Obama Reduces Lobbyist Influence

I wonder when the GOP will give him credit for this.  The president’s new policy bars lobbyists from advisory panels, thus reducing the influence of K Street in making policy.

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.

“Some folks have developed a comfortable Beltway perch sitting on these boards while at the same time working as lobbyists to influence the government,” said White House ethics counsel Norm Eisen, who disclosed the policy in a September blog posting on the White House Web site. “That is just the kind of special interest access that the president objects to.”

Lobbyists, people paid to influence policy on behalf of industries and trade organizations, are obviously objecting.  But the policy will reduce the influence of special interests.

“You may lose a lot of expertise, but these people are also paid to have a point of view; they have an agenda,” said Mary Boyle, a vice president at Common Cause. “We support what the administration is doing to get deep-seated special interests out of the business of running our government, so this seems like a step in the right direction.”

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.