From this morning's Earlybird:
• "White House ethics adviser Norm Eisen is expected to meet with American League of Lobbyists representatives and others frustrated by the Obama administration's recently minted lobbying restrictions on stimulus funds," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Eisen returned ALL President David Wenhold's calls on Wednesday, saying he would be open to meeting, according to Wenhold."
• "Lobbying, scorned during the 2008 campaign, is an occupation of choice among former members of Congress looking for jobs," Bloomberg News reports. "About one-quarter of the House and Senate members who retired or lost elections last year have found new jobs with lobbying firms, where business is booming as" President Obama "pushes for multitrillion-dollar changes in federal banking, health care, energy and military procurement policies."
• "Financial firms seeking big bucks and favorable terms from Congress and the White House are deploying Capitol Hill aides turned lobbyists to win favorable treatment from the congressional lawmakers who are managing various aspects of the financial recovery--overseeing or appropriating nearly $3 trillion in spending and lending," Mother Jones reports.
• On the campaign trail, President Obama promised to increase the transparency of government. Among the pledges he made was to create a centralized database on lobbying," NationalJournal.com reports. "The Sunlight Foundation has proposed something similar, saying the executive branch should create and administer a website aggregating disclosures of meetings between government officials and lobbyists."
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