Transition

Obama’s Ethical Transition Team

Rules will bar lobbyists, corporate donations.

Reinforcements are joining Obama’s White House transition team to review government agencies and expedite the handover of power, The Wall Street Journal reports. But the bigger news is the new ethics rules the team is putting in place: No political action committees, corporations, or lobbyists may donate to the president-elect’s transition fund. Taxpayers are chipping in $8.5 million for the transition costs, and Obama will seek $3.5 million more from individual donors, said John Podesta, the team’s co-chairman. Podesta also suggested Obama would begin making Cabinet appointments faster than previous presidents have, according to the Journal, adding the administration would “have Republicans and independents, not just at a token level.”