Tuesday, newly confirmed Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner issued new rules restricting contacts with lobbyists--and then hired one to be his top aide. Mark Patterson, a former lobbyist for Goldman Sachs, will serve as chief of staff to Geithner as the Treasury Department revamps the Wall Street bailout program that just recently sent a significant sum of money to his former employer. The new Obama administration appears to be having a difficult time adhering to its own standards as it hires a number of financial insiders for administration jobs.  Patterson’s appointment marks the second time in President Barack Obama’s first week in office that the administration has had to explain how it’s complying with its own ethics rules. Last week, the president waived the ethics rules to clear the way for the nomination of William Lynn, a former Raytheon lobbyist, to be deputy defense secretary. Melanie Sloan, founder of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, points out that “This is exactly the kind of thing that makes the American public suspicious of politicians. You say one thing and do another.” Patterson will be prohibited for the next two years from participating in Treasury decisions related to Goldman Sachs and the specific issues on which he lobbied. However, Goldman Sachs is so entwined in the U.S. economy that Sloan and others question how the treasury will make these determinations. Obama’s choice for U.S. Trade Representative, Ron Kirk, was also a lobbyist, earning $745,765 in 2007 from one client (Energy Future Holdings) alone. And the new Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, was a partner in the lobbying law firm of Dorsey & Whitney.

Geithner Enlists Lobbyist as Top Aide (by Jeanne Cummings, Politico)