President Obama promised to have the most transparent and ethical administration in our country’s history.  His White House web page on ethics claims they have “the strongest ethics standards in U.S. government history.”  It may be true, but having high standards means nothing if you consistently fail to meet those standards.

Follow along on the latest Solyndra revelations:

Steve Spinner was a major fundraiser for the Obama Campaign in 2008.  He became a loan adviser for the Dept. of Energy after President Obama took office.  He was married to a partner at the law firm of Wilson Sonsini, which was representing Solyndra in its loan application.  He had signed an “ethics agreement” in which he said he would not engage in negotiations about the loan for the company.

There you go.  A fine example of the Obama Administration’s “strongest ethics standards” in action.

So, what did Mr. Spinner do with regard to the Solyndra loan?

Yet throughout Solyndra’s loan process, Spinner worked hard to defend the company from criticisms inside the government, including questions from climate czar Carol Browner’s office. He pushed to get a final decision on approving the loan in August.

“How f***ing hard is this?” Spinner wrote on Aug. 28 an another department official. “What is he waiting for” Will we have it by the end of the day?”

Do those sound like the words of a man who had recused himself from working on the Solyndra loan process?

(more…)

Has President Barack Obama been deceiving America, with his Ethics Executive Order 13490?  It certainly appears that the actions of the Obama Administration are far from his recent statement that he has “put into place the toughest ethics laws of any Administration in history [pause] in history.” A host of Obama’s appointments call into question the President’s commitment to his own Ethics Order.  Appointments such as U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Sec. Hilda Solis, DOL Deputy Solicitor Deborah Greenfield, and NLRB Board member Craig Becker undermine Obama’s claim of “toughest ethics.”

Now, the National Right To Work Committee introduces John Lund,  Obama’s “overseer” of union financial reporting and disclosure at DOL’s Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS).  This Obama appointee is a former director of the now-defunct Pacific Northwest Labor College,  a former SEIU union employee , a fomer IUOE union employee, and former director of the University of Wisconsin School for Workers.   Lund’s appointment means that he is now in charge of investigating financial mismanagement and irregularities by the very labor union officials he has trained for decades. (click to view the NRTW shocking handout on Lund)

Big Labor Payback Job One for Obama

Even though Obama campaigned on transparency and a focus on ethics, cronies at DOL focused on eliminating basic financial union disclosure and union officials’ conflict-of-interest disclosures requirements.

At DOL, John Lund cut the number of labor union investigators, rescinded disclosure of union officer benefits, eliminated financial reporting for unions like the Wisconsin Education Association Council, and eliminated conflict-of-interest reporting for thousands of union officials.  Each of these actions benefits Big Labor Bosses, but undercuts those forced to pay union dues and fees as a condition of employment.

John Lund Conflicts-of-Interest

(more…)

Scott Rasmussen’s latest poll findings on the voters’ top issues is pretty interesting:

For nearly two years, economic issues have held the top spot in terms of importance among voters.

But the latest national telephone survey shows that 83% now view government ethics and corruption as very important, placing it just ahead of the economy on a list of 10 key electoral issues regularly tracked by Rasmussen Reports.

The great blog, Powerline speculates:

Still, it’s a striking change. What caused it? The only thing that has happened in the last couple of weeks that can account for the shift, I think, is James O’Keefe’s and Hannah Giles’ exposure of the incredible depth of corruption to which ACORN, closely identified with government at all levels and the Democratic Party, has fallen. That may also explain why 43% of voters say President Obama has done a “poor” job of “addressing government ethics and reducing corruption.”

Those waiting for the “even one individual can make a difference” number to come up, please come to the window to collect your winnings.