Lobbyists Fume Over Stimulus Restrictions

(AP)  President Barack Obama says lobbyists pushing for projects in the stimulus package can't utter a word about them to administration officials. Lobbyists are hardly staying mum about this latest affront and are looking for ways to cope with the extraordinary speaking ban.

The restrictions, which began taking effect unevenly this week, have angered lobbyists already upset with Mr. Obama's repeated shots at them for wielding too much influence. Critics charge it may be unconstitutional to bar certain people - registered lobbyists - from speaking to government officials.

"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.

Lobbyists can submit written statements about stimulus projects that federal agencies must post on the Internet within three days.

"Basically they've said, 'Look, why don't you just put that in writing and we'll look at it,'" said Dave Wenhold, who heads the American League of Lobbyists, the profession's trade group. "That to me is clearly saying, 'Your input is not wanted here.'"

Wenhold has received hundreds of e-mails from irate lobbyists demanding action and is seeking a meeting with White House lawyers. One hurdle: The public's profoundly negative view of lobbyists gives them little clout in a showdown against a popular president.

"This is your profession, and it is being targeted solely for political gain. What are you going to do to protect it?" Wenhold e-mailed fellow lobbyists Wednesday.

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.

Elizabeth Alexander, press secretary for Vice President Joe Biden, who is overseeing the stimulus package, called the rules "a historic breakthrough in ending closed-door lobbyist deal-making in favor of promoting the public interest through sunlight."

The Treasury Department has begun restricting contacts with lobbyists from companies seeking money from the $700 billion economic bailout package and will issue specific rules soon, said an agency official speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to talk publicly about the matter.

The $787 billion stimulus package, enacted earlier this year, is a pillar of President Obama's efforts to revive the stalled economy by creating what he claims will be 3.5 million jobs.

"It is not intended to fund projects for special interests," Mr. Obama wrote in a five-page memo March 20 describing how agencies should administer the stimulus package.

Craig Holman of the nonpartisan Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, called the rules "extreme" but justified to prevent interest groups from grabbing stimulus funds. Supporters say the limits do not curtail free speech since lobbyists can communicate in writing.

"It's very dubious that there's a First Amendment right to have your hired gun with you when you talk about those projects," said Luneburg, a University of Pittsburgh law professor.

Some lobbyists said they were already feeling the impact of the limitations, though inconsistently.

The American Council of Engineering Companies had to boot registered lobbyists from an online seminar the trade group arranged Thursday after Transportation Department officials who were giving briefings cited the new rules, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

The council said it would refund the $249 lobbyists paid to participate but give them a recording of the seminar and copies of any slides used.

Lobbyist Howard Marlowe said he discussed a stimulus project Monday with an administration official without any problems.

He also said the rules could discourage federal officials from meeting with lobbyists at all.

"Are people going to say, 'Oh, the more I talk to lobbyists and put it on the record, the more I'm going to be viewed by my superiors or folks over at the White House as being somehow bad'?", he said.

Others said the restrictions will encourage lobbyists to seek help from their connections on Capitol Hill. Many worry the stimulus restrictions could lead to further curbs.

"One of the big concerns is, is this a preface to similar activities as we go forward?", said H. Stewart Van Scoyoc, president of Van Scoyoc Associates.

Van Scoyoc and William Ferguson Jr., who heads The Ferguson Group, said they might increase the number of people at their firms who aren't registered lobbyists. The law requires people to register only if they spend more than 20 percent of their time lobbying officials.

That exception will give a big edge to many of Washington's law firms, which have some lobbyists but also plenty of non-lobbyist lawyers who could speak to government officials.
By Associated Press Writer Alan Fram; AP writer Julie Davis contributed to this report

[sedro2]

Without lobbyists how will the health insurance companies obtain government funds to move all their records to computers? How will Mr. Hansen and Mr. Gore make a living pursuing the theory of Global Warming? What about the poor Unions? How will the Unions get what is needed for the poor downtrodden worker? Lets not forget the poor illegal immigrants that would have no representation in the US governement without lobbyists. And think of those poor spotted owls and polar bears that will have no one to lobby for them.

[Phxfire]

Stuff the lobbyists. Its just too, too bad for them. Too much power in the biggest lobbyist organizations like the NRA. Buying, threatening and blackmailing for votes are the mission statements of most lobbying groups.

