Obama's skirts Congress to appoint lobbying lawyer

[Geee]

Washington Examiner:



President Obama's latest recess appointment is a corporate lawyer, hailing from a leading Democratic lobbying firm where he represented defense contractors and health care companies.
The nomination of James M. Cole, now deputy attorney general, never made it to the Senate floor thanks to questions about his time as a compliance monitor at AIG, and his views on fighting terrorism.

Cole embodies two typical Obama practices: The president often flouts his tough, anti-lobbyist talk, and he uses recess appointments so that his party's senators don't have to vote on nominees with tainted backgrounds.

Cole was never a registered lobbyist, but he was a partner for years at Bryan Cave LLP, a prominent lobbying firm with strong connections to the Democratic Party and a client list that included Walmart, Microsoft, Peabody Energy, the Biotechnology Industry Organization, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Ford Motor.

Bryan Cave's lobbyists and lawyers include veterans of the Obama campaign and former top Hill staffers, White House aides, and former lawmakers. The firm's political action committee gave 62 percent of its contributions to Democrats.

BryanCave.com says Cole's job included "representation of corporations and individuals before grand juries, in congressional hearings, in court proceedings, and before federal agencies." One might think that "representation of corporations ... in congressional hearings ... and before federal agencies" might count as lobbying, but Cole has never registered under the Lobbying Disclosure Act.