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November 27, 2009
Change We Can Believe In
This is pretty great. Another major victory in the war on lobbyists:
Hundreds, if not thousands, of lobbyists are likely to be ejected from federal advisory panels as part of a little-noticed initiative by the Obama administration to curb K Street's influence in Washington, according to White House officials and lobbying experts.The new policy -- issued with little fanfare this fall by the White House ethics counsel -- may turn out to be the most far-reaching lobbying rule change so far from President Obama, who also has sought to restrict the ability of lobbyists to get jobs in his administration and to negotiate over stimulus contracts. [...]
Under the policy, which is being phased in over the coming months, none of the more than 13,000 lobbyists in Washington would be able to hold seats on the committees, which advise agencies on trade rules, troop levels, environmental regulations, consumer protections and thousands of other government policies.
The fact remains that Washington is infested with lobbyists and so it's nearly impossible to obliterate all of them. But changes like this -- a below the radar poisoning -- is perhaps what it'll take to get the job done.
Filed under: Lobbyists || President Obama || President Obama Accomplishments
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Posted By Bob Cesca | November 27, 2009 10:25 AM
Comments
so in the past, lobbyists have served on these advisory panels? Not surprising, but it should be.
Posted by: eljefejeff ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.bobcesca.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at November 27, 2009 11:06 AM
This is good until they start schreeching and whining so the administration will cave in to them and let them keep serving on these boards.
Hopefully someone will keep track of this and make sure they stay gone.
Posted by: Jan at November 27, 2009 11:27 AM
Now we're talking.
Posted by: danann at November 27, 2009 1:45 PM
This is really great to hear! It would seem that they dont want to call attention to this, lest America begin to realize how deeply infiltrated the government is.
Posted by: Dan in DE at November 27, 2009 4:01 PM
Can we please do C Street next?
Then you can start working on the rest of the alphabet.
Posted by: Bull Schmitt at November 27, 2009 10:26 PM
