Republican leaders called for an investigation into perks President Obama handed out to top Democratic donors as campaign-finance groups expressed dismay Wednesday that the administration was not doing more to reform the culture in Washington.
“What is so striking with President Obama is that he ran on a platform of change,” said Meredith McGehee, policy director at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. “This is business as usual.”
Ms. McGehee’s comments came in response to an investigation by The Washington Times that found Democratic Party donors were being promised and provided private briefings from senior presidential advisers, and in some cases, VIP access to the White House itself.
Internal Democratic National Committee documents obtained by The Times showed that the party had offered up quarterly briefings by senior advisers in exchange for the maximum legal donation of $30,400, or a willingness to raise $300,000 in time for the 2010 midterm elections.
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“If the White House is trading access to official functions or titles for political contributions, it is not just tawdry, it is illegal,” said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs dismissed the criticism, saying the Obama administration has already taken historic steps in agreeing to release visitor logs that will show the names of everyone who sets foot into the White House.The logs will not cover the first eight months of the president’s term.
Mr. Gibbs also downplayed the fact that a number of top fundraisers who collected six-figure sums for the president’s campaign, people known as “bundlers,” played golf with the president or were granted access to the White House complex to go bowling, play basketball and use the movie theater. Many of those guests, Mr. Gibbs said, were Mr. Obama’s close friends.
“There are people that gave money that the president has been personal friends with since they went to school,” Mr. Gibbs said. “I don’t think it makes a lot of sense to preclude somebody like that from coming here simply because they gave money. David Axelrod couldn’t work here if that were the case - he’s a donor.”
During his daily press briefing, Mr. Gibbs was asked whether the president had reconsidered his policy on admitting top fundraisers into the White House.
“Well, again, as I said, giving a contribution to the DNC doesn’t guarantee you a visit here, nor should it or would it prohibit that,” Mr. Gibbs said.
But Mr. Gibbs was less forthcoming when asked about the DNC documents that promise access to senior members of the Obama administration.
“I’ll point you to the DNC on that,” he said.
“But they’re with White House officials,” one reporter pressed.
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By Robert F. Turner
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