Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW) is calling for a thorough investigation of Caribou-Gate, the practice uncovered by the New York Times last week of high level administration officials meeting with lobbyists at a Caribou Coffee near the White House. By conducting these meetings away from the White House (hundreds of them), Obama staffers were able to bypass visitor logs and electronic archiving requirements created by both the Federal Records Act and the Presidential Records Act.Once again, the country learns that those vaunted promises by Barack Obama that his administration would be honest, transparent and free from lobbyist influence were worth absolutely nothing.
Jonathan Strong writes in The Caller,
Inside the White House, the use of personal iPhones and Blackberries is ubiquitous. Those personal phones could be used for legitimately private purposes such as letting a spouse know when one is coming home.
But evidence is mounting that top White House officials have been using their phones as a convenient way to e-mail lobbyists and others about policy issues – e-mails that should be preserved for the historical record under the Presidential Records Act and Federal Records Act.
The problems are compounded by the claims on ethics and transparency Obama has made. As CREW noted in its letter to Towns [House oversight committee Chairman Edolphus Towns, New York Democrat,], “Upon entering office, President Obama promised an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability in his administration.”
While Towns is not taking aggressive action to investigate the issues, Issa [top GOP oversight official Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican], would if Republicans win the House. The ethics problems could come to haunt the Obama White House in a new way if Issa obtains subpoena power.
