White House Visitor Log Lists Stars and C.E.O.’s - NYTimes.com

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By JEFF ZELENY

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Friday released a partial roster of visitors in the first six months of President Obama’s term, a disclosure that shows business executives, labor leaders, lobbyists and a sprinkling of celebrities were cleared into the White House for meetings, events or tours.

Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, visited the Oval Office on March 25. Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman, dined in the White House Mess Hall on Feb. 19. Oprah Winfrey arrived two days earlier for an appointment in the residence of the executive mansion.

Among the White House guests was a boldface-names list of chief executives, including Lloyd C. Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, Vikram Pandit of Citigroup Inc., Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, Rex W. Tillerson of the Exxon Mobil Corporation, David J. O’Reilly of the Chevron Corporation and Jeffrey R. Immelt of the General Electric Company The men, who met with Mr. Obama, his advisers or both, were among nearly 500 entries in logs from Jan. 20 to July 31.

The White House released the names late Friday in a disclosure that officials said was without precedent by previous administrations. The names on the White House Web site were in response to requests about specific people by watchdog groups or news organizations. By December, the White House intends to regularly release names of visitors in three-month increments.

The most frequent visitor included in the narrow sample was Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union and Mr. Obama’s top ally in the labor movement. Mr. Stern visited the White House 22 times, sometimes for health care or other public events in the East Room, other times for meetings with the president or aides like Rahm Emanuel, Peter R. Orszag or Ronald A. Klain.

The visit tally underscores the clout that S.E.I.U. and Mr. Stern enjoy in this White House, something that has generated consternation at times among business groups and envy among rival unions. By contrast, Richard L. Trumka, the new president of the AFL-CIO, visited seven times in the same period.

Maurice R. Greenberg, a former chief executive of American International Group Inc., which received a $182.3 billion federal bailout, visited three times.

John D. Podesta, who oversaw the transition operation for Mr. Obama, visited the president and his top advisers 17 times in the six months after Inauguration Day. His brother and sister-in-law, Tony and Heather Podesta, both high-profile Washington lobbyists, made a total of eight visits to the White House complex.

Other visitors included Gary D. Cohn, the president of Goldman Sachs, who was a major contributor to Mr. Obama’s campaign. Several lobbyists from financial industry trade groups also came to the White House, including Edward L. Yingling of the American Bankers Association, Timothy Ryan of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, and Scott Talbott of the Financial Services Roundtable.

While the list can be searched on the White House Web site, the visits can raise as many questions as they answer. On many of the entries, the purpose of the visit is unclear. Still, it offers a glimpse into the workings of the administration that has not been previously available.

In addition to Ms. Winfrey, a small sampling of Hollywood visitors included Denzel Washington, Brad Pitt and George Clooney, who met with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Feb. 23. The White House offered no commentary about the list, except to clarify that visitors by the names of William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright were not the same two men who stirred controversy for Mr. Obama in his campaign.

“The well-known individuals with those names never actually came to the White House,” said Norm Eisen, special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform. “Nevertheless, we were asked for those names and so we have included records for those individuals who were here and share the same names.”

Peter Baker and David D. Kirkpatrick contributed reporting.