By John McCormick and Brian Faler Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama or top administration officials met at the White House with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chairman Lloyd Blankfein , Microsoft Corp. co- founder Bill Gates and World Bank President Robert Zoellick , records show. Blankfein and Gates met with economic adviser Lawrence Summers , while Zoellick met with the president. The visits were among more than 27,000 added to the White House Web site yesterday as part of a periodic release of visitor logs that the Obama administration and its predecessors had sought to keep private. Steven Rattner , the former private-equity executive and automotive adviser to the Obama administration, visited the White House more than 50 times between the January inauguration and mid-July, often to see Summers. On Sept. 17, the day before it was reported that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski planned to propose rules requiring Internet companies to treat content providers equally, Summers met with the FCC chief, the records show. Muhtar Kent , chairman of Coca-Cola Co. , the world’s largest soft-drink maker, also met with Summers, the records show. Penny Pritzker , who led Obama’s campaign fundraising effort and is chairman of Pritzker Realty Group, visited 15 times between the inauguration and mid-June. She met with the president, first lady Michelle Obama and senior adviser Pete Rouse and attended economic events. Longtime Friends David Axelrod , a senior adviser to the president, met with several longtime friends and early supporters from Obama’s adopted hometown of Chicago. One Chicago visitor was Bettylu Saltzman, a Democratic activist who introduced Axelrod to Obama in 1992. On May 20, she met with Axelrod and Rouse, returning on July 20 to meet with Rouse. Axelrod and Obama had July 30 meetings with Chicagoan Louis Susman , the U.S. ambassador to the U.K. He is a retired Citigroup Inc. senior investment banker who raised between $200,000 and $500,000 for Obama’s campaign. Actor Mario Van Peebles visited the White House on Sept. 24. Musician Bono of U2 met with Budget Director Peter Orszag on Sept. 30. Jeffrey Immelt , the chairman of Fairfield, Connecticut- based General Electric Co. , met with Orszag on Sept. 23. The latest release includes the period from Sept. 16 through Sept. 30, as well as about 2,000 records generated from queries from the media and others for visits before that period. While the records include names, they don’t include titles, companies or associations. Almost 700 Queries Norm Eisen , special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform, said in a statement that almost 700 visitor queries were filed by the public during November for the period before Sept. 16, the date the White House decided to use as a starting point for the routine release of visitor information. “We are excited about the visitor records policy not only because we are breaking new ground for this administration, but also because we are establishing a new standard for all future administrations,” Eisen said. “We know of no comparable initiative in the history of the White House.” The White House released about 500 records in October and about 1,600 in November, he said. Lawsuit The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington pressed for release of records showing who met with administration officials. In July, the group sued to force the Secret Service to release information about visits by coal company executives since Obama took office in January. The information is made public at the end of each month. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has said that 70,000 to 100,000 people visit the White House monthly. The public logs omit visitors whose names can’t be disclosed because of national security concerns or in cases where the visit is confidential, such as a presidential interview with a potential Supreme Court nominee. The records also don’t include personal guests of the Obama children. To contact the reporters on this story: John McCormick in St. Paul at jmccormick16@bloomberg.net ; Brian Faler in Washington at bfaler@bloomberg.net
Original post:
Goldman Sachs’s Blankfein, Microsoft’s Gates Visited White House This Year
