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Ka-ching. The White House rang up another tab Thursday when four chief executives came to dine with President Barack Obama - at their own expense.

A White House aide said the administration served sandwiches and salads in the president's private dining room for 'the same price as the going rate outside the walls of the White House.' After a wide-ranging discussion of financial sector recovery, health-care overhaul, climate change and job creation policy, CEOs Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com (AMZN), Lew Hay of FPL Group (FPL) and unit Florida Power & Light; Antonio Perez of Eastman Kodak (EK), and Irene Rosenfeld of Kraft Foods (KFT) handed over their credit cards.

The confab was the third Dutch-treat lunch hosted by Obama at the White House over the past several months. At the June 25 lunch, invitee Muhtar Kent of Coca-Cola (KO) probably could have popped for the soft drinks, and on July 31, Howard Schultz of Starbucks (SBUX) was well-placed to provide cappuccinos.

The cash-on-the-barrelhead rule is meant to remind attendees of the administration's stance against cozy Washington wining and dining, just as inviting the CEOs directly conveys Obama's professed aversion to lobbyists.

'It strikes me as silly,' said Kenneth Gross, ethics lawyer at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom LLP. Government ethics laws, he said, aim to prevent corporate titans from paying big money to influence politicians - but they don't ban the president from buying a bigwig a sandwich.

'The benefit here is the opportunity to meet with the president,' Gross said. 'Not the rubber chicken.'
 

Elizabeth Williamson