By K.C. Jones Information Week
Free Speech is under assault by Obama
U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration is cracking down —even more than it revealed in March —on lobbying for funds under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.
The White House posted a statement on its Web site Friday,saying that the new rules on special interest influence would require even more transparency.
Norm Eisen,special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform,has clarified a few points and taken restrictions a bit further than was apparent in Obama’s March 20 memo on lobbying for Recovery Act funds.
The White House already stated that all communications between federally registered lobbyists and government officials must be disclosed on the Internet. It stated that verbal conversations between the lobbyists and government officials are barred and all communications should be in writing,so comments can be posted on the Internet.