Trump Administration Gives Ethics Waivers to Ex-Lobbyists
Source: Roll Call
Posted Jun 7, 2017 3:32 PM
Kate Ackley
@Kate Ackley
A fresh batch of ethics waivers made public Wednesday offers new insight into the roles that ex-lobbyists and other one-time industry representatives have taken in the Trump administration to shape health care, immigration and other policy matters.
President Donald Trump pledged on the campaign trail that he would limit the influence of lobbyists, and he issued an executive order that would prohibit them from working on their recent client matters while serving in the executive branch. But the waivers allow them to override the official policy and to weigh in on policy measures that affect clients they had within the past two years.
Lance Leggitt, a former lobbyist at the firm Baker Donelson, for example, now serves as chief of staff at the Health and Human Services Department. “Granting this limited waiver will allow Mr. Leggitt to freely carry out the full responsibilities of his office rather than requiring him to continue to recuse from particular matters on which he lobbied,” wrote White House Counsel Donald McGahn in an April memo.
Leggitt's registered lobbying clients in 2016 included the Arthroscopy Association of North America and Arriva Medical, among others, according to disclosures filed with Congress.
Read more: http://www.rollcall.com/news/ethics-waivers-trump-ex-lobbyists/
= new reply since forum marked as read
