The Washington Post's Dan Eggen reports that the White House ethics counsel has told federal agencies that they can no longer have registered lobbyists on their federal advisory boards. Federal advisory boards, Eggen explains, are a bureaucratic labyrinth of about about 1,000 panels featuring a total of 60,000 people that provide expertise to federal agencies. For example, there's a National Petroleum Council and a Defense Policy Board, that played a role in the Pentagon's support for invading Iraq. Industry reps tell Eggen that these boards, and by extension these agencies, will lose crucial expertise on how to handle complex policies and regulations. A good government advocate says it will make these boards more neutral.

One of the Obama administration's new rules to restrict the influence of lobbyists is not exactly off to a high-flying start. Rita Beamish of the Associated Press reports that a rule was put in place so if lobbyists met with federal agencies about competitive grant money in the ...

Re: Are lobbyists overpaid?by Anonymous on 2005.10.07 04:10AM EDT  | And, when looking at this "type" of lobbying and political paybacks, never forget about one of the last, true vestiges of the old "spoils" system: The existence of the Political Appointees in the State Department --- most ...

(comment from reader)Cool site. Great mission. Please consider discussing/exposing the relatively unreported but rather astounding explosion in lobbying firm profits and in starting lobbyist salaries (which say there were really fat times in the past and the high first year salaries ($140,000+) augur the same for the future). ...