Is Your Hobby To Lobby for a Good Cause?

ALS is an important cause, even if it diminishes your career potential with the Obama administration.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/us/politics/21lobby.html?_r=1&hp

From The New York Times --
April 21, 2009
Nonprofit Groups Seeking Exceptions to Lobby Rule
By PETER BAKER

WASHINGTON — When it came time for President Obama to pick a human rights chief, many around him thought Tom Malinowski was the obvious choice.

As the Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, Mr. Malinowski has fought slaughter in Darfur, repression in Myanmar and torture in the United States. He served in the State Department and on the National Security Council under the last Democratic president. But he had one liability: he was a registered lobbyist.

The fact that Mr. Malinowski lobbied on behalf of genocide victims rather than military contractors, investment firms or pharmaceutical companies made no difference. Mr. Obama’s anti-lobbyist rules do not distinguish between those who advocate for moneyed interests and those who advocate for public interests, and so Mr. Malinowski was ruled out. But in the process, he has become the symbol of a deep discontent among many Democrats over Mr. Obama’s policy.

“It’s an outrage,” said Stephen Rickard, executive director of the Open Society Policy Center, an advocacy organization. “Tom is one of the most effective and dedicated human rights activists in Washington, and you could get 20 people to say that. It’s extremely unfortunate that Tom and people like Tom can’t be brought in to use their talents.”