Reporters on Friday pushed White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to be more specific about the number of lobbyists that the Obama administration might hire.

Gibbs answered that a "limited" number would be hired. He also said any decisions on future hiring of lobbyists would be handled by the White House Counsel's office.

Here is the relevant portion of the transcript:

Q: "Yesterday you said that there would be a very limited number of waivers for the ethics lobbying policy. There's thousands of people covered by that policy. Does "limited" mean dozens? Does it mean a handful? And also, where are those waivers being approved? Is it being approved at the Cabinet Secretary level, that is then forwarded to the Counsel's Office -- or is that something that [White House Chief of Staff] Rahm [Emanuel] is taking a look at every waiver request as it comes in?

GIBBS: I think that that work is done mostly out of the Counsel's Office. And I should restate part of what I said yesterday relating to ethics, that I think many observers that have watched the way administrations conduct their business, either ethically or in the open, found that the policies that the president outlined and signed on the first full -- on his first full day at the White House exceed that of any other administration in the history of our government.

Q: Can you give any estimate? I mean, limited numbers -- should we expect many more?

GIBBS: I don't have anything more than "limited number."

Meanwhile, four watchdog groups, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the Government Accountability Project, Project on Government Oversight, and Public Citizen sent a letter urging the Senate Arms Services Committee not to support William Lynn's nomination. Lynn was a lobbyist for Raytheon until March 2008 and has been nominated to the No. 2 spot at the Pentagon.

UPDATE:5:15 PM Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. said he will withhold support for Lynn until the nominee can "clarify for the record what matters and decisions will require his recusal."

 

                                                                                                                     --Bara Vaida