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Obama To Release Some of Visitor List

Heh.

In a shift in policy, President Barack Obama said on Friday his White House will release the names of most visitors to satisfy watchdog groups who demanded to know which lobbyists might be attempting to influence policy.

Obama’s White House until now had followed the same practice of past presidents of generally keeping the names of White House visitors secret.

This practice over the years has prompted lawsuits by organizations who wanted to know who was meeting with the president and White House officials to determine whether lobbyists were influencing the development of policy on such issues as healthcare and energy.

“For the first time in history, records of White House visitors will be made available to the public on an ongoing basis,” Obama said in a written statement.

I support Obama’s decision here, but I think that the reporter’s characterization is pretty funny.  Basically the White House has said that they will release the names of some visitors if they want.  They haven’t conceded anything.  Good for them.

Posted by Owen at 1504 hrs
Politics + Politics - General

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