American Notes Lobbyists

As a close friend of Ronald and Nancy Reagan's, Michael Deaver is one of Washington's more powerful influence peddlers. But the onetime White House deputy chief of staff raised eyebrows when he met with Office of Management and Budget Director James Miller III in February to discuss the B-1 bomber, built by Deaver client Rockwell International. Federal rules bar former senior officials from lobbying their old agencies for a year after they quit their posts, and Deaver's quarantine lasts until May.

The White House insists that Deaver violated no regulation, since he worked for the White House Office, a small but separate entity in the Executive Office, which includes OMB. Besides, huffed Deaver, if he had truly wanted to trade on his friendship, "I wouldn't have wasted my time on Jim Miller. I would have gone right over to the President."