Obama's ethics reform promise faces early test

WASHINGTON — During almost two years on the campaign trail, Barack Obama vowed to slay the demons of Washington, bar lobbyists from his administration and usher in what he later would call in his Inaugural Address a "new era of responsibility." What he did not talk much about were the asterisks.

The exceptions that went unmentioned now include a pair of Cabinet nominees who did not pay all of their taxes. Then there is the lobbyist for a military contractor who is now slated to become the No. 2 official in the Pentagon. And there are the others brought into government from the influence industry even if not formally registered as lobbyists.

Obama said Monday that he was "absolutely" standing behind former Sen. Tom Daschle, his nominee for health and human services secretary, and Daschle, who met late in the day with leading senators in an effort to keep his confirmation on track, said he had "no excuse" and would "deeply apologize" for his failure to pay $128,000 in federal taxes.

But the episode already has shown how, when faced with the perennial clash between campaign rhetoric and Washington reality, Obama has proved willing to compromise.

Obama, on his first day in office, imposed perhaps the toughest ethics rules of any president in modern times, and since then he and his advisers have been trying to explain why they do not cover this case or that case.

The Obama team finds itself being criticized by bloggers on the left and the right, mocked by television comics and questioned by reporters about whether Obama is really changing the way Washington works or just changing which political party works it.

Some Republicans saw a double standard. "What would it be like if Hank Paulson had come in without paying his taxes, or any other member of the Cabinet?" asked Terry Nelson, a political strategist who worked for President George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain, referring to Bush's Treasury secretary. "It would be roundly attacked and roundly criticized."

Several Democrats, including some who have advised Obama, said privately that he had only himself to blame for laying out such an uncompromising standard as a candidate without recognizing how it would complicate his ability to assemble an administration.

In the campaign, Obama assailed the "entire culture in Washington" in which "our leaders have thrown open the doors of Congress and the White House to an army of Washington lobbyists who have turned our government into a game only they can afford to play."

In 2007, he vowed to "close the revolving door" and "clean up both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue" with "the most sweeping ethics reform in history."

The language, however, was always more sweeping than the specifics. He spoke of refusing campaign money from lobbyists but took it from the people who hired them. The ethics plan he outlined, and eventually imposed on his administration last month, did not ban lobbyists but set conditions for their employment and did not cover many who were lobbyists in everything but name.

Daschle, for instance, is not a registered lobbyist, but he made a handsome living advising clients seeking influence with the government. Obama also gave himself the right to grant waivers in cases he deemed exceptional, most prominently giving one to William Lynn, a former Raytheon lobbyist he nominated as deputy defense secretary.

Others who worked as lobbyists have found places in the administration, including Mark Patterson, who represented Goldman Sachs and is now chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. William Corr, who lobbied for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, has been selected as deputy health and human services secretary.

Obama's advisers said the exceptions were minimal given the thousands of people who will be hired and appointees like Lynn would abide by rules barring work on matters directly related to their former employers. The exceptions, they said, were needed for particular skills and experience.

Some said the rules were more important than any previously imposed. "This is a direct attack on the culture of Washington and in an extremely powerful way," said advocate Fred Wertheimer, founder of Democracy 21.