Obama Transition: Obama Team Taking a Page From Strickland Playbook

November 12, 2008 by Pelikan
Filed under: Barack Obama, Gov Strickland, Obama Transition, Ohio Economy, State of Ohio Govt, ohio politics 

Here in Ohio, Governor Ted Strickland made a statement in the opening hours of his term in January 2007. 

His first official act was not an executive order undoing some GOP policy an interest group was clamoring for; his first act was to make good on a promise made during the campaign to change the culture on Capitol Square.  President-elect Barack Obama’s transition is sounding a similar note this week in Chicago.

On January 8, 2007 - just hours after taking office - Strickland signed his first executive order which tightened ethics rules on his own administration.  Strickland had run a campaign to “Turnaround Ohio.” Part of that turn around was to run an administration which was grounded in service and the public’s interest.  This meant taking measures to set the tone to avoid the ethics issues and scandals of past state governments.  His rules are the tightest of any other Ohio governor and cover areas such as the ‘revolving door’ and gifts.

Two articles caught my eye this morning and had me thinking about those initial actions taken by Strickland. From the Washington Post is a piece about Obama’s efforts to control the influence of lobbyists during the transition. And Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Tribune focuses on the issue of transparency in how the Obama team will fund the transition.

From the Post, comments from John Podesta, Obama transition chief:

The transition team will not allow lobbyists to work in the subject areas in which they have previously lobbied, Podesta said. And if someone becomes a lobbyist after working on the transition, that person will be prohibited from lobbying the administration for 12 months on matters on which he or she worked.

“I’ve heard the other complaint, which is we’re leaving all these experts on the side. . . . We’re leaving all the people who know everything out in the cold,” Podesta said. “And so be it.” He said a similar ban was likely to be in effect for the actual administration, including an extension of the lobbyist ban to two years.

Sweet said in her column:

All the private money will be raised from individuals and, as I reported earlier, there will be a $5,000 limit on donations. Federal lobbyists will not be allowed to contribute. There will not be any fund-raising events, but professional fund-raisers will be working on the transition. While the donors’ names will be publicly disclosed later this month, there is usually more to the story in how the money was raised.

For thier part, Podesta said yesterday, “Under President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden, the American people will see a transition of government that is efficient, that is organized, that is bipartisan and more open and transparent than others before.”

There is a tale told after every election.  It goes something like this: Candidate pledged to be different, he or she seemed earnest and we voted for them.  Six months to a year in, we realized nothing had changed and the former candidate blames it on the “culture” of (fill in the blank).

What’s been different about Strickland - and what is shaping up to be different about Obama - is that their pledges to serve ethically and in the open are important enough that they acted on those impulses first. 

Strickland was elected the first Democratic governor of Ohio after sixteen years of Republican rule.  Despite a horrible economy he has maintained high approval ratings because Ohioans know they have have a public servant in the Statehouse who is willing to listen to all parties on an issue.  Strickland’s action on January 8, 2007 was followed by other actions including most recently the administrative leave for a Cabinet member who may have been careless with her use of state email.

It’s always hard for politicians to go from campaign mode where every day is a promise.  Like Strickland, Obama is trying to get off on the right foot by using those promises to change the political culture as a foundation for governing.  Let’s hope it continues.

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