Lobbyists Question White House Restrictions on Advisory Committees

Media Announcement

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a letter to President
Obama and his key advisors, the American League of Lobbyists (ALL) October 28
questioned a recent blog announcement that lobbyists would no longer be
welcome on federal advisory boards. On September 23, Special Counsel to the
President Norman Eisen issued a blog request to federal departments and
agencies that federally-registered lobbyists not be appointed to serve on
advisory panels. Lobbyists currently serving and not up for reappointment
will be allowed to serve out their terms.

ALL President David Wenhold stated that "representatives who participate in
federal advisory panels... volunteer their knowledge and insight from a macro
perspective which has been invaluable to career government officials."

The ALL letter further expressed concern over the lack of process associated
with this sweeping policy change. Rather than following normal procedures,
the pronouncement was delivered "seemingly fully formed and final" as a blog
posting by Mr. Eisen.

The League also expressed concern over the timing. The announcement came well
after the September 11 deadline for Industry Trade Advisory Committee (ITAC)
representatives to indicate whether they intended to seek reappointment.
Whether intentional or accidental, this timing thereby denied ITAC
representatives the chance to determine whether they could legitimately remove
themselves from LDA registration requirements, thereby keeping their ITAC
appointments.

The text of the ALL letter is available at our web site -
http://www.alldc.org/index.cfm.

The American League of Lobbyists, founded in 1979, is a national association
dedicated to serving government relations and public affairs professionals.
Its 1,000+ members include leading Washington representatives from
corporations, trade associations, labor unions, government agencies, interest
groups, and law and lobbying firms. Questions may be directed to Executive
Director Patti Jo Baber baber@alldc.org or 703-960-3011.

SOURCE American League of Lobbyists

Patti Jo Baber of the American League of Lobbyists, +1-703-960-3011