OMB Attempts to Explain Lobbyist Communication Rules
Apr 13, 2009 by Amanda Adams*
On April 7 the Office of Management and Budget issued Interim guidance to help employees comply with the March 20 memorandum that put in place restrictions on communications between registered lobbyists and executive branch officials regarding the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the economic stimulus package.
read in fullPublic Could Track Lobbying Meetings with Proposed Website
Apr 9, 2009 by Amanda Adams*
A new proposed tool from the Sunlight Foundation c
ould be used to accomplish President Obama's goal of increasing government transparency. According to the Sunlight Foundation, the executive branch could create a website aggregating the disclosure of meetings between government officials and lobbyists.
New Lobbyist Disclosure at OpenSecrets.org
Apr 8, 2009 by Amanda Adams*
The Center for Responsive Politics has a new database where you can track the number of lobbyists that reported lobbying on a piece of legislation back to 2005. The database is searchable by a bill's name, description, or number.
read in fullEdward M. Kennedy Serve America Act Waiting for Obama's Signature
Mar 31, 2009 by Amanda Adams*
The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act has just passed Congress and is now ready for President Obama to sign the measure into law. The House passed the Serve America Act with a vote of 275-149. The bill amends the National and Community Service Act of 1990 and will create two new service-learning programs.
read in fullAre Rules on Lobbyists Violating First Amendment rights?
Mar 27, 2009 by Amanda Adams*
On March 20 President Barack Obama issued a memorandum to department and agency officials outlining restrictions on lobbyists regarding the economic stimulus package. As a result, some are in an uproar that the restrictions are a violation of lobbyists' free speech rights.
read in fullWaivers for "Public Interest" Lobbyists
Mar 11, 2009 by Amanda Adams*
An interesting posting at Huffington Post addresses some of the unintended consequences of the new executive order on ethics. The main content of the article was apparently based off of interviews with "progressive" lobbyists, who would only speak on the condition of anonymity.
read in fullDoubt Continues to Plague Ethics Executive Order
Feb 25, 2009 by Amanda Adams*
An editorial in RollCall ($$) considers President Obama's executive order to be a "war on lobbyists" that is "too broad and, at the same time, too narrow." The rules and the consequences of Obama's new ethics rules continue to be a topic of deliberation. The editorial criticizes "that it paints all lobbyists with the broad brush of corruption, deception and dishonesty."
read in fullOffice of Government Ethics Issues Memo on Gift Ban
Feb 18, 2009 by Amanda Adams*
The Office of Government Ethics (OGE) released a memorandum explaining the executive order banning executive branch personnel from accepting gifts from lobbyists. The memo states that the order; "was not intended to prohibit certain gifts that do not implicate the purposes of the ban. [. . .] appointees may rely on the following interim guidance, to accept certain gifts from 501(c)(3) organizations and media organizations." This revises the order allowing covered officials to participate in events sponsored by charitable organizations and the press.
read in fullFeingold to Reintroduce Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act
Feb 11, 2009 by Amanda Adams*
Reportedly, after being stalled for years, the Senate is likely to soon consider a bill that would require senators to file their campaign finance reports electronically.
read in fullFEC Approves Explanation and Justification for Bundling Rules
Feb 5, 2009 by Amanda Adams*
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) voted unanimously to approve the Explanation and Justification (E&J), implementing the new disclosure rule for lobbyist bundled contributions. In doing so, the FEC finally put into effect section 204 of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007. The rules were approved by the FEC in Dec. 2008, but are only now in effect with the E&J.
read in full