[tincup356]

If lobbyists were JUST talking it would be a different story....BUT......they are paying billions of dollars in bribes...and you cannot say that after AIG, Bank of America , and Citibank ...paid BOTH parties a total of 1.7 billion dollars in lobby money LAST YEAR.......that they were JUST talking...they bribed their way to almost 200 billion in bailouts...any way you look at it it is HIGH TREASON.....Washington needs to be cleared out and BOTH parties BANNED from politics.

[elz523]

"Basically they've said, 'Look, why don't you just put that in writing and we'll look at it,'" said Dave Wenhold, who heads the American League of Lobbyists, the profession's trade group. "That to me is clearly saying, 'Your input is not wanted here.'"

If they were saying they didn't want your input, they wouldn't ask you to put it in writing and then post on a website.

Way to go Pres Obama. This is change I can believe in and is exactly what I want you to do. It's time to give the government back to the people.

[gramto8]

tincup,

I apologize for the 'rude person' question. Going back and re-reading the posts in question, I can see why you would think I was standing up for the lobbyists. I was not. I was trying to tell the other person that President Obama was not telling lobbyists they couldn't talk to Repubs, only to Dems. He/she/it is so blinded by its republican party slant that it cannot see anything good about this or any other thing being done by our current administration.

[gramto8]

The lobbyists are allowed to speak to legislators about the stimulus package, but not about individual projects resulting from the money given to the states. They cannot push for their company to get awarded the contract for any project.

Why don't you actually try to read and comprehend once before you start mouthing/typing your mularkey?
Posted by gramto8 at 10:36 AM : Mar 27, 2009 ......................
Do you believe in the Easter Bunny too?.......Lobbyists pay money to get things done EXACTLY like they want them to be done and WHO will do it.If you believe otherwise YOU are sadly mistaken.
Posted by tincup356 at 10:39 AM : Mar 27, 2009

Currently, yes that is how it works. However, the way President Obama is trying to get things to work are how I stated.
Are you always such a rude person?

[babooph]

Make ALL bribes subject to prison & steep fines& these creeps will dissapear.

[fiberglass3]

Citizens Fume Over Lobbyists

[adasher1]

I am not a dem or a rep because I refuse to admit that either is better then the other, but I will say that both parties love lobbyists so they can get their ski fix, their vacation in the islands, those shopping trips to Paris for their wife and kids, those cruise ship trips, and their coffers filled. Mark my word, no politician ever kicked a lobbyist out of the bed, unless they found that there was more room on the floor.

THX to Obama, the o r g y is at least going to slow down?

[pikerc]

Lobbying by Corporate Special Interest groups does not stop in the halls of Congress, state capitols, or at your local city halls. So run amuck is this assult on freedom in this nation that even sitting judges are temped and accept trips and campaign contributions from lobbyists. Take for example this article in the June 4, 2006 Washington Post:

Junketing Judges: A Case of Bad Science

By Eric Schaeffer
Sunday, June 4, 2006; Page B02

Just how far will corporate lobbyists go to tilt governmental decisions in their favor? Last fall, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the Clean Air Act does not require regulating carbon dioxide emissions that are heating up the planet at an unprecedented rate. It turns out that two of the jurists who helped decide the case -- Chief Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg and Judge David B. Sentelle -- attended a six-day global warming seminar at Yellowstone National Park sponsored by a free-market foundation and featuring presentations from companies with a clear financial interest in limiting regulation.

According to documents released by a watchdog law firm last week, Exxon Mobil Corp. and other large businesses contribute to conservative think tanks to help "educate" federal judges through seminars like the one at Yellowstone. At least one major funder of these judicial junkets has said that the D.C. Circuit is targeted because of its jurisdiction over important environmental cases.

Did the Yellowstone trip affect the court's decision in the global warming case? Ginsburg and Sentelle are both strong-minded intellectual conservatives, and it is possible, perhaps likely, that they would have made the same decision if they had stayed home. The Code of Conduct for federal judges does not prohibit attending such seminars -- as long as participation does not "cast reasonable doubt on the capacity to decide impartially issues that may come before them." But if appearances count, then Ginsburg and Sentelle may have fallen short. And Sentelle did violate the law by not listing on his financial disclosure forms the value of the Yellowstone trip.