White House transparency effort leads to release of visitors logs

Friday was a Day of Transparency for the White House. In addition to releasing data reported by recipients of funds under the federal stimulus package, the White House also released scores of names from visitors logs.

Norm Eisen, a Presidential adviser, noted that as many as 100,000 people visit the White House each month, and that the records released include names that may coincidentally match famous or controversial individuals, but are in fact someone else.

"In September, requests were submitted for the names of some famous or controversial figures (for example Michael Jordan, William Ayers, Michael Moore, Jeremiah Wright, Robert Kelly ("R. Kelly"), and Malik Shabazz)," Eisen said in a statement. "The well-known individuals with those names never actually came to the White House. Nevertheless, we were asked for those names and so we have included records for those individuals who were here and share the same names."

Names on the list that are not a sham, include Bill Gates, George Soros, Denzel Washington and Oprah Winfrey. In addition, the disclosures acknowledge six separate visits from former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan.

View the disclosures here.

Photo Credit: White House

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