Norman Eisen, White House special counsel on ethics and government reform, again defended tightening restrictions on federally registered lobbyists to limit the influence of special interests.

In a post on the White House blog Wednesday evening, Eisen responded to a letter sent by the American League of Lobbyists protesting the administration's decision to ban lobbyists from serving on government advisory boards.

"We are concerned that your administration will deprive career public officials of knowledge, perspective and insight offered voluntarily and free of charge from many of the industry experts who will be precluded from serving as formal advisors under this policy," the League wrote in an Oct. 28 letter sent to President Obama.

To which Eisen said: "The letter makes a number of arguments with which we disagree, and to which we will respond, but our simple point is this: the system of lobbyists holding privileged government positions needs to be changed."

Stay tuned for more Obama versus the lobbyists...