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Obama flip-flop on lobbyist ban is good news for Boston-based military contractor
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William J. Lynn Defense Department photo
President Barack Obama has reversed course in his first week in office on bans of revolving-door lobbyists. The presidential flip-flop should be good for business for Boston-based defense contractor Raytheon Corporation.
The new president, promising change, is instead doing business as usual when it comes to the military-industrial complex. During the campaign, Obama vowed that lobbyists "won't find a job in my White House." The campaign pledge apparently doesn't apply with the military where lobbyist William J. Lynn is the pick to be the deputy Secretary of Defense.
Lynn, who will head day-to-day operations of the military, was Raytheon's top lobbyist earning the position of senior vice-president with the firm. Lynn joined the defense contractor in August 2002 but now will have to adjust to a huge salary cut working for Obama.
The revolving door is swinging so fast at the Pentagon that Lynn has to scramble to sell his $500,000 of Raytheon stock that he was given as an "incentive" while lobbying for the nation's fifth-largest defense contractor. The half-million worth of stock was on top of an annual corporate salary of $369,615 and an unspecified cash bonus of between $100,000 and $250,000 last year.
Obama's lobbyist ban, one of his first acts in office, is a bucket with a hole in it when it comes to Raytheon. The Boston-based conglomerate with corporate headquarters in Waltham was founded in 1922 in Cambridge and started out innocently enough as the American Appliance Company. Raytheon manufactures "smart weapons" and its technology has proven to be deadly with an arsenal of sophisticated missiles. The firm proudly describes its market-share of weapons of destruction.
"Raytheon today is a unique technology company and a world leader in defense electronics, with a broader range of products, services and capabilities than ever before. The proud legacies of Raytheon, E-Systems, Texas Instruments, Hughes Aircraft and others have come together to form one company with one vision: to be the most admired defense and aerospace systems supplier through world-class people and technology."
"Government and defense customers on every continent rely on over 8000 Raytheon programs for innovative technology solutions, world-class Mission Systems Integration and other capabilities in the areas of Sensing; Effects; Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence systems."
Obama waived his own ethics requirements of a two-year cooling off period for lobbyists by giving a waiver for Raytheon's lobbyist to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a Bush holdover, told the Senate committee he didn't want to lose Lynn over ethics rules because that would be like "cutting off our nose to spite our face."
For more information: http://www.examiner.com/x-1969-Boston-Progressive-Examiner~y2009m2d5-Raytheon-lobbyist-digs-in-for-fight-to-run-Pentagon
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