“White House abandons push for federal contractors to disclose political giving” by Mike Lillis in The Hill.

“F.C.C. Pushes for Web Site on TV Political Ad Spending” by Brian Stelter in The New York Times.

“Limits on Lobbyists as Hosts? Simply Unworkable, They Say” by Robert Pear in The New York Times.

“FEC Ruling Leaves Ad Uncertainty” by Eliza Newlin Carney in Roll Call.

Arkansas: “Campaign Finance Reform in Arkansas Enters a New Phase” by KARK 4 News.

Maryland: “Lobbyist scores a ‘scoop’ of sorts” by Michael Dresser in The Baltimore Sun.

Federal

“Generation X joining K Street” by Jonathan Allen and Jennifer Martinez in Politico.

“Administration Staffers Head Out the Revolving Door” by Kate Ackley in Roll Call.

In the States

Illinois: “Illinois Senate panel blocks lobbyist ethics legislation” by Shannon McFarland (Associated Press) in the Jacksonville Journal Courier.

Illinois: “Lobbying reforms buried in subcommittee” by Rick Miller in Capitol Fax.

Iowa: “Iowa’s lobbying free-for-all” by Jason Clayworth and Jeffrey Kummer in the Des Moines Register.

Massachusetts: “AP: Mass. health care 5-year lobbying topped $51M” by Steve LeBlanc (Associated Press) in Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

Minnesota:  “$61M spent on lobbying in 2011” by Matt Herbert in Minnesota Daily.

On Monday, the American League of Lobbyists (ALL)  made a statement against a new Obama administration proposal restricting lobbyists’ gifts to executive branch employees. It would also restrict those employees’ attendance to certain events sponsored by lobbyists, companies, and organizations.

Howard Marlowe, president of the organization, states: “The American League of Lobbyists strongly objects to this proposed rule and asks that it be withdrawn immediately. The Administration has offered no reports of even a single abuse of its current regulations to warrant the severe restrictions it has proposed on the mutual flow of information and expertise between lobbyists, their employers, and Federal workers.”

Here is a draft summary of the Obama administration’s proposed rule.

The “Lobbying in the News” page for ALL lists these three articles covering the news:

• “Lobbyists object to Obama proposal that would tighten rules for federal workers,” by T.W. Farnam in the Washington Post.
• “Lobby league opposes Obama rule,” by Anna Palmer and Dave Levinthal on the Politico Influence page.
• “Lobbyists’ group objects to new rule banning gifts to all federal employees,” by Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.

You can keep up with the latest discussions on the American League of Lobbyists Twitter feed (@LobbyistsLeague).

Here is an item I saw first on TechPresident’s blog. The Obama Administration has launched We the People, an online petitioning service where you can voice your opinion on policies or issues by creating a petition, garnering support, and sending the president your feedback on ways to improve the service.

This is how it works. The website says:

“Welcome to We the People on WhiteHouse.gov. This tool provides you with a new way to petition the Obama Administration to take action on a range of important issues facing our country. If a petition gets enough support, White House staff will review it, ensure it’s sent to the appropriate policy experts, and issue an official response.”