Dear Commons Community,

The White House is pushing back on suggestions that it is participating in a pay-for-access scheme, in which big-dollar donors to a pro-Obama PAC get a quarterly audience with the president.

Over the weekend, The New York Times reported that the newly formed Organizing For Action, a so-called social welfare group, would set up four meetings a year with Obama for individuals who gave more than $500,000. The funding setup was designed to give the new group the capital it needs to begin its advocacy efforts, which consist primarily of helping advance the administration’s agenda.

Ethically, however, it has raised questions for providing a gateway to big-money interests essentially to purchase a seat near the president. Obama has in the past decried this very type of culture as one of Washington’s major ills.

“That’s one of the reasons I ran for president,” Obama said on May 2, 2012.

This is a highly questionable practice that just does not look right!

Tony