Source: BNO News

Posted on 11-11 at 19:47:19 CET

Washington, DC: During a briefing today at the Presidential Transition Team headquarters, Obama Transition Co-Chair John Podesta announced the strictest, and most far reaching ethics rules of any transition team in history. The rules are:

- Federal Lobbyists cannot contribute financially to the transition.
- Federal lobbyists are prohibited from any lobbying during their work with the transition.
- If someone has lobbied in the last 12 months, they are prohibited from working in the fields of policy on which they lobbied.
- If someone becomes a lobbyist after working on the Transition, they are prohibited from lobbying the Administration for 12 months on matters on which they worked.
- A gift ban that is aggressive in reducing the influence of special interests.

Statement of Thomas Mann
Brookings Institution

“The ethical guidelines released today for the Obama transition are tough and unequivocal. They will prevent some honorable people with rich experience from serving in the transition. That is a real cost but it is more than balanced by the strong signal sent by the President-elect. He aspires to attract to government able individuals whose highest priority is to serve the public interest. This is a very constructive step in that direction.”

Statement of Norm Ornstein
American Enterprise Institute

“Restoring trust in government is a prerequisite to enacting good policy and the tough choices the country needs. This ethics policy for the transition is a far-reaching, bold and constructive step to do just that. The policy may exclude some good people with deep experience in their fields, but it will also exclude those who see government service as a springboard to financial success, or who are more intent on pleasing future potential employers or clients than making tough choices in the public interest. As much as anything, this ethics policy is a statement about the tone and tenor of the Obama administration. It is a good sign.”

Statement of John Podesta
Co-Chair of President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden’s Transition Team

“President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to change the way Washington works and curb the influence of lobbyists. During the campaign, federal lobbyists could not contribute to or raise money for the campaign. Today, the President-elect is taking those commitments even further by announcing the strictest, and most far reaching ethics rules of any transition team in history.”

(AP) BURBANK, Calif. – John McCain says Sarah Palin didn’t hurt his presidential bid and he attributes anonymous criticism aimed at her following their loss last week to typical campaign sniping. The Arizona senator tells Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show” the Republican ticket faced a tough challenge from the start but disputed that a different vice presidential pick would have changed the outcome.

He had only kind words for the Alaska governor and her family. But he didn’t directly address criticism from unidentified McCain operatives who have reportedly said she was not prepared on foreign policy and blamed her for an expensive campaign wardrobe.

McCain’s taped appearance was scheduled for airing Tuesday night to coincide with Veterans Day.

Here’s Gov. Palin on trial from the tool at MSNBC named Matt Lauer

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