So about "drain the swamp"...

[Mormolyce]

Donald Trump promised last year to “drain the swamp” of Washington, starting with barring people who worked on his presidential transition from lobbying for six months afterward.

But three months after Trump moved into the White House, at least nine people who worked on his transition have registered as lobbyists, highlighting holes in the president’s pledge to keep people from cashing in on government service.

Many are registered to lobby the same agencies or on the same issues they worked on during the transition, a POLITICO review of lobbying disclosures found. A former "sherpa" who helped to guide Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos through the Senate confirmation process is now registered to lobby her department. The former head of the transition's tax policy team has returned to his old company to lobby Congress on tax reform. One ex-member of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative team is now registered as part of a team lobbying on behalf of a major steelmaker.

Because of the way the transition’s six-month lobbying ban was worded, the former staffers may not be violating it. Regardless, their trips from lobbying to government service and back run counter to Trump's campaign promise to close Washington’s revolving door.

They also raise questions about how rigorously the White House will enforce a separate five-year lobbying ban that applies to those serving in the administration. At least two officials who briefly served in the Trump administration and then left — Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser, and Robert Wasinger, who worked in the State Department and is now a lobbyist — have said they did not sign a five-year ban.

“This is more evidence of the ethical vacuum in the Trump White House,” said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, a nonprofit government ethics watchdog. “These revolving-door-esque actions mock everything candidate Trump said about draining the swamp and ending corporate corruption and inside dealing in Washington, D.C.”

Transition officials had presented the lobbying ban as an essential part of Trump’s pledge to drain the swamp. "The key thing for this administration is going to be that people going out of government won't be able to use that service to enrich themselves," Sean Spicer, now the White House press secretary, said when he announced the ban in November. But it hasn’t prevented former transition staffers from going to K Street within weeks of leaving.

The transition’s ethics code forbids staffers from lobbying on “a particular matter for which I had direct and substantial responsibility” while working on the transition. That means a staffer working on tax policy, for instance, might not be banned from lobbying on all tax issues — only the specific areas of tax policy for which the staffer was responsible. Those details mean it’s difficult to track whether former staffers are following the rules.

“Unless we know the division of responsibility of the particular members of the transition team, I don’t know how this would be enforced, other than voluntarily,” said Kathleen Clark, a Washington University law professor who is an expert in government ethics law.

The White House referred questions to the transition team, which still employs a small group of people.

“We have no reason to believe nor has the Transition been presented with any evidence that any individual who signed the six-month agreement as part of his or her service with the Transition is in non-compliance,” Ken Nahigian, the transition’s executive director, said in a statement, adding that the transition is “open to receiving” any evidence that does exist.

The six-month ban appears to have been haphazardly implemented. Three former transition staffers told POLITICO they never signed a pledge. One former transition official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there was no process in place to ensure staffers signed the document. Others determined they could go back to lobbying without violating the pledge.

Scott Mason, a former lobbyist for Lowe's who worked as director of congressional relations on the transition, wrote in an email that he never signed the ban, which he recalled had been "limited to those engaged in 'substantive' policy matters."

"While I had Hill meetings with policy staff, my role was not writing policy," said Mason, who joined Holland & Knight in January and has signed 10 clients.

Ado Machida led the transition’s policy implementation team, helping to draft the executive orders that Trump started signing after he took office. He agreed to the ban, and he said all the other transition staffers he knew of did, too.

Machida, who hadn't been registered to lobby since 2010, joined the lobbying firm Navigators Global immediately after leaving the transition. He's registered seven clients, lobbying the White House and Congress on behalf of companies such as AT&T and Oracle.

He said he doesn't believe he's violating the lobbying ban because he didn’t develop policy for a particular agency.

At least four former transition staffers deregistered as lobbyists late last year, only to reregister as soon as they left. All of them are now registered to lobby the same agencies they served or on the same issues they worked on.

Lauren Maddox, the DeVos sherpa, reregistered as a lobbyist for the Podesta Group days after Trump was sworn into office. On Feb. 6, she signed as a client the Charlotte School of Law, a troubled for-profit law school that has been fighting for survival since the Obama administration cut off its access to federal student loans in December. The school hired Maddox and two other Podesta Group lobbyists to persuade DeVos' Education Department to restore its access to loans.

