Placing restrictions on executive branch communications with lobbyists will create "unintended and harmful consequences," including slowing down the distribution of Recovery Act money to those who badly need it, the Public Affairs Council told the White House today in a letter.
The letter from Council President Douglas Pinkham to Norman Eisen -- Obama's special counsel for ethics and government reform -- suggests that a better strategy would be creating a searchable database of only essential information that tracks all conversations about specific Recovery Act projects, including those with the many Washington lawyers, corporate and non-profit executives, state lobbyists, business development consultants and congressional members not now covered by Obama's directive.
The Democratic president in late March issued a directive restricting communications between executive branch officials and lobbyists wanting to discuss specifics of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Executive branch officials must ban lobbyists from attending meetings (or participating by telephone) when a specific project or funding plan under the Recovery Act is being discussed.
Instead, those registered as federal lobbyists must submit their questions or comments in writing. These communications are then posted on the agency's website. Oral conversations about general Recovery Act issues are permitted as long as they are documented by the government official (with information posted on websites).
The directive applies only to those who are registered lobbyists - and not to people whose lobbying activities constitute less than 20 percent of the time engaged in services. Pinkham argued that the directive is aimed at a "narrow band of project advocates," and excludes "the many meetings and phone calls that are likely to take place with individuals" who aren't registered lobbyists.
Pinkham's alternative would be a computerized system containing data fields - such as date and agency - that would automatically appear, requiring the official to complete only a few additional fields. To make the data more searchable, the official would simply type in a project name and not be forced to write a description of the contact. The results would stream onto http://www.recovery.gov/, where they would appear alongside useful information.
In his letter, Pinkham argued that such an approach would remove impediments to the free-flow of information between federal fund applicants and federal agencies, and would "greatly enhance the ability... to monitor whether funds have been distributed in a way that is merit-based and devoid of conflicts of interest."
"While increased transparency can be a deterrent to fraud and abuse, it will only be effective if the right people are being forced to be transparent," Pinkham wrote. "And the fact is, there is no proof whatsoever that federally registered lobbyists deserve a higher level of scrutiny than any other group."
The Public Affairs Council is a non-partisan, non-political organization representing the nation's corporate public affairs executives. Throughout its 51-year history, the Council has promoted honesty in political and business affairs.
To see the full letter, click here.
