K Street Lobbyists Say Latest Restriction to Reduce Registrations

By Kevin Bogardus
The Hill
September 25, 2009

More lobbyists are expected to terminate their registrations because of the White House’s announcement this week that federal agencies should not appoint them to advisory boards.

It is unclear how many people will be affected by the decision, but at least 1,000 federal advisory committees report to the General Services Administration under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, and many of them now include registered lobbyists.

Calman Cohen, president of the Emergency Committee for American Trade, a pro-trade coalition of business leaders, sits on a 27-member panel that provides advice to the Commerce Department on trade policy in the electronics industry. He is one of 14 panel members who were registered to lobby last quarter for clients that include IBM, Oracle and eBay Inc.

Cohen said he hopes the White House will institute a waiver process to exempt lobbyists from the policy, much like they have done with an executive order Obama signed on the first day of the administration to stop the revolving door between K Street and government.

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