It’s important for any president to get all of the best advice that he can on important issues and take such wisdom into account when making key decisions. Sadly, it’s also part of the routine for any politician to have to spend some time raising money for their next election. Federal law, fortunately, keeps the two separate when it comes to the White House. Or at least it should…

A meeting President Barack Obama hosted in the White House for his key political backers from Wall Street is under fire from good government advocates and a Bush administration ethics official who say the session appeared to bring activity related to campaign fundraising onto White House grounds.

White House spokesmen say the March 7 meeting in the Blue Room between Obama and about 20 Wall Street executives involved discussion of policies affecting the financial industry. However, the gathering, which was first reported last week by The New York Times, has drawn scrutiny and criticism because the Democratic National Committee extended invitations to the session.

If the invitations had come directly from Obama’s staff, or from his economic advisers, this probably would have passed without notice. It’s hardly the first time Wall St. moguls have stopped by to pay a visit at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. But once you drag the DNC into the mix and find out that these are some of the same “fat cats” being lobbied for 2012 campaign donations, the situation gets messy. As Bush staffer Richard Painter notes, it raises questions as to whether or not such a meeting violates “the spirit, if not the letter,” of the Hatch Act.

“This is no picnic. This not the Easter egg roll. This is not where they put up the Christmas tree,” Painter said. “This is bringing in donors and doing donor maintenance.”

“There’s a pretty clear line — or there should be a clear line,” said Meredith McGehee of the Campaign Legal Center, which presses for tighter controls on campaign finance. “I don’t have a problem with the president inviting Wall Street people to the White House to discuss policy, but why does it need to be DNC-sponsored? I think that’s what raises the eyebrows. Even if it’s not a fundraiser, it’s a cultivation.”

The article goes on to note that Darrell Issa will be holding a hearing to look into this. (Assuming he ever gets to the bottom of the Gunwalker scandal, that is.)