in 2003.
8: Patrick Gaspard, White House political affairs director, was a lobbyist for the Service Employees International Union.
9: Mike Taylor, former VP of Monsanto to advise Food and Safety Commissioner on…food and safety.
10: Roger Beachy, long-time president of the Danforth Plant Science Center (Monsanto’s nonprofit arm), head of National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).
11: Joseph Pizarchik, director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, helped form policies in Pennsylvania to allow disposal of toxic coal ash in unlined pits.
Joined the Bush Administration in an attempt to prevent citizens from obtaining information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regarding communications between the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the federal Office of Surface Mining.·Advocated that the law should allow toxic coal combustion waste to be disposed of in surface mines, contrary to key scientific findings by the National Research Council, and causing extensive contamination of groundwater and drinking water sources.·
12: William Daley: chief of staff to President Obama, JPMorgan Chase & Co. executive, lobbied for SBC Communications Bill
Mr. Daley served as the bank’s chief liaison with the White House, frequently consulting with Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to Mr. Obama, and Rahm Emanuel.
13: William Magwood, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a “cheerleader for nuclear power” who has “worked for reactor maker Westinghouse and has run two firms that advise companies on nuclear projects.”
14: Scott O’Malia, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, who was apparently suggested by Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell. O’Malia “was a lobbyist for Mirant, an Enron-like energy-trading firm” and lobbied for weakening the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, to which Obama appointed him.
15: Islam Siddiqui, chief agricultural negotiator for the U.S. trade representative. Jill Richardson has been on this case at La Vida Locavore; “He is no friend of consumers, considering his most recent employment at CropLife America (CLA), the pesticide industries main trade association. As a registered lobbyist and vice president of regulatory affairs, Siddiqui was responsible for setting and selling CLA’s international and domestic agenda which, simply put, was to weaken regulations on pesticides and agricultural chemicals worldwide”.