President Barack Obama promised in his campaign that lobbyists would lose their influence if he was elected. That hasn’t been the case, but administration officials are meeting with lobbyists away from the White House grounds to shield the meetings from public view, the lobbyists tell
Politico.
“They’re doing it on the side. It’s better than nothing,” says immigration reform lobbyist Tamar Jacoby, who has attended meetings at nearby Jackson Place.
The administration has kept the meetings out of Secret Service logs kept on White House visitors, which are released to the public. The administration has bragged that its release of the visitors information represents a significant increase in transparency. But apparently that’s not the case.
The White House denies any skullduggery in its decision to meet offsite.
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