According to the AP, lobbyists are irate about the Obama administration's restrictions against lobbyists trying to get a piece of the stimulus package, which bars them from speaking to administration officials but instead forces them to issue their statements in writing:
"What disqualifies lobbyists from exercising their First Amendment rights?" said J. Keith Kennedy, a top lobbyist for the Washington firm Baker Donelson.
William Luneburg and Thomas Susman, co-authors of the American Bar Association's manual on lobbying laws, said they knew of no previous administrations curtailing lobbyists' conversations with government officials.
The rules bar lobbyists from conversations or meetings with federal officials about specific stimulus projects. They can talk generally about the measure's policies if projects are not discussed.
The idea behind having lobbyists submit their requests in writing is that correspondence with them will be documented. In response, some lobbyists may simply pull their names from the registration list:
Since the prohibition applies to registered lobbyists, some firms are thinking about having some of their lobbyists rescind their registrations, which could let them pitch stimulus projects to government officials. That, though, would severely limit the time they could spend lobbying each year while undermining disclosure laws requiring registered lobbyists to publicly report their activities.
Obviously, influence peddling in Washington is one of the more difficult things to deal with effectively.
-- A. Serwer
