The White House has announced that federally registered lobbyists can not be appointed to agency advisory boards and commissions. These boards and commissions advise the federal government on policy. The White House blog post states; "Keeping these advisory boards free of individuals who currently are registered federal lobbyists represents a dramatic change in the way business is done in Washington. [. . .] While the letter of the President's Executive Order on Ethics does not apply to federally-registered lobbyists appointed by agency or department heads, the spirit does and we have conveyed that to the agencies who are responsible for these appointments." Will it really change the way business is done in Washington?

Lobbyists who are currently on advisory committees would be allowed to complete their appointment, but the agencies would have to reappoint someone who is not a federally registered lobbyist. However, it is not clear the agency has to because the White House blog post simply states, "it is our hope." Once again, we wait for some specificity and guidance, other than simply a blog posting.

The post further states; "If we are going to change the way business is done in Washington, we need to make sure we are not simply continuing the practices of the past." This seems a bit hypocritical when news reports recently discuss the nomination of Anne Ferro, a trucking industry lobbyist, to head the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. No, Ferro is not nominated to an advisory committee, but it does seem to go against the "spirit" of the President's Executive Order.

Before making the formal announcement, a blog post from the Sunlight Foundation notes that "removing lobbyists from the mix will likely remove a vital source of expertise for committees. Moreover, imposing disclosure requirements only on lobbyists, and not on everyone, doesn't make a lot of sense." Sunlight offers some suggestions for ways to achieve the administration's goal of reducing conflicts of interest, such as updating the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).

BNA Money and Politics ($$) reports that, "[d]uring the last Congress, the House passed a bill to reform FACA (H.R. 5687) that would have placed tighter conflict of interest disclosure requirements on advisory committee members, barred the practice of contracting out advisory duties, and extended the requirements of FACA to so-called “de-facto” committee members who do not have the right to vote."

Once again, the administration is too narrowly focused on registered lobbyists. They can just simply appoint another industry representative who is not a lobbyist. Instead, there could be more disclosure about the individuals making up the advisory committees.