CircleID

Congratulations Susan and Kevin!

We are in safer hands!

It's the specific policy of the Obama transition team that lobbyists should not be on it — at least not influencing the subject areas on which they have lobbied. Susan Crawford is part of the lobbying group Public Knowledge, which has done extensive lobbying on the subject of Internet regulation and FCC policy, and has lobbied Congress on this subject. What is she doing on the transition team?

Hello Anonymous,

Public Knowledge is a public interest group working on citizens' rights. Such a (truly) non-profit organization differs in purpose and style of functioning from a lobby group that lobbies to protect the narrow interests of a community or an industry lobbies which are prone to contaminate the policy making process by exerting undue influence over vulnerable people in Government.

President-Elect Barrack Obama would certainly be alert enough to prevent the wrong kind of commercial lobbies from getting anywhere near positions of influence as much as he is receptive to search for and engage the right kind people as Susan Crawford.

They are heavily funded by Google, which — as you might expect — prompts them to push so-called "network neutrality" legislation which isn't neutral at all.... It favors Google and its corporate agenda. And in any event, a lobbyist is a lobbyist. Hiding behind a supposedly "non-profit" astroturf organization can't disguise that.