Obama's first executive orders target ethics and transparencyby Ed Duffy, Denver News Examiner
President Obama introduced his first executive orders today.
In addition to a senior staff pay freeze, he imposed
tough new restrictions on lobbying within his administration. The new rules are aimed at stopping the "revolving door" of lobbyists into and out of the administration. Senior staff will have to recuse themselves from working on anything they've lobbied for in the past two years and may not work in departments they've lobbied in the past two years. In addition, staff members who leave the administration will not be allowed to lobby the administration for as long as President Obama is in office.
The president also stated that the administration will err on the side of transparency with regard to Freedom of Information Act requests. Requests to withhold information will be subject to review and approval by the Justice Department and administration legal counsel.
He also implored staff to take advantage in any way they could, of input and information from the general public. He didn't give specifics, but emphasized the need to get people more involved and more connected to government and to get away from the idea that government has all the answers.
http://www.examiner.com/x-1087-Denver-News-Examiner~y2009m1d21-Obamas-first-executive-orders-target-ethics-and-transparency
