CNN’s Ed Henry just asked White House press secretary Robert Gibbs about DOD appointee William Lynn and his apparent violation of the newly unveiled revolving door regulations. Gibbs clearly didn’t want to spend a lot of time at his very first press conference on the subject. He had this to say:
The ethics and lobbying regulations “exceed what any administration has done in the history of this country.”
Together, they represent “the greatest ethical standard ever.”
They are “the strongest ethical and transparency guidelines that any administration has ever lived under in the history of this country.”
That’s all excellent, and likely true. But it doesn’t explain why it took only 24 hours for an exception to the guidelines to emerge. Pressed for an answer on why Lynn was getting a pass, Gibbs said, “any standard is not perfect” and that “a waiver process that allows people to serve their country is necessary.” He called Lynn “uniquely qualified” and added that President Obama believes a “limited number of waivers” should be allowed.
It is unclear what the criteria are for receiving a waiver like Lynn’s, and how frequently they will be granted. If they are granted too frequently, they will render the much-heralded regulations meaningless.
Update: Democratic Senator Carl Levin is starting to ask questions about Lynn. I wonder if he is going to make it through the confirmation process. That would be a real doozy. A bunch of senators would effectively derail a appointee because he fails to meet executive branch ethical standards they would never consider applying to the legislative.
