DNC rolls back restrictions on lobbyist donations

By Megan R. Wilson - 02/12/16 12:37 PM EST

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has dismantled the last of its prohibitions on receiving donations from lobbyists and political action committees.

The ban has been in place since 2008, when President Obama became the party’s presumptive nominee.

"The DNC’s recent change in guidelines will ensure that we continue to have the resources and infrastructure in place to best support whoever emerges as our eventual nominee,” Mark Paustenbach, deputy communications director for the DNC, told the Washington Post, which first reported the news.

The national committee confirmed the policy change to The Hill but also said that lobbyists and those running PACs are still not able to attend events with the president, vice president, first lady Michelle ObamaMichelle Obama Obamas' former Harvard law professor: Michelle should have been president Obamas sign with agency for speaking gigs Anna Wintour expects Melania Trump to end up covered in Vogue MORE or Dr. Jill Biden.

The DNC, which is chaired by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz (D-Fla.), opened the door to K Street donations earlier this summer, when it announced that lobbyists and corporate PACs would once again be allowed to make donations to the annual nominating conventions. That change was made primarily because Congress in 2013 nixed federal financing for conventions, depriving the parties of roughly $20 million to pay for the events.

With the DNC now accepting all lobbyist and PAC donations, it has reversed the policies that were adopted in 2008, when Obama vowed to curb the influence of special interests in Washington.

"We are going to change how Washington works," Obama said at the time. Lobbyists and corporate PACs “will not fund my party. They will not run our White House. And they will not drown out the voice of the American people when I'm president of the United States of America.”

While Obama still limits lobbyist participation in his administration, many of the policies he put in place have been eroded over time. Several waivers were provided that allowed lobbyists to work in the administration.

Campaign finance watchdog group Democracy 21 chided the DNC's decision, calling it "a major step in the wrong direction."

The reversal in policy "is in direct conflict with the American people’s deep concerns about the role of influence-money in Washington," said the group's president, Fred Wertheimer.

"The DNC is acting as if the party is blind to the anger and frustration with Washington that is being expressed by voters in both parties as the presidential nominating process unfolds."

"President Obama should immediately instruct the DNC to re-impose the lobbyist contribution ban he had established," he added.

The issue of money in politics has indeed loomed large in this year’s presidential race.

Hillary ClintonHillary Rodham Clinton Mark Cuban on Trump: Isn't it better that he's tweeting rather than 'trying to govern?' GOP senator: Don’t box Trump in on Russia Webb: Democratic Party has moved 'very far to the left' MORE’s Democratic rival, Sen. Bernie SandersBernie Sanders Sanders: Trump 'backtracking on every economic promise that he made' CNN rejects Trump's accusation that it cut off Sanders: 'False' Trump: CNN cut off Sanders for using term 'fake news' to describe network MORE (I-Vt.), has boasted that his contributions have come in at amounts averaging $27 a pop. He says the corporate world and a rich donor class fund Clinton’s campaign.