What seemed like a softball story in the New York Times last week has turned out to be a textbook case of investigative journalism. The Times has seemingly pulled back the curtain on how business is actually done in Washington.
NYT’s story about White House staffers meeting with lobbyists in coffee shops near 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is causing ripples inside the beltway. Mother Jones reported yesterday that Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sent a letter (PDF) to the House Oversight and Government Reform committee requesting a hearing about the matter. CREW, disappointed in the Obama administration’s failure to live up to their anti-lobbying campaign rhetoric, wants Congress to figure out how to get these coffee shop meetings on record.
We’ll see how long it takes until Congress closes this loophole with a coffee-shop-meeting-near-the-White-House-disclosure rule. When they do, you’ll be able to find it here, naturally.
Tags: Disclosure, Lobbying, starbucksgate, White House
