The following article by Matea Gold was posted on the Washington Post website June 1, 2017:
President Trump is facing one of the clearest tests yet of his commitment to “drain the swamp,” a chant that echoed through his rallies in the final stretch of the 2016 race.
During the campaign, Trump railed against the influence of swamp-dwellers such as lobbyists, who he accused of pulling the strings of his political rivals. He promised to curtail their influence and keep them from profiting from government.
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But on Wednesday evening, the administration disclosed that it has granted ethics waivers to four former lobbyists now in the White House, allowing them to work on high-level policy issues of interest to their former clients. They are among 17 specific appointees who have been issued exemptions from conflict of interest rules in the first four months of the administration.
That’s the same number of ethics waivers that the Obama White House handed out — over eight years.
And there’s more to come: before the week’s end, we should learn details about ethics waivers that have been given to former lobbyists and other appointees working across the federal government. The information – which the Office of Government Ethics requested from all federal agencies – will provide a window into how far the Trump administration is willing to bend on its promise to end business as usual in Washington.
Grizzled Beltway veterans may dismiss the lobbyist seepage as the inevitable result of the collision of campaign rhetoric with the practicalities of governing. Indeed, the Obama administration eventually found that its high-minded effort to keep lobbyists from serving in agencies they had recently lobbied had unintended consequences, such as a decrease in the number of people who would register as lobbyists.
But it’s worth remembering that “drain the swamp” is not just a hashtag for Trump. It was arguably one of the animating principles of his campaign, one that was embraced by his supporters with an enthusiasm that even surprised the then-candidate. (“I hated it,” Trump said at one point. “Somebody said ‘Drain the swamp,’ and I said, ‘Oh, that is so hokey. That is so terrible.’”)
Since then, the call has been taken up by Republican candidates seeking to imbue themselves with the outsider credentials that helped propel Trump to victory.
“Tonight, Montanans are sending a wake-up call to the Washington, D.C., establishment,” Greg Gianforte said last week when he won the state’s congressional special election, adding, “Montanans said, ‘We’re going to drain the swamp.’ ”
Despite its lasting power, the president often appears unconcerned about maintaining a clear principle behind the slogan. Since taking office, Trump and his aides have turned #draintheswamp into a cudgel against their political enemies and government bureaucrats.
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Meanwhile, Trump’s decision to shrug off calls to divest his hotel and real-estate company have triggered a cascade of complaints related to the use of government resources to promote properties such as Mar-a-Lago, allegations that he is violating the Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause and questions about how he is being used to promote Trump Organizations projects abroad.
Still, there is some evidence that the administration is worried about Trump’s credibility on draining the swamp, at least when it comes to transparency.
Until last week, it was unclear that the Trump White House was going to follow its predecessors and publicly disclose information about the ethics waivers that have been granted. The administration was locked in an escalating stand-off with the Office of Government Ethics, as Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget, challenged the agency’s request for waiver details.
That raised the possibility that the administration would be handing out ethics waivers to lobbyists in secret for the course of Trump’s presidency.
Then, surprisingly, the White House backed down. On Wednesday evening, details about the waivers were posted on the White House website — a day before the deadline set by OGE.
View the post here.