Lobbyists for the nation’s largest labor unions have had the run of the White House during its occupancy by a president who pledged from his first day in office to curb political influence.

At the same time President Obama personally limited access to the wealthy and powerful. Including labor leaders, union lobbyists made nearly 500 visits to the White House through June of this year during the Obama administration, according to a review of available White House visitors logs.

The Franklin Center created a database of the 879,401 visits by people who came to the White House for an official event or meeting from nearly 3 millions entries made up mostly of tourists.

Read more about what the center found in this story by Texas Watchdog Austin bureau chief Mark Lisheron.

Photo of White House by flickr user DuckofD3ath, used via a Creative Commons license.