They appear to be having some success. The school reapplied for access to federal student aid in March "at the direct suggestion" of a top Education Department official, according to a letter from the school that was obtained by POLITICO.

Maddox did not respond to requests for comment. She is also registered to lobby the Education Department on behalf of two other education-related clients, according to disclosure filings.

Other lobbyists who re-registered after exiting the transition include Jim Carter, who led the transition's tax policy team before re-registering to lobby on tax reform; Nova Daly, who worked for the transition's team at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative before he re-registered as part of a team of people who have lobbied the agency, the White House and Congress on behalf of the steelmaker Nucor; and Tara Bradshaw, an Ernst & Young lobbyist who worked during the transition with Steven Mnuchin, now Trump's Treasury secretary. Bradshaw is now registered to lobby Congress and the Treasury Department on tax reform and health care for MetLife, according to disclosure filings. She’s also lobbying Congress for other clients on an array of other tax and financial matters.

Carter and Bradshaw did not respond to requests for comment. Daly declined an interview request but said in a statement that, despite being part of a team that has lobbied the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, he has personally only lobbied Congress since leaving the transition. “I will continue to honor my pledge,” Daly said in the statement.

Some ex-staffers who headed to K Street appear to be working on issues that do not overlap with their transition work.

John Sweeney, a former New York congressman, worked on the transition's executive committee, pulling 15-hour days in Trump Tower interviewing hundreds of potential administration hires.

Sweeney said he was never asked to sign the lobbying ban. After his work on the transition was over, he registered to lobby the White House for three clients, including Comcast and Shell Oil Co.

While some of the people he interviewed months ago now work in the administration, Sweeney said he hasn't had reason to reach out to any of them on behalf of his clients.

"I really have not called anybody I interviewed," Sweeney said. "I haven't had to do that."

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/0...nsition-237850

How about that, the only policy I actually approved of.

Oh well, that and a term limit on members of Congress. I'm sure that one's right around the corner... kek.

[Shadowferal]

Well, on a related note: White House, ethics office feud escalates An escalating feud between the White House and the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) has boiled over, with the Trump administration refusing to produce waivers it has granted to lobbyists that allow them to work in government agencies.
Walter Shaub, the office’s director, wants to review the waivers and make them public to ensure the Trump administration is adhering to publicly stated policies and an executive order signed by the president.
That would bring the Trump administration in line with practices followed under former President Barack Obama, who appointed Shaub to his current role. Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney is refusing to turn over the waivers. He wants time to consult with the Justice Department about the scope of Shaub’s authority.
In a letter to Shaub, which Mulvaney distributed widely throughout the government, the budget director called the request burdensome and questioned whether the OGE had the power to obtain the waivers. Republicans have in the past bristled at Shaub’s tactics and believe he is politicizing his office.

Shaub went public on Monday with the administration’s refusal to turn the waivers over.
In a blistering 10-page letter sent to Congress and Mulvaney — and subsequently tweeted out through the official OGE account — Shaub told Mulvaney that he has the authority to “institute corrective action proceedings” against individuals who “improperly prevent” ethics officials from doing their jobs.
“OGE declines your request to suspend its ethics inquiry and reiterates its expectation that agencies will fully comply with its directive by June 1, 2017,” Shaub wrote. “Public confidence in the integrity of government decision-making demands no less.”

It’s just the latest fight between the Trump administration and Shaub, whose five-year term will end early next year if he is not fired or doesn’t resign first.
Shortly after the election, Shaub used his office’s Twitter account to urge then-President-elect Donald Trump to divest himself from his business holdings. The tweets were written in Trump’s vernacular and viewed as mocking by many Republicans.
In January, after Trump announced he would hand his business empire over to his adult sons, Shaub publicly rebuked the president at a Washington forum for not putting his assets in a blind trust.
And in February, Shaub recommended disciplinary action for White House senior counselor Kellyanne Conway after she urged viewers to buy first daughter Ivanka Trump’s products during a television interview from the briefing room.
--------------------
Like every president, they claim to be all for transparency..but with exceptions...pfft.

[Stormspark]

He did drain all the water out of the swamp. His supporters just don't realize that he filled it back up again with diarrhea afterward.

