21st Century Government
Campaign
to Cut Waste

President Obama and Vice President Biden launch the Campaign to Cut Waste, which will hunt down and eliminate misspent tax dollars in every agency and department across the Federal Government.

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21st Century Government Latest News

  • November Release of White House Visitor Records

    Posted by Norm Eisen on November 25, 2009 at 2:08 PM EDT

    Building upon last month’s historic release of nearly 500 White House visitor records, today the White House releases more than 1,600 records of visits to the White House in response to another month’s worth of requests. You can view all the records in a searchable database in our Disclosures section.

    We announced earlier that in December the White House would -- for the first time in history -- begin posting all White House visitor records under the terms of our new voluntary disclosure policy. As part of that initiative, we also offered to look back at the records created before the announcement of the policy and answer specific requests for visitor records created earlier in the year.

    Today’s production of records is in response to over 300 requests from the public during the month of October. Those requests have yielded over 1,600 responsive records. Consistent with our earlier announcement that we will only release records that are 90 days or older, this group of records covers the time period between January 20, 2009 to August 31, 2009. All of these have been added to the online database of published visitor records in an accessible, searchable format for anyone to browse or download.

    Today’s release advances the President’s historic commitment to increasing government transparency and openness. This Administration’s concrete commitments to openness include putting up more government information than ever before on data.gov and recovery.gov, reforming the government’s FOIA processes, providing on-line access to White House staff financial reports and salaries, adopting a tough new state secrets policy, reversing an executive order that previously limited access to presidential records, and webcasting White House meetings and conferences. The release also compliments our new lobbying rules, which in addition to closing the revolving door for lobbyists who work in government have also emphasized expanding disclosure of lobbyist contacts with the government.

    Several of the most frequent White House visitors in today's release are, not surprisingly, Administration officials who come to the White House as part of their daily work. For example, Tom Perrelli and Spencer Overton - each an appointed official in the Administration - have visited the White House many times.

    Finally, as we noted last month, sometimes rather than providing clear information transparency can have confusing or amusing results. With an average of 100,000 White House access records created each month, many White House Visitors share the same name as celebrities. In October, requests were submitted for the names of some notable figures (for example Michael Jordan and Michael Moore). The famous individuals with those names never actually came to the White House, but we have included the individuals that did visit and share those names.

    Happy Thanksgiving!

    Norm Eisen is Special Counsel to the President for ethics and government reform
     

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  • A Washington that is More Reflective of All of America

    Posted by Norm Eisen on November 9, 2009 at 5:10 PM EDT

    Just a quick post to report on a meeting today with a group of lobbyists and others who currently chair Industry Trade Advisory Committees (ITACs). The group had objected to the Administration's new policies barring the appointment (and reappointment) of federally registered lobbyists to agency boards and commissions. Although we have previously addressed their views here and here, we feel it important to meet with those with whom we disagree to discuss their concerns face to face. Much of the discussion focused on the arguments offered in the letter the group sent us (pdf) and our response letter (pdf). Click here (pdf) for the list of attendees.

    We explained to the ITAC chairs that this issue is not about the few corrupt lobbyists or specific abuses by the profession, but rather concerns the system as a whole. For too long, lobbyists and those who can afford their services have held disproportionate influence over national policy making. The purpose of the President’s agenda to change the way business is done in Washington is to level the playing field to make sure that all Americans and not just those with access to money or power are able to have their voices heard and their concerns addressed by Washington.

    We explained that in deciding to limit the ability of lobbyists to serve in government positions, including as members of agency advisory boards and commissions, we considered various arguments and counterarguments. We weighed the options, and considered the alternatives. In the end, we decided that while lobbyists have a right to petition the government, it would best serve the interests of a fairer and more representative democracy if we limited their ability to do so from special positions of privileged access within the government.

    The result will be a Washington that is more reflective of all of America. We have already begun the process of recruiting new voices to advise the government through these agency boards. We believe small- and medium-sized business owners will be excited by the opportunity to help serve their country and advocate for their interests.

    To make it even easier for those with valuable insight and expertise to offer to join this process from outside the Beltway, the Administration is working to develop tools to utilize internet technologies to make federal advisory committee proceedings accessible online. For example, the most recent meeting of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) was watched online by 5000 people. This Administration is committed to seeking out those voices and bringing the change they represent into the decision making process in Washington.

    We explained this to the ITAC chairs and asked for their help in reaching out to broaden and diversify these boards and commissions. We informed them that while we will always seek ways to improve good policies, we do not intend to rescind this decision. The ITAC chairs, although expressing their disagreement, are willing to assist in finding qualified replacements and we thank them for their commitment to working together to make the system work better for everyone.

    Finally, we also replied to a letter from the American League of Lobbyists on this subject today-ALL's letter is here (pdf) and our reply is here (pdf).

    Norm Eisen is special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform

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  • Transparency like you’ve never seen before

    Posted by Norm Eisen on October 30, 2009 at 4:31 PM EDT

    Today marks a major milestone in government transparency -- and an important lesson in the unintended consequences of such vigorous disclosure.

    We previously announced that the White House in December of this year would -- for the first time in history -- begin posting all White House visitor records under the terms of our new voluntary disclosure policy.  As part of that initiative, we also offered to look back at the records created before the announcement of the policy and answer specific requests for visitor records created earlier in the year. 

