The Obama administration has roiled Washington’s special-interest galaxy by deciding to unseat hundreds of registered lobbyists from government advisory boards. A precise roster has yet to be done. But lobbyists clearly should have no place on the more than 915 advisory panels (with 60,000 members) laced across 52 federal agencies that seek “outside” expert advice.
White House decree to gradually remove them is hardly the death knell of lobbying. But it raises hopes that the administration may be serious about its pledge to ratchet back the in-your-pocket influence of Washington’s — count them — 13,000 registered lobbyists.
K Street is predictably crying foul, warning that irreplaceable wisdom and experience will be lost in such complex fields as global trade, national defense, consumer product safety and the environment. “They are crippling themselves terribly,” one lobbyist lamented to The Washington Post.
And before anyone gets too excited, it’s important to remember that the winnowing has no effect on corporate executives who are not registered lobbyists and will still be free to take seats, if they deign. As a matter of course, retired senators and other panjandrums in the influence industry often don’t bother to register; they reign more subtly over staffs of registered lobbyists.
No one is arguing that the advisory boards are worthless or that their unpaid members are all out for themselves. But “let some new voices be heard,” as Norm Eisen, the White House ethics counsel, put it. More to the point, why should a registered advocate be afforded an insider’s seat at the table of supposedly objective advisers?
Source:nytimes.com/
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