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 would later 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

A large number of President Obama’s supporters were outraged that one day after instituting strict lobbying restrictions for his administration he turned around and gave a waiver to Bill Lynn, Raytheon lobbyist, to be the deputy secretary of Defense. Despite all of candidate Obama’s anti-lobbyist rhetoric, President Obama has found that, in many cases, he wants lobbyists in his administration. Lynn was the first to receive a waiver of the rules in Executive Order 13487 restricting lobbyists fr

How does one cleanse the lobbying taint?