Obama to accept corporate donations for second inauguration

President Obama will accept corporate donations to help pay for upcoming inaugural festivities, according to several press reports.

A spokeswoman for the inaugural committee said it would accept unlimited corporate contributions to help finance the events. Lobbyists and political action committees, however, are banned from giving to the committee.

“Our goal is to make sure that we will meet the fund-raising requirements for this civic event after the most expensive presidential campaign in history,” Addie Whisenant, the inaugural committee spokeswoman, said in a statement to The New York Times.

Donors’ names will be posted on a website so the public can see who has contributed to support the inauguration. The decision to accept contributions from corporations is a reversal of policy for Obama, who refused to take them for his first inauguration.

Organizers for the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., struggled to raise adequate funds for the event when they decided to ban corporate contributions. In addition, turnout for Obama’s second inauguration is not expected to be as large as his first.

---