In September 2009, the White House posted a blog* announcing it would bar registered lobbyists from appointments to government boards and commissions.
Connie Tipton, President and CEO of the International Dairy Foods Association, long-time member of the Board of the Bryce Harlow Foundation, and 2014 winner of the Bryce Harlow Foundation’s Business and Government Relations Award, gave a spirited speech earlier this year in which she criticized the White House decision. She cited the First Amendment right to petition the government for redress of grievances and made the case that banning of lobbyists from boards and commissions deprives the President of desperately needed advice from the business community.
Six brave registered lobbyists, including two executives of the American Apparel & Footwear Association, sued the Administration to preserve the First Amendment right to petition the government and to ensure the government gets advice from subject-matter experts in the business community. The original complaint** makes for interesting reading for anyone who is interested in the lobbying profession. The pivotal point in the case came when the DC Circuit court ruled*** in January 2014 in favor of the lobbyists. The case was filed by the law firm Mayer Brown.
This week the White House announced it is reversing elements of its policy and that many industry-specific registered lobbyists will be allowed to serve on boards and commissions once again. The Office of Management and Budget (OBM) published a notice**** in the Federal Register that paves the way for federally registered lobbyists to come back onto committees in certain circumstances.
The OMB documents states in part:
“The lobbyist ban does not apply to lobbyists who are appointed in a “representative capacity,” meaning that they are appointed for the express purpose of providing a committee with the views of a nongovernmental entity, a recognizable group of persons or nongovernmental entities (an industry sector, labor unions, or environmental groups, etc.), or state or local government.”
This decision is a rare vindication of the lobbying profession and the vital role it plays in the development of public policy. The Bryce Harlow Foundation is the strongest voice for the promotion of the lobbying profession and the honesty and integrity necessary for the credible practice of lobbying. That the court recognized the essential value of the lobbyists’ role in government is a long-overdue victory for the entire advocacy profession.
Virtually every person in America is represented by a lobbyist. If you are a member of a church, your denomination has a lobbyist. If you or a loved one has a disease, you have a lobbyist. If you are a wounded military serviceman, you have a lobbyist. If you are a brave police officer or fire fighter, you have a lobbyist. That is precisely what the Founding Fathers envisioned and as it should be. I hope that our First Amendment rights will continue to be recognized as a fundamental part of American society.
*http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Lobbyists-on-Agency-Boards-and-Commissions/
** https://www.wewear.org/assets/1/7/ITAC_Complaint_(as_filed).pdf
*** https://www.wewear.org/assets/1/7/Lobbyist_opinion_DC_Circuit.pdf
**** http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-08-13/pdf/2014-19140.pdf
