What sort of access to lobbyists have to the Obama administration? We get a bit of a clue today as the White House releases the full visitor logs from 9/15 to 9/30 (we’ll get October in a month, and no word if we’ll ever get 1/20 through 9/15).
The new list is huge and I’m not exactly sure what it includes (it’s more than just 9/15 to 9/30, but it doesn’t include some previously released visits). I just searched for the names of some powerful lobbyists:
David Castagnetti, (twice), whose clients include America’s Health Insurance Plans, AstraZeneca, Edison Electric Institute, General Electric, Humana, Merck, Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America, Wal-Mart, and many others.
Dick Gephardt, whose clients include Boeing, GE, Goldman Sachs, Peabody Energy, and Visa.
Steve Elmendorf, whose clients include the American Wind Energy Association, Citigroup, Clearchannel, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, Northrup Grumman, PhRMA, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, Time Warner, and United Health.
Karen Ignagni, (9 times), president of AHIP, the lobbyist for the health insurance companies.
Billy Tauzin, (11 times), CEO of PhRMA, the lobbyist for the drug companies.
Stuart Eizenstat, (9 times) whose clients this year have included Ford, General Motors, and Bacardi.
There’s plenty more, but that’s what I got from the first six lobbyist names that popped into my head.
