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February 24, 2010

Another example of the revolving door

By CREW Staff

Last night, CNN's "Campbell Brown" program examined examples of broken government -- more specifically, the revolving door in Washington, D.C. As CNN reported:

During the 2008 presidential campaign, then-Sen. Barack Obama repeatedly promised that if elected he would clean up the way Washington works and bar lobbyists from working in his administration.

But just weeks after Obama's inauguration, one found a job in the Pentagon.

William Lynn was confirmed as the No. 2 man in the Defense Department, a bit of a shock because he had spent much of the last decade as a lobbyist for Raytheon, the $25 billion a year defense contractor that makes the Army's Patriot missile system and the Navy's Tomahawk missile.

Government watchdog groups have said that Lynn's rise from one-time Defense Department undersecretary to lobbyist and back to government is another example of the revolving door between governing and lobbying.

"Certainly having William Lynn, who is a top Raytheon lobbyist, immediately turn around and go into the administration is the revolving door at its worst," said Melanie Sloan with the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.