Obama hasn’t required immediate changes on the advisory committees. He has not issued an executive order, or dispatched an official memorandum to the heads of his agencies — other options available to the nation’s chief executive.
The result is that lobbyists, executives, scientists and others who have a stake in decisions made by the agencies they advise can hold their positions until their terms expire.
“It is the president’s desire that registered lobbyists not be appointed to federal boards and commissions, and that those registered lobbyists currently serving…be allowed to serve out their terms but that they not be reappointed,” noted Robert Flaak, an overseer of the advisory committees at the General Services Administration, in an Oct. 1 “guidance” letter to federal agencies.
Attempts to remedy imbalances in committee membership have foundered in Congress. Among others, Rep. Henry Waxman, the California Democrat who until recently chaired the House government oversight committee, repeatedly has proposed amendments to the 37-year-old advisory committee law. One measure passed the House last year only to fail in the Senate. This year, Waxman is trying again.
The composition and occasional secrecy of advisory committees has weakened the agencies they counsel, argued law professor Shapiro. “You either get bad advice or you’re just cooking the books — allowing special interests to game the process,” he said. Congress, presidents and the courts, he added, “have made it virtually impossible for these agencies to be hard-charging, effective protectors of the public.”
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