As some observers suspected would happen under new Obama administration rules aimed at lobbyists, companies and individuals during the first three months of 2009 stopped registering as official "lobbyists" in far greater numbers than they did during the last quarter of 2008.

Observers attribute the decline in lobbyist registrations to new White House regulations that limit the verbal communication that lobbyists can have with executive branch officials when seeking money under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

It is "one of the unintended consequences of the (White House) policy," Michael MacLeod-Ball, chief legislative and policy counsel for the ACLU Washington office, told Communications Daily.

The ACLU is among the groups challenging the White House on its new rules, which require federal lobbyists to submit questions or comments about specific funding projects in writing - communication that would then be posted on the agency's website. Verbal conversations about general Recovery Act issues are permitted as long as they are documented by the government official - again, with information posted on websites.

The rules have likely convinced lobbyists to "de-list" if they do not technically spend 20 percent of their time lobbying for one firm during a three-month period -- which is the legal threshold for registration.

A review of first-quarter lobbying disclosure filings suggests companies are disassociating from lobbying firms or "de-listing" lobbyists so as not to violate the White House rules. For instance, attorneys who conducted only periodic lobbying, but who had previously registered to be on the safe side, now are removing their names from rolls, lobbyists told Communications Daily. The number of lobbyist designation terminations during the first quarter of this year was 1,500, compared with last year's 1,200 -- a 25 percent gain, disclosure records reveal.