Norm Eisen, special counsel to President Obama for ethics and government reform, continued his fight with government relations professionals on the White House’s latest anti-lobbyist edict: banning registered lobbyists from agency boards and commissions.
Eisen explained the White House’s decision-making process on lobbying regulation in a blog post following a Tuesday meeting with a group of trade lobbyists and others on affected advisory committees. A New York Times blog post on Eisen’s back-and-forth with lobbyists is here. The Washington Times published an editorial today on the topic: “All the president’s lobbyists.”
According to Eisen, the lobbyist ban — and broader White House policies and rhetoric targeting lobbyists — “is not about the few corrupt lobbyists or specific abuses by the profession, but rather concerns the system as a whole.”
Forgive us, Norm, but the perception of the lobbying profession by the Obama administration appears to be almost solely a function of using the sins of imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his associates to indict and scapegoat an entire industry of professionals. On the campaign trail Obama, and GOP presidential nominee John McCain, constantly propped up lobbyists as bogeymen responsible for all that ails Washington.
In Washington, there’s little functional difference between lobbyists, lawyers, public relations professionals and — some would say — journalists. All are paid to represent clients or causes and advocate policy. Some represent non-profits, others unions, still others trade associations or companies.
The standard operating procedure of the Obama administration is to demonize the lobbying profession with a scarlet letter of shame, arbitrarily punishing lobbyists for complying with statutes requiring them to register with the government and report information on their activities and compensation. As we’ve stated before (see a related post: “Super Ethics Man saves the day, defeats Lex Lobbyist“), banning lobbyists from executive boards and agencies will not limit lawyers, CEOs, union leaders, public relations pros or any other number of opinion leaders with agendas from serving on these boards.
On another ethics issue, the White House is playing defense after The Washington Times published an investigative piece late last month about perks the Obama administration and Democratic National Committee allegedly doled out to bundlers and other VIP donors. Eisen, who co-founded ethics scold Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), has worked hand-in-hand with some of the pro-regulation groups that pushed for the Obama administration’s restrictive lobbying regulations.
Eisen should be grateful that he isn’t subject to the rhetorical whims of those groups when it comes to his own job and influence. Groups like Democracy 21, Campaign Legal Center and Public Citizen routinely criticized President George Bush for appointing top campaign bundlers to government positions and as ambassadors. Like Obama’s tirades against the lobbying industry, they said the practice was corrupt and needed reform.
Norm is lucky that his “reform” buddies aren’t calling for his head for bundling over $200,000 for President Obama’s campaign, as detailed in Public Citizen’s “White House for Sale” website. Bowing to heated rhetoric like that just wouldn’t be fair to Norm, who we’re sure is a noble public servant. If only he gave lobbyists the same benefit of the doubt…
