Public Interest Groups Decry Obama's Strict Lobbying Rules

President Obama's war with K Street is escalating, this time over stringent new rules on lobbyists attempting to land federal stimulus money for their clients. An unlikely alliance of groups -- including one co-founded by Obama's chief ethics adviser -- argue that the restrictions will penalize those who play by the rules while doing nothing to curb the influence of large corporations and campaign donors. Leaders of the groups, which include Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the American League of Lobbyists, also said yesterday that they are preparing to challenge the guidelines on First Amendment grounds if the administration does not agree to revise them. The restrictions come as lobbying firms report a boom in business from local governments, clean-energy companies and others hoping to cash in on the $787 billion in stimulus money contained in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Many cities and smaller companies rely on private lobbyists to navigate Washington, and they fear that they will be hampered in securing stimulus funding because of the new rules.