WASHINGTON ( CNN ) -- Tim Geithner may be the latest political piñata in Washington these days , but -- policy aside -- there may be another reason he is the one fellow everyone is picking on at Treasury : He 's there alone . President Obama 's ethics code requires that no lobbyist can work for an agency he may have lobbied . Believe it or not , Geithner is the only confirmed official at his department . Some top nominees , even those who have served in government before , have decided to withdraw . Others are still pending as they go through arduous background checks that one pro-Obama Democrat calls `` maddening vetting hell . '' Sure , this is about extensive scrutiny to make sure no one has a tax problem after Geithner 's own embarrassing unpaid tax bill . But the staffing problem is not just at Treasury , and it goes way beyond the time-consuming nature of extensive background checks . It 's also about overreaching anti-lobbyist rules . Consider Tom Malinowski . He 's the advocacy director for Human Rights Watch , an expert on genocide and torture . But when it came time for a top human rights job at the State Department , he was turned away . Why ? `` Because he lobbied against torture , '' says one incredulous administration official . `` It 's crazy . '' But the rules are the rules : The ethics code requires that no lobbyist can be hired to work for an agency he may have lobbied . So , just to clarify : Someone like Malinowski who lobbied against torture and is a widely acknowledged expert on international human rights law is , er , blackballed . More to the point , he was shown the door precisely because he tried to influence Congress on an issue that both he and the administration agree , and care deeply about . ( Malinowski wo n't comment . ) Only in the Alice-in-Wonderland world of Washington would this make any sense . And it still does n't . It 's just a prime instance of the problems that can arise when great-sounding ( theoretical ) campaign one-liners rub up against the ( real ) difficulties of trying to staff a government . In other words , the short-term interest in demonizing all lobbyists has led to some very difficult staffing problems . So , if you 're an environmental expert and lobbyist , forget about the Environmental Protection Agency . But you might want to think about some work in the health field . That is , unless someone says you 're a lucky exception ! They 're rare , but William Lynn is one . He 's a top defense department appointee who once worked as a lobbyist for Raytheon , a military contractor . The White House says that ( a ) it has n't had much trouble staffing the government and ( b ) is willing to make reasonable exceptions . So far we have only seen a handful . The problem has made it difficult to operate at every department . `` A lot of good people just ca n't go into government , '' says one administration official . `` It 's a huge departure from the spirit of what they wanted . '' Indeed , he adds , here 's an unintended consequence : `` We 're setting up a system where the only people who qualify to work in government are the ones who never actually left government . '' Oh , great . So instead of getting the best and the brightest from finance and elsewhere , we 're recycling some folks from Capitol Hill . Not that they 're unqualified , but the administration needs input from multiple sources -- outside of Washington . On top of that , the Treasury has another public relations problem : The appointment of anyone with any tie to a bank that has been bailed out or any institution that is tied to the mortgage mess is a non-starter . No wonder it 's hard to find the experts . Yet much of this problem is self-inflicted . The no-lobbyist rule could have been `` softened '' to exclude nonprofit lobbyists . The administration decided against that , one senior official tells me . `` We did n't want to label people as 'good lobbyists ' or 'bad lobbyists . ' `` Besides , he adds , `` We think we are flexible . '' That 's not the feeling you get speaking with either those jumping hoops to try to get into government and those who have been turned away . As the administration faces its huge economic crisis , it needs all hands on deck . After all , you ca n't rebuild public confidence in a government if you do n't have one .
Obama 's overreaching anti-lobbyist rules interfere with governing , Gloria Borger says . Short-term interest in demonizing all lobbyists leads to staffing problems , she says . `` A lot of good people just ca n't get into government , '' says one administration official . Administration needs all hands on deck during this financial crisis , Borger says .