White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was again on defense Wednesday when asked about the Obama administration's commitment to its ethics pledges. Reporters asked Gibbs why Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner hired a former Goldman Sachs lobbyist as his chief of staff, and questioned the K Street ties of George Mitchell, Obama's special envoy to the Middle East. Mitchell is partner and chairman emeritus of DLA Piper, a law and lobbying firm that has a number of Middle East clients. Mitchell is expected to resign from DLA Piper, Under The Influence reported last week.

Gibbs is likely to face these kinds of skeptical questions about Obama's ethics rules until the administration does more to explain how and why it is making exceptions to its lobbyist regulations.

Also at the daily press briefing on Wednesday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar pledged to reform his department "to make sure that scandals that have occurred in the past are properly dealt with, and that the problems that we uncover are fixed so that they don't occur again."

Salazar later issued a memo on employees' ethical responsibilities.

Click to read more from the transcript of the relevant portions of the briefing today.