[Edge-]

With every passing day, it's looking more and more like this administration is going to be one of the biggest cons ever perpetrated on the American people. It's truly incredible how many people Trump has convinced that black is really white, up is really down, and that ham sandwich in front of you is really their new government health care plan.

[Stormspark]

With every passing day, it's looking more and more like this administration is going to be one of the biggest cons ever perpetrated on the American people. It's truly incredible how many people Trump has convinced that black is really white, up is really down, and that ham sandwich in front of you is really their new government health care plan.

The sad thing about this is, he's a *bad* con artist. It was obvious to a lot of us the first time his name was mentioned in the primaries that he was a con artist. He's not even a good con artist like Frank Abagnale. Some people are just really damn naive and gullible. The "man" (I use that term loosely) has the mental capacity and vocabulary of a 6 year old. And it would have to be a dumb 6 year old, because I've seen 6 year olds that are a lot more intelligent and eloquent than him.

[PACOX]

He didn't lie. He was draining the swamp for renovations, he never said he was going to get rid of it.

[Stormspark]

He didn't lie. He was draining the swamp for renovations, he never said he was going to get rid of it.

I like my analogy better. He did drain the water out of it. But he just filled it right back up again, with diarrhea instead of water.

[Blade Wolf]

He did drain all the water out of the swamp. His supporters just don't realize that he filled it back up again with diarrhea afterward.

He filled it with Swamp monsters instead.

[Ripster42]

Not going to lie, more concerned about the story @Shadowferal is talking about. Why register as a lobbyist when you can just work for the government and advance your agenda directly?

[Lenonis]

I'm curious if any Trump supporters actually think Trump has drained the swamp -- and if so, what you think that means?

[Toppy]

I'm curious if any Trump supporters actually think Trump has drained the swamp -- and if so, what you think that means?

Fake News(TM)

[Mormolyce]

I'm curious if any Trump supporters actually think Trump has drained the swamp -- and if so, what you think that means?

Thirty-two percent of those polled said Trump is actually making the "swamp” worse, while just 24 percent said he is draining it. Thirty-five percent of respondents said the president has done nothing to change Washington’s culture.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/0...e-swamp-238774

A few allegedly do.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Trump is a lying hypocritical shithead who sold promises he never intended to keep to the easily manipulated. More on this at 11.

[Lenonis]

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/0...e-swamp-238774

A few allegedly do.

Right. I guess I wonder if the few who still think he did thought that "drain the swamp" was more anti-establishment and less special interest. Most folks know that "drain the swamp" meant getting money and special interests out of politics. Which Trump has failed to do spectacularly.

But I do think some people thought it meant clear out the establishment...and you do have to say that Trump's cabinet picks are not establishment types.

Which, of course, is why the administration is a rolling dumpster fire. You can't appoint people who are ideologically opposed to the department they are supposed to run.

[melodramocracy]

Drain the swamp was nothing more than a feel-good mantra that "played well while campaigning", right along with lock her up, make MX pay for the wall, defeat ISIS in 30 days, have no time to golf, pull us out of NATO, bring mfg jobs back, US steel for the DA pipeline, etc.

The devout will never admit that they were conned, even if they realize it.

[Heladys]

Well what do you know, Trump is a liar.

[Mormolyce]

2016 will go down in history as the year that millions of Americans voted for a frog to drain a swamp.

[Toppy]

2016 will go down in history as the year that millions of Americans voted for a frog to drain a swamp.

Its going to go down in history as the first step towards a one party system.

[Jeezy911]

Some people think this is new to politics, making vague promises that are hard to keep? Every democrat does the same thing. Remember closing gitmo, you can keep your plan ect.

[Adam Jensen]

The sad thing about this is, he's a *bad* con artist. It was obvious to a lot of us the first time his name was mentioned in the primaries that he was a con artist. He's not even a good con artist like Frank Abagnale. Some people are just really damn naive and gullible. The "man" (I use that term loosely) has the mental capacity and vocabulary of a 6 year old. And it would have to be a dumb 6 year old, because I've seen 6 year olds that are a lot more intelligent and eloquent than him.

And many of us were watching the primaries for months wondering over and over and over again why people couldn't see him for the fraud that he is. Then somehow he becomes President.

What the fuck happened?