    So far we’ve processed 110 disclosure requests from September that yielded nearly 500 visitor records. All of these are now available on the White House website in accessible, searchable format for anyone to browse or download.  Consistent with our earlier announcement that we will only release records 90 days or older, this first batch covers the period of time between January 20, 2009 to July 31, 2009.  Future batches will be posted on an ongoing basis.  (You can submit a request here.)

    This first release is only the latest in a series of unprecedented steps by the President to increase openness in government.  They include putting up more government information than ever before on data.gov and recovery.gov, reforming the government’s FOIA processes, providing on-line access to White House staff financial reports and salaries, adopting a tough new state secrets policy, reversing an executive order that previously limited access to presidential records, and web-casting White House meetings and conferences.  The release also compliments our new lobbying rules, which in addition to closing the revolving door for lobbyists who work in government have also emphasized expanding disclosure of lobbyist contacts with the government.

    There’s an important lesson here as well.  This unprecedented level of transparency can sometimes be confusing rather than providing clear information.

    A lot of people visit the White House, up to 100,000 each month, with many of those folks coming to tour the buildings. Given this large amount of data, the records we are publishing today include a few “false positives” – names that make you think of a well-known person, but are actually someone else.  In September, requests were submitted for the names of some famous or controversial figures (for example Michael Jordan, William Ayers, Michael Moore, Jeremiah Wright, Robert Kelly ("R. Kelly"), and Malik Shabazz).  The well-known individuals with those names never actually came to the White House.  Nevertheless, we were asked for those names and so we have included records for those individuals who were here and share the same names.

    Norm Eisen is special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform

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  • Why We Closed the Revolving Door

    Posted by Norm Eisen on October 28, 2009 at 8:01 PM EDT

    In the interests of transparency we wanted to give you another update on our efforts to limit the influence of special interests on government. As we indicated here in a previous blog post, the latest chapter in the Administration's efforts is limiting lobbyists from service on government boards and commissions. Some of the lobbyists who serve on these boards objected (pdf) and we explained the rationale in this letter (pdf).

    Today, we received this letter (pdf) from the American League of Lobbyists protesting this Administration's steps to end the era of undue lobbyist influence on Washington. The letter makes a number of arguments with which we disagree, and to which we will respond, but our simple point is this: the system of lobbyists holding privileged government positions needs to be changed. This Administration has of course acknowledged that lobbyists can petition government on behalf of their clients. But lobbyists who represent the views of special interests should not do so from within government. That's why we closed the revolving door that used to allow lobbyists to move freely to and from government jobs and that's why the agencies are now taking this additional step.

    Just like everyone else, lobbyists will continue to be able to air their views from outside government. But the days of lobbyists arguing not to the government, but from within the government, should come to an end-that is why the agencies are taking these strong steps with respect to the composition of these boards and commissions.

    Norm Eisen is special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform

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  • Why We Bar Lobbyists from Agency Advisory Boards and Commissions

    Posted by Norm Eisen on October 21, 2009 at 1:03 PM EDT

    In the interest of transparency, we are posting a letter we received from lobbyists and others about the Administration’s move to bar federally-registered lobbyists from federal boards and commissions.  We are also publishing our response, which explains the reasoning behind this decision.

    It all started with a blog post where we announced the new steps the Administration was taking to reduce lobbyist influence on these important boards and commissions:

    The White House has informed executive agencies and departments that it is our aspiration that federally-registered lobbyists not be appointed to agency advisory boards and commissions. These appointees to boards and commissions, which are made by agencies and not the President, advise the federal government on a variety of policy areas. Keeping these advisory boards free of individuals who currently are registered federal lobbyists represents a dramatic change in the way business is done in Washington.

    On October 19, we received this letter from a group of lobbyists (pdf) and others who serve on industry boards and commissions, expressing concern about our decision.

    While we recognize the contributions some of those who will be affected have made to these committees, it is an indisputable fact that in recent years, lobbyists for major special interests have wielded extraordinary power in Washington DC, resulting in a national agenda too often skewed in favor of the interests that can afford their services.  It is that problem that the President has promised to change, and this is a major step in implementing that change.

    We make that point, along with others in our response (pdf).

    Norm Eisen is special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform

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  • White House Counsel Guidelines for Public Outreach Meetings

    Posted by Bill Burton on September 24, 2009 at 11:26 AM EDT

    We wanted to share with you the specific guidelines for public outreach meetings that we are providing to staff at the White House and agencies around the federal government. A recent administration conference call about the arts has generated some questions about how we go about achieving our commitment to public engagement. We wanted to make these guidelines public to answer questions about our policies and to make clear the steps we are taking to ensure that there is no further cause for questions or concerns about that commitment.
    Along with this memo, we have also conducted a meeting with the chiefs of staff of the executive branch agencies and have held the first of a series of training sessions at the White House to discuss rules and best practices in this area. Though we have made clear that the call was made with the best of intentions and we believe public engagement is an appropriate and vital part of effective governmental functioning, certain comments on the call raised appearance issues that troubled some participants. Accordingly, we are now issuing this memo as part of our ongoing effort to make our guidelines as clear as possible and we will be conducting further training sessions and personal visits with staff here to make sure the message gets across.
    Bill Burton is Deputy Press Secretary
     

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