White House invited med industry execs in early

Administration officials began talking privately to major players in the health care industry within a few weeks of President Barack Obama's inauguration, a newly released list of White House visitors shows. During his presidential campaign, Obama promised to hold lobbyists at arm's length and make his administration the most transparent ever. Obama on Wednesday night released the list of visits by health care executives after a government watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, announced it planned to sue to try to get White House visitor logs. Only names and dates were released, not the visitors' titles or employers. So far, the Obama administration is following a Bush administration policy of refusing to release the logs, which are maintained by the Secret Service.