When an elected official wants to make an announcement or release documents that might generate negative publicity, typically it is done late on a Friday afternoon. By this time, many reporters and editors have already bellied up to the bar or are fighting traffic on their way home.
Besides, far fewer people read the papers or watch the news on weekends, so some potentially damaging stories can slip through the cracks because by the time Monday arrives, new events and incidents are competing for reporters’ attention.
So it is no surprise that the Obama administration announced late Friday afternoon its decision to loosen restrictions on officials discussing stimulus-related policy with lobbyists.
This is just another retreat from Obama's portrayal of his administration as a lobbyist-free zone. During last year’s campaign, Obama promised to prevent past lobbyists from taking policy-making executive positions. How’s that working out, Barry?
In March, the President announced that government officials would not be allowed to consider the views of lobbyists regarding specific stimulus projects unless the requests were put in writing. Lobbying groups, with help from the ACLU and other organizations, managed to get the President to back off.
Friday's memo requires government officials to promptly disclose on the Internet all oral and written communications with lobbyists concerning policy or projects funded under the recovery act. They also have to disclose any written communications with lobbyists regarding pending applications for competitive funding.
The Office of Management & Budget’s 11-page memo requires greater documentation for questions and discussions that are more advocacy-related than general or logistical in nature. Check out this excerpt, written in government-ese, with an Orszag dialect:
The prohibition on oral communications between Federal agency officials and federally registered lobbyists regarding specific Recovery Act projects that was contained in the earlier guidance has been clarified to apply to the stage and context where concerns about merit-based decision-making are greatest – during the period commencing after the submission of formal applications for, and up through awards of, competitive grants or other competitive forms of Federal financial assistance under the Recovery Act.
Got that? Good - there’s a quiz tomorrow.
The requirement for administration officials to document contact with lobbyists sounds cumbersome and unworkable. For one thing, it would be impractical even if “lobbyist” were a straightforward, clearcut term. But in the cesspool that is Washington, consultants, pollsters, trade association flacks, influence peddlars, think tanks, and dozens of other parasites could qualify as lobbyists in spirit, intent, and actions, if not in an official registry.
Like so much of what Obama does, this “transparency” is nothing more than window dressing.
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