New Report Finds that Lobbyists' Deregistration Peaked in 2008

The Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) released a new report addressing the question of whether federal lobbyists are "deregistering." CRP found that the increase in deregistrations increased before President Barack Obama took office. As it turns out, policies meant to limit lobbyists' influence may not have played as great of a role in deregistrations as originally thought. CRP points out that "the process of deregistering is not straightforward."

One valid question is whether those leaving the ranks of registered lobbyists are actually continuing much the same work, but fleeing to the shadows, thereby undercutting transparency without changing the nature of Washington's influence-buying culture. But a more immediate question is this: Have more lobbyists have deregistered and, if so, when did they do it and why?

The report calls for the creation of a new, separate form where lobbyists can register and be assigned an ID, to make tracking lobbyist contributions and terminations easier. They suggest that this form can also simply state a lobbyist's employer and past government experience.

A CRP blog post on the report can be read here